HUN ADMIRAL'S SECRETS.

Northern Advocate, 9 August 1919, Page 1

HUN ADMIRAL'S SECRETS.

REVEALED BY HIS WIDOW.

SHIPS UNFIT IN 1914

(By F. Sefton Delmer, in the "Daily

Mail.")

Just before I left Berlin it was'revealed to me that shortly after ""w3r broke out the German naval authorities suddenly discovered that certainproportions o£ the High Seas Fleet 1 were incapable of fulfilling, the task expected of them. Witt the greatness of secrecy, and with fears in their hearts lest the "secret should leak out, theY carried ""out the ne-' cessary reconstruction. The facts were stated to me hr conversation with Frau yon" Pohl, the widow of the Chief of the Admiralty Staff, who carried out the reconstruct tion, arid who, according' to Frau yon Pohl's account, killed himself with overwork in doing so. At the time yon Pohl's death was shrouded in and there were even suggestioiis°of Suicide. "I have recently, with' the profoundest interest, been reading- Ad-, miral Jellicoe's admission itiout iHe conditions prevailing in the British fleet before the battle of JutJand-, I '- said Fran yon Pohl, a smart, brighteyed, intelligent little woman, of some 42 years/ and an intimate* friend of the ex-German Crown Princess. "The strange,parailei VeW&r Germany and Britain struck me as almost comical, and in talking about these things now that the British have begun to discuss their own failings so openly, I should like to'tell you the story. POOR CRUISER GUNS. "In the first month o>f the war we .suddenly found out two vital faults in our fleet. Our destroyers and cruisers could not possibly run toEngland and back at" full speed. fuel system witr wHich they werfe; provided was obsolete and defective. It was found that they exhausted the coal, the only fuel which thSy'would' , burn, on the outward journey' alotfeT They therefore had to be refitted t» burn oil fuel, a laborious undertaking It wa's furthermore 'diaifoveWd tKat che gun's of our cruisers "Wer# ! of 5 no avail against Bri+ish ships of the same class> being of . too short a ranges WHeri these 'diseo;|e'rles~w%e , made tHe v Em^eror : sHhnm'6^ed''my^Kds- : band, and commissiond hirti witfi the important task of reddnlifudtiorf.* "Admiral yon Tirpitz, to whose unbelievable shortsightedness - these deficiencies were due, at once fell into disgrace; but he was continued in office for softie considerable' time, lest , the enemy shoul suspect frofll his fall that something serip,ys was the matter and attack before'tKeTriecessary reconstruction was "catrl'etf" v outi / "The" German navy in «th|se as my husband often explained to me, dived in a constant f#er of trepidation. '#hy -riot attack?' «Will the English attack tomorrow?' were the questions'we; asked ourselves hourly. We felt like crabs in thTe process of 7 their shells.. The greatest , 'secrecy was observed in aH our dockyards, and apparntly our secret never oozed lout." , I said to Frau yon. Pohl that it seenied to be incrediblefthfit Tirpitz i and hie staff'of exlterts' could have made such mistakes. "It is not incredible," she said, "when one remembers the egoism of Tirpitz, his self-confidence,' his domination of the Emp'eir&i'- and , '-the public through his special press, and his own shortsightedness in wishing? to speed up the' c6ris%^|i6h''of hi! fleet for mere show purposes, so that he might bluff his enemies, stupid man, by the mere prestige of numbers and appearances. If any man deserves hanging it is Tirpitz. KAISER LEARNS THE TRUTH. "All the' 'alteration's" we?e complete* two months before the battle of Jut- ' land, and my husband had even'thei drawn up the plan, which he showed me, and which I still have at home, ! afterwards followed by-, h.is successor in the Rattle &$ Jutland." Fran yon Pohl, despite-"my refer- i ence to admitted British losses at Jutland, was reluctant to be. dratyri to , talk about what the Germans had suffered in that fight. She went on to lament the gang which had surrounded the weak-nlinde'd Kaiser and isolated him from all sound criticism and sober warning. She related how William 11. had . remained in his' illusions as to real state war upto the very last minu.te. It was not until Noyeniber (J that any of his Ministers dared to reveal to him the fatal issue of jiis armies and his throne. "A few days ago," said Fran yon Pohl, "my friend, Frau Drews, thewife of the former Minister of tho ; "' Interior, told me that her husband* had himself the unplea- j sant duty ion November* 6 of opening his Majesty's eyes to the truth. The Emperor listened first with amazement, then with" incredulity, and ultimately in a passion of rage, catynyj-Dr."Drews-a madniati antl an' afrd l gant f-pol, ditove him in fury from his presence.''

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