Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-08-01
GERMAN SAILOR On
.LUTZOW DESCRIBES.
JOTLAND BATTLE {.


were battered or sunk by Admiral
Beatty's British squadron in June, 1916,
are wildly described by p Krug, one
OF the Lutzow's survivors in a pamph-
let which has just been published here.
] is believed to be the first detailed
sorry of that great battle from the point
OF view of the German sailer to reach
the public eye.
| Torpedoed by British warship early
i the engagement the Lutzow, which
was the flagship of Admiral Hyper,
was hammered numerically by the big
guns of the British vessels, and soon
become a complete wreck, ship of
the dead, as Krug describes her.
According to his story twenty-seven
German sailors were trapped in the
Diesel dynamo room before the battle
had been long in progress and remain
ed there when the Lutzow, a disabled
hulk was abandoned and sent to the
| DCCtOL ny d tOl pSuO IlOlh q oSh AAe'ii
destroyer. Two of these imprisoned
men had been driven insane and were
kept tied by their shipmates.
After describing the first part of the
battle and telling how the arrival of
British battleships turned the tables
on the Germans, Krug writes:
Suddenly the entire ship is roughly
shaken The colossus heaves far over,
and everything that is not fixed is up
set. The first direct hit. The torpedo
pierces the fore part of the ship. It's
effects are terrible Iron wood, wood,
metal, parts of bodies, smashed ships
! implements are all intermixed and
the electric light, by chance spared,
continues to shine upon this sight.
1.-TWO decks lower, in the Diesel dy-
namo room, there is still life. That
compartment has not been hit, and 27
men in the prime of life have been
l spared, but the chamber is shut off
llOlI al OlitIos lOl llC WClSl - 't2AA
ing into all sections. They are doom
Ell to death. Several 38-centimeter
shells squarely hit their mark, work
ins terrible havoc. The first hit the
wireless department Of the twelve
/ living men who a moment ago were
seated before the apparatus, there is
! nothing more to be seen. Nothing is
left but smoking heap of ruins The
second shot again pierced the fore part
OF the ship, The entire fore part of
the vessel, as far as the Diesel motor
room was past saving. Another
broadside meant for the LutzoW fell
short, but a torpedo-boat close by dis
appeared, leaving only a few odd
pieces of wood and a smashed lifeboat
drifting round. 1t is now half past
seven, and the hostile circle grows ev-
er smaller. The Lutzow and the Sey-
dlitz lie with their bows deep in the
water; both are badly mauled. The
fore part of the Lutzow was in flames.
Shells burst against the ships side in
rapid succession. A terrible sight is
presented on board the Lutlow, and it
needs iron nerves to look upon it coolly
Hundreds have lost their lives, while
many have lain for hours in torture,
and the fight is not yet over The bow
is now crushed in and is entirely sub
merged The four screws are already
sticking half out of the water, so that
the Lutzow can only make to 10
knots an hour, as against the normal
80"
The Admiral decides to transfer to
the Moltke. He gives orders to turn
and get away from the scene of the
fight but the Lutzow has not gone a
mile before she receives a broadsidee
o. 3S-centimeter shells The entire
ship was filled with the poisonous
fumes of the shells, and anyone who
failed to affix his gas mask was doom
ed to be suffocated.
1T was three-quarters of an hour
before the lighting installation was
restored Then for the first could the
extent Of the damage wrought by the
salvo be seen. One Of the shells had
landed in the sick bay Here there
were three doctors and fifteen atten-
dants besides 160 to $50 wounded. OF
all these only four remained alive.
These four we're hurled into the next
partment by the air pressure; there
they lay unconscious.
The Lutzow was now a complete
wreck. Corpses drifted past, from the
bows up to the first 30 centineter gun
turret the ship lay submerged. The
ether gun-turrets we're completely dis
abled, v tn the gdns striking out in all
directions On dtk lay the bodies Of
. l. IN,