The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-31
Eighteen DeStroycrs and
Light Cruisers Punished
OFF Hclgoland.
VICTORS LOST % MEN:
GERMANS OVER 500
Charges Made That kaiSer's
Officers Fired on Own
Men in Water.


Speoai correspondent o. Tnr srN and The
london "Ddiiy Mai.
Special c1bie DesDaich 10 TIM Srv
1.oNpoS. Angus; 80
Oficial details Of the naval fight off
1Ielgolaud show that the object of the
operations was for sweeping move
ment of a strong force Of destroyers
to cut German light craft off from
their base and then engage them a:
leisure IN the open sea
on Thursday night the British tor
pcdo not!ilas put to sea, working IN
conjunction with the light and battle
cruiser quaGrons. There was a SVEN on
the lin and a slight mist prevailed
Toward dawn the estroyers were or
dered to steam tow Helgoland. A
little before : o'clock the signal pre-
pare for action" was given. Oue or
two destroyers got within the German
Il les between Helgoiand and the coast
They were sighted By a German water
plane which notified the German land
forts. These fired. but with inC!n,ren;
success. A British armored cruiser vas
hit by a shcl! which did some damage
In theengine room.
One of the German cruisers started a
heavy bombardm, Of the d s,rovcrs.
when large British warsh!p appeared
and one she'll from one of her heavy
guns sank the German cruiser. Her
upper works We're enveloped in fam,
and she sank by the stern.
The remainder Of the German ships
made For the harhor They were pur-
sued BY ;hy British ships as far as they
dared to go. Az a German cruiser was
sinking a British destroyer came up to
rescue the survivors. The German
officer In charge drew revolver and
shot several of his men who were pre-
pairing to surrender He then kill d
himself
The 'German prisoners are amazed at
the kind,lness OF their treatment by. the
British We had been told" they say
that you would kill us with horrible
barbarlsm."
The arrored protection. speed and
fighting qualities Of the battle cruisers
were vindicated in this action. This is
satisfactory in view. Of the fact that
large number Of this class OF vessels
will join the fleet in the next few
months
only five of the enemy's destroyers
were observed To sink, but most of the
eighteen to twenty boats were rounded
up. attacked and we'll punished. They
saved themselves by scattered flight.
The superior gun power and strength
az the British destroyers was demon
strated conclusiveiy. The destroyers
did not hesitate to engage the enemys
cruisers. They also exposed themselves
to considerable risk from torpedoes in
endeavoring to save drowning German
sailors.
British officers say that German Off
GERS were seen firing on their own men
In the water with pistols Sew raj shots
Of this kind were fired before he eyes
of British officers. Some of tn prison
.rs are said to have pistol wounds.
The complement Of the five German
vessels known to have been sunk was
1900 officers and men. All OF these
except $50 persisted. The losses must
have been severe on the other German
boats which did not sink
The total British casualties were
, fty-nine killed and wounded. All the
ritish ships which were engaged will
fit for service again In a week.
Among the stories tod by the jackies
is one regarding the encounter OF
two British destroyers and two Ger
man cruisers at one phase OF the en-
gagement. The destroyers got between
the two cruisers and the latter were in
a dilemma, fearing to hit each other
and hred with great hesitation. The
destroyers, firing away from each other,
pounded the TWO German ships tercely,
damaging them considerably,
sailor who helped 10 remove the
wounded Germans from one OF the YES
sells which were sunk said that the scene
on deck was appalling.
The jackies agree that the small
NBritish ships had a pretty hot time Of
II. The German fire. they say, was not
good and they add tina, the discipline on
the German ships was inferior, The
tackles ascribe this to the use OF re-
volvers by the German officers to in
tlm!date the men.