1936-02-10 — Page 6

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THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, MONDAY, February 10, 1936.

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The Sinking Of

the

German Fleet

PEACE conference was.

Luggage was buing thrown ounce of steam in an effort to

Studebaker truck makes AT noon on June 21, A then discussing among from their quarter-decks into reach the doomed vessola before it stand out from the 1919, seven months other things, the distribution boats drawn alongside. There they sank. crowd. With its sleek, busi-after the Armistice, 74 among the Allies of the seventy- was an air of grim finality about Two destroyers, their decka ness-like lines and powerful, ships of the German four German vessels anchored in the proceedings..

awash, had already been taken dependable engine, it is a truck Navy interned in Scapa My mind went back to a grey

the Flow.

I hurried to the chartroom. In tow by tugs now making for "Do you allow the crews to go the shore at full speed in an at- you will be proud to own, a truck Flow were scuttled by winter afternoon seven months for joy rides?" I asked a tempt to beach them. which inspires a feeling of pros- their crews.

earlier-ten days after the arm- lieutenant of the Sochobin, point- Clinging to the mast of the tigo that suggests a price much

istice when the surrendering ing to the crowded gangways. Hindenburg, scarcely six feet of [higher than its actual cost.

"Certainly not," he replied. which remained above water, The ships included ten seventy-four German vessels,

He focused his binoculars and was a German sailor. battleships, five battle under Admiral von Reuter, had

arrived off Rosyth.

regarded the scramble with a He was struggling to secure cruisers, eight light Between two avenues of war- puzzled look,

the German ensign to its head. "What on earth are they up At last he succeeded. cruisers and fifty-one ships the Germans had been

escorted into the Firth of Forth, to?"

There were cheers from a destroyers.

Suddenly Admiral Beatty was on the

a gleam of under- near by boat of Germans.

Then a splash. The sailor Among them was the bridge of the Queen Elizabeth, standing showed on his face.

He rapped out an order. A Then he shouteì, “By Jove, I had fallen into the water. cruiser Karlsruhe, fore- bugle sounded.

believe the blighters are scut- runner of the ship of dags were hauled down.

It was sunset. The German tling their ships!"

The They were. the same name now in white Ensign took their places. As he spoke the great shape Hongkong harbour. A band played. Once again of the Friedrich der Grosse be- Britannia ruled the waves. gan slowly to heel over to port. Of these fewer than a The German Flect had subse- It was an awesome sight. dozen ships remained quently been brought to Scupa I stood fascinated as the giant had been going down.

in charge of vessel shook like some sick

beast.

HONGKONG HOTEL GARAGE

Stubbs Rd.

The

Tel. 27778/9.

British patrol boats.

Hongkong Telegraph. afloat. The total loss in Flow and put

tonnage was 400,000 and in monetary value £70,000,000.

MONDAY, FED. 10, 1936.

.

THE LEAGUE'S RECORD Although its handling of the Italo-Ethiopian dispute has not thus far produced effective re- sults, it can be said that at no time in its history has this or- ganisation, formed for the pur-: pose of preserving world peace, | attracted more universal atten- tion than during the past twelve. months. It just sixteen

are

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L

the M

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The waves washed the flutter- ing pennant. It curled limply round the mast.

It disappeared into the waves. The Hindenburg was gone. An hour passed. Two. One by one the German vessels

Then across the horizon there was a billow of smoke.

The First Battle Squadron was returning. I could make out the day for

EN were jumping from her Revenge. NIGHT and

past six months a strict

decks and swimming to- Nearer came the British ships.

being Tugs and patrol boats were still › aurveillance on the fleet had wards the boats, now A number of the ships been maintained, although by rowed frenziedly towards the racing over the waters of the have since been raised the terms of the armistice shore.

Flow picking up boatloads of British had no right Orders rang out in the Socho- Germans. by a British salvage the

to place our ówn

men sin. She slewed round.

There were very few German. firm.

aboard their ships, and had no We were racing towards the ships left by now.

As jurisdiction in the matter of foundering ship.

steamed the Revenge their internal discipline..

And then began one of the through this amazing scene, the The German vessels were un- most exciting scenes I have ever last of the cruisers, the Bremse,

the command of Admiral watched.

gave a shuddering plunge, and von Reuter and skeleton crews. To our starboard was the disappeared.

The Sochosin was a German Frankfurt. The same feverish Admiral Fremantle and his WAS aboard the So- minesweeper captured towards activity was going on aboard staff watched this last episode

chosin.

through binoculars from the The lieutenant veered the bridge of the Revenge. She was one of the aboard her was a commission Sochosin in her direction,

By

**

*

BERNARD F. GRIBBLE

der

the end of the war.

The reason for my presence

her.

*

*

taken

several small patrol from the American Navy to "We'll make a start or her,"

make sketches of the interned he said grimly.

Already her bonts, crowded FOUR hundred Germa rescued boats guarding the in- vessels.

I had been living aboard the with German sailors, were being from the sen were placed under terned German fleet in

Revenge, the flaship of the First lowered into the water.

arrest aboard the Rovenge. Scapa Flow..

"Cutlasses and rifles ready," The remaining 1,300 were dis- British Battle Squadron sta-

She drifted lazily on that tioned at Scapa Flow, which less ordered the Heutenant. famous sea basin in the South than three hours before had Orkneya which during the four weighed anchor and left for the ful of Germans. years of the great war had open sea to carry out tactical proved an impregnable strong- exercises.

hold for the British naval forces. I had stayed behind to finish

The war was over.

my work.

to protect the victim of an un- A

E

**

**

THE

Addressing him through an interpreter, Admiral Sir Sidney Fremantle said:

years ago, last month, that the League was brought into being, and although it has experienced its ups and downs, the past year has without question been the most important of its career.

posed in other ships of the First The moment is appropriate in

We drew alongside the boat- British Battle Squadron. which to take note of the record

Events, when I returned to the An officer stood in her prow. ship, were impressive. of some of the League's activi-

He was wearing yellow kid German officers and men were ties to date. The League's

gloves and smoking a cigar. paraded on the quarter-deck-by Covenant embodies two simple

The Iron Cross decorated his Admiral Fremantle. principles. The first is that

tunic. He grinned, impudently There was a military escort of at us. when nations quarrel, and their

marines with fixed bayonets. LTOGETHER ten battle-

"Return to your ship."... Admiral von Reuter... was. or. 'dispute is likely to lead to, the

Twice in the League's) ships, five battle-cruisers, shouted the lieutenant through dered to stand in front of his use of violence, they agree that just war.

staff. before resorting to war they life have the conditions for the eight light cruisers and fifty a megaphone. will bring the subject matter of fulfilment of this promise, occur. one destroyers of the Ger- man Navy were moored in the their dispute before the League red. In 1931 Japan wrested Flow on this brilliant June only retort was a sar- tribunals. There several Manchuria from China by force, morning.

donic smile from the officer

"Before I send you ashore as instances of this being done in After long and perhaps too The destroyers were cabled and jeers from the ratings. a prisoner of war I would like to Their boat rocked on the express to you my indignation at the League's short history. patient enquiry, in 1933 the close to the shore in pairs. The

the deed which you have perpe- Two of fairly recent date may League's Assembly condemned bigger vessels were lined arc waves.

wise further out..

Its oars had been discarded. trated, and which was that of a be noted. Denmark and Nor- Japanese aggression, but the

There were the Markgraf, the A petty officer in the Sooho- traitor violating the action, of way brought their antagonistic League or rather the Powers Kaiser, and the Grosser Kur. sin threw a fresh supply to the the arrangements entered into

Germans. There was no excuse by the Allies, claims to the sovereignty of the that compose it never made furst, battleships whose gunfire

"The German fleet was,, in a East Greenlund Coast before the any attempt to take co-operative at Jutland had accounted for the for disobedience. The order was

Rifles League's World Court, and when action against Japan. In the British armoured cruiser De- repeated. Again it was ignored. sense, more interned than actu- were raised. A shot ally imprisoned. The vessels that body declared Denmark en-year that has just passed Italy fence, in which Sir R. Arbuthnot

and every soul, on board rang out. One of the ratings were resting here as a sort of staggered back into the arms of good will from the German titled, the disputants shook similarly broke her League's

perished.'

The Von der Tann, too, which his comrades.

Government until peace had hands at once and have been plodges and plunged into an ng-

There was an indignant oath been signed. gressive war against Abyssinia, at the same action had in seven- better friends ever since.

"It is not the first occasion on Again when Persin tore up its fellow member of the League. teen minutes sunk the British from the officer.

battle cruiser Indefatigable, "We are prisoners of war," which the Germans have violat- The question naturally arose:

he yelled.. "How dare you?” · leaving only two survivors.

ed all the decent laws and rules contract with the Anglo-Persian

Would the fiasco of 1938 be re- Oil Company (In which

"Nothing of the sort," bawled of the seas. We have had on the

peated? It was well-known and the Derfinger, which had back the lieutenant. "Do as many to regret British

holds pre-

which takes no notice of civilised of the Hartlepools, and Scar. you're under our orders.". ter

submitted the feeble treatment of the Far borough during the first year of

Another shot,

laws on the high sens." Eastern question. Happily the war. League's Council, a Committeo

Another rating sagged over To which Admiral von Reuter gunwale of the German replied, in n. low tone, "I, take In the far distance I could the of which advised à compromise. Great Britain awoke to her res

ponsibility and gave a splendid discern the Erden. This advice was accepted by all lend-and France and fifty

full responsibility." What a dunce the first arro-

The white flag of truce flut. It was afterwards disclosed partics, with results that have other nations followed that lead.

that the scuttling of the ships been profitable to Persia, Great For the first time in history the ant little cruiser of that name tered in its midst.

had led us!

We ahifted our position to was the outcome of a plot care- Britain and the Company alike. right of a powerful nation to

nearer the boat. One of the fully hatched by the German The point is that whereas in the impose its will upon a weaker

Sochosin's crew jumped aboard. Admiralty months before.

A rope was thrown, and we When eventually the Emden old days, it is doubtful whether one has been seriously chal-UDDENLY from her a hello-

lenged. The issue of the graph flushed, and flashed took her in tow.

was salvaged two secret docu- any solution could have been obstruggle will be determined this again. I watched interestedly, A bullet whistled past my car, monts were found in von Rou- Set.tained without threats or the year. There can be no doubt, for Admiral von Reuter was There was another boat full ter's' cabin. One was dated

actual clash of arme-leaving provided that the spirit of fear- aboard her.

of Germans aft the Sochosin. May 9-six weeks before the A pause. More heliograph We took that in tow too. And scuttling took place and was both parties sore after the con- less justice shown in 1995 does

not weaken in 1986, that the signals.

then another.

from Admiral von Trotha, chief flict under League auspices League can come out of it all, I read the message. It didn't They showed no sign of re- of the German Admiralty. peace and justice in the cases incalculably strengthened so as seem very important.

Aistance.

It hinted that, rather than quoted' have prevailed and the to render any repetition of these “Paragraph II. Vom heut!- All around us the German swallow the bitter pill of sur-· relationships of the nations in aggressive policies by any nation gen Tage. Bestätigen." which battleships were fast settling render to the enemy, Germany dispute have improved rather almost Impossible. Public translated meant: :

would prefer to lose her ships - “Paragraph 2 of to-day's Pandemonium! The deep note altogether, so long as they were than deteriorated. But there is opinion, however, is in no mood

to condone faint-hearted treat- orders. Acknowledge.” of megaphoned orders. The sus lost with the German flag stil a second principle. If any na mont of the issues involved in Immediately answering sig-tained shriek of syrens. The flying." tion for reasons of greed or in the present crisis. By its nals were semaphored from the clatter of chains. The splash The second document was a patience refuses to follow, the handling of the situation, the rest of the German battleships, of desperately wielded onrs, copy of orders sent from the Longue" procedure, preferring League will either emerge with The next moment I noticed And against the horizon a Emden by Admiral von Reuter war to Impartial enquiry and greater strength and influence, sailors swarming down the maze of drunkenly slanting on June 17 to every officer aboard consiliation, all the other nations be written down as a futile gangway stairs of the Friedrich maste

the interned ships. that are members of the Lengye ment

experiment to evolve an instru der Grosse, the flagship of the Now tuga from the shore, at- It gave full details of the agree to take co-operative action security, justice and peace. sides of most of the ships.

capable of establishing German ffect. And down the tracted by the warning syrens, time and method of the scut

were, chugging away their last

(Continued on Page 7.)

Also the Seydlitz the Moltke,

SILK COATS ponderating interest), the met- that the prestige of the League, taken part in the bombardment you like in your ships. Now fact of having to fight gain the

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