Twenty-Five Years Ago

Northern Advocate, 22 December 1939, Page 4

Twenty-Five Years Ago

Officers from Admiral Sturdee's Fleet supplied further particular information of the Falklands Islands engagement earlier in the •month. When the battle began, the German warships fired at long range. The British reserved their fire, permitting the crews to breakfast before answering. When the Gneisenau sank she had exhausted her ammunition, but refused to surrender. The officers and crew were standing on the deck singing patriotic songs when she took her plunge. The Scharnhorst was ablaze when she sank with all hands, including Admiral non Spec (after whom the Admiral Graf Spee was named) and his two sons. In their advance from Nieuport, the Allies cleared a strong network of fortifications and many rows of strong trenches. The houses on the route to Lombaertz had been converted into miniature forts and machine-guns commanded a wide syeep. A message received via America reported that the King of Italy received von Buelow, who presented his credentials as Ambassador for Germany, The ‘‘Daily Mail’s” Dunkirk correspondent stated that Allied airmen bombarded and fired a Zeppelin shed at Brussels during a night raid. During fierce fighting in Poland, German troops charged singing, but quickly fell in heaps uttering screams and groans.