PRUSSIAN GUARDS' SQUEAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12063, 19 July 1917, Page 3

PRUSSIAN GUARDS' SQUEAL.

TERROR IN TORPEDOED RED

CROSS SHIP

RESCUED BY OUR MEN,

(London " Daily Mail.")

A SOUTH COAST PORT. April

British soldiers know something of the foul character of the Huns, and British sailors can now tell something of their cowardice when confronted hy danger.

I paid a Tisit to the dockland of a southern port, and everybody teemed to he talking of tho Huns' criuio in Kinking hospital ships—everybody, that is, except :\ knot of .seafaring men who were standing at a strewt corner laughing with all the heartiness of the British .sailor and joking as if everything was as pleasing as the April sunshine. These men were r.ot talking about the sea. They were joking with each other about the most trivial things of life, and these were tho nun who had passed through a night of bitter anguish less than a week ago. They were the men from tho hospital ships Lanfranc and Donegal, and had gathered together in the same spot where they had met each day since last Thursday, when they returned to their homes after their terrible experiences in tho Channel. To-day sonic <j( them came to tho docks to sock another ship. ''"We have had a few days' rest," said one of-the sailors to me, " and it seems a. shamo to leave again just as you are getting a touch of real spring; hut we cannot stand idle, and I hope I shall be able to get a ship to-morrow. Perhaps we shall have a little more excitement if the 'Tin Fishes' dodge aboul after us. But. what a life! You have 1o pay for most of the fun you get, whether at a, pietnie theatre or at sea- " But it was not fun for the German prisoner. . You just look here. I am only a common sailor; f have never been on a batrlclield, but when the Lanfranc was given her deathblow we had an example of cowardice before our eyes. Britons and Germans, both of them wounded, have seen tlvis thing. I know what it is to stand in a damaged ship not. knowing when she might go und: r, lint I canont forgive any man, whether English or Gorman, who thinks of his own skin first and has no thought for tho.-e who are unable to help themselves.

"PRUSSIANS PAVING MAD." " We treat the wounded as we did the women before tho war-—if is now wounded first. But I believe tho German has n<) fueling of that sort. No sooner was the' Lanfranc- struck than tho Pfcissinns went; raving mad not all of them, mind you, but a sufficient number to make it possibly to turn t.hci occurrence into a complete disaster. Of crturse, we were all badly shaken for a minute or two, tnit we quickly settled down. " 1 know a when T sec one, and I saw enough of them last Tuesday to last me for a lifetime. J was in a. position to see all that happened. I saw our wounded follows brought up to the deck from below. and I saw the Germans by tlunr cowardice endanger the lives ol every one ui t.hem. As I have .•■Dine of ilu -German went Iliad. f.bey flung themselves headlong into thi- sea, waving then- arms h'aiiticaliy and shouting. iii. .sceneand noise together made a weird effect.

It was perhaps as well some of them did go overb-ard, Iveau.-e it cooled them down, and when tho other Germans *aw them in the wale they alsorM[iiieterl down a bit. Then, all of a sudden, they saw the suhmarin". I sor>m .to hear their shouts now. How 'hey ydled and how they jumped about! I hoy mil-1 have thought the sub mar in. l hed conic to se.ve them. They daneed on the dcrk. pushing everybody who came in vh 'ir way. Tney didn't know what, they were doing. They were mad with the hop ( % of being saved.-just as they had b.-enaniad with despair a- few minutes earlier. " They pushed everybody, even the wounded out of iheir way as they rushed forward to wavij frantically to tho cubrcariiK'. The next eeie'ie n. tho G".':.,'ii- wire- whimpering for hej.p. Of '-"iv.e we were willing to give iheni al. help wo could, but it the captain had''ordered us to throw all ;ho Germa.ii.s_ into the sea or had shot a few of them ho would have; been ..oil within his right-, because they were endangering all the liv -. s on board.'-' l-irxs U-:.\P OYKI? BOARD.

Anot-hrr sail who took up the story said he could not account lor the los • ol sonic o|. the German prisoners. I saw half a down,'" he said, " (ling themselves overboard s-ws after the ship was struck, but I think they were till picked iij>. Those who lost their lives had only themselves to blame. As it happened, the vessel was able io keep afloat for between two and three hours. "\\ o could have rescued them all. although some of our lifeboats were damaged by the explosion. 1 saw a erowd of Germans try to rush one. of the lifeboats. Tlvey made a regular dive for it. pushing our wounded on one side and allowing nothing io interfere with them. But the captain refused to allow the boat to lie lowered because it was overcrowded. Suddenly, however, the pulley at one end gave way and the whole lot were 'thrown headlong into the watei. It would have served them right if we had left them to their late, but we were Britishers and not Germans, said we did our best to Urseue 111 run.

Kvery man who was seen in the water was picker) up. but sonic of my mates believe that- in tho fall from the davits a. number of 'tfecn must have been injured, and flu.-' most probably went to the. bottom. In another casetwo Germans made dash for one of the lihehoats and fell overboard, and 1 saw no more of them

GK R.MAN OFFICIOS HELPLESS. " There were a number of German officers on board, but. they seemed to havo no control over their men."

Our sailors toll with high glee the storv of how the Germans hailed a British .ship thinking it must be one of their own. " "\\ hen one of our destroyers came rushing uo the rescue, M said the sailor, "they thought, that speedy delivery was at hand." One. of the Germans, who was subsequently sitting with me in a lifeboat and spoke good English, said-tome, 'We had been told that the British ships had Iteen chased off the seas.' When the sailors reminded him that lie left France in a British ship, the German replied. ' I don't understand, hr. is all a mystery. Tho people of the Fatherland do not know that you Britishers can still sail the seas, and when we. were torpedoed we thought one of our own German vessels would he on the spot to rescue us.' "

A curious.feature about the late outrages is that both the Lanfranc and the Donegal left French ports within half an hour of each other, both were bound for thn same port, both were carrying wounded, both were attacked within half an hour of each other, both were torpedoed near the engine-room, and both sank stern first within half an hour of each other though many miles apart.