The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-06-13
JUTLAND SEA FIGHT
German Naval officers Insist Warspite
Was Lost


Was Lost
A graphic story of the naval battle
on the Jutland coast has been given
TO the Associated Press correspondent
at Berlin by a high seas officer of the
German admiralty staff. This officer,
although not present at the battle,
had access to all the reports and now
has returned TO Berlin after two days
spent among the officers of the high
seas fleet.
To the correspondent first ques-
ton, What are the facts about the
Warspite?' the big British battleship
whose loss the Germans affirm and
the British deny, the officer replied:
The Warspite certainly was lost. We
have on this point not only the known
| observations but what is more i'm
portant, the testimony of British
! sailors The first confirmation came
when a destroyer Of our third flotlla
lished out of the water a sailor from
the British destroyer Turbulent. who
SAID that he himself had observed
the sinking of the Warspite Later
two other sailors gave the same ac-
| count, although none Of the three
was together after the rescue and
each was questioned separately This
should be conclusive"
The officers then gave the story of
the destruction Of one of the British
battle cruisers, probably the Queen
Mary or the lndefatigable, as told to
him by a German officer who partici-
pated in the battle. 1T was during
| an early stage of the action of the
| battle cruisers he said, that my
friends saw the cruiser struck in
quick succession by three full salvoes
OF heavy shells At the third. the
cruiser seemed literally to crumple
up and bend amidships. The bow and
the stern rose, and then the whole
ship was lifted bodily out of Of the wa
ter, A terrific explosion had blotted
her out and she sank, leaving no trace
behind.
The destruction OF several other
cruisers occurred similarly. A shell
would apparently reach the maya.
zine; then would come a mighty puff
Of smoke and flame, and the brief
death agony of the war craft would be
over
One Of the most thrilling episodes
was the destruction of a big four.fun.
neled armored cruiser which ran
squ2rely under the guns of our battle.
ships during the night and was annibi.
lated within four minutes by our
dreadnoughts, steaming in column. In
pitchy darkness, with lights out, the
cruiser approached at right angles I'M
der iull speed, evidently utterly una
ware of the presence of the squadron.
she was sighted at distance of 1900
Yards, and received a full broadside
from the leading German shin. the
Westfalen. She ran on another 500
yards and then turned like a wounded
hare, but instead of making away steer
ed course parallel to the column 1000
yards distant, receiving the broadsides
OF three successive ships. The cruiser.
literally covered with shells and unable
to fire a single shot in reply, blew up
opposite the lOuTtn snip.
The British claim that the surviy.
ing units of their battle feet were not
materially damaged and were ready to
take to sea again after coaling is alb
surd. The greater part OF the daylight
action was fought with the ships run
ming along parallel lines, and where so
many ships We're destroyed it is OBJ
Vious that the others did not escape UNI
scathed. We are perfectly sure that
the grand feet cannot, as the British
assert, 80 to sea virtually unimpaired
Tor a long time. 1t has been hard hit
IN its material and suffered colossal
losses in its personal We estimate
Conservatory that the British lost
1000 men, drowned or killed. by shell
fire, losses Of the most difficult sort to
replace.
a British admiralty representative
declared to your London correspond
ent, and Winston Spencer Churchill
repeats the declaration. that the Brit
ish were successful because they broke
mp our undertaking. What undertak.
ing? is question would like to |
ask Does he imagine that we went |
out with our entire available force OF
battleshins, battle cruisers, etc. to
shoot sparrows. or that, if we were
a new cruiser raid mon the
English coast, we went clear up to
the Norwegian coast as starting
nCint? No; we went north to find the
'nemy which we knew was there. We |
omd him, met the bulk of the British
Grand fleet in square staud-up tight.
inflicted the heavy loss of one of his
most modern supcrdrcadnoughts.
hree battle cruisers, small navy of
Irmorod cruisers, scouts and destroy.
rs and paid comparatively low
rice for nur victory