The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-07
German Survivor Describes
Sinking of Flagship Lutzow.
Terrible Devastation Aboard as
British Shells Explode.
SGT OF CREW PERISH IN FIGHT
Shell Into Hospital Kills $50
Patients and Attendants.
A Total Wreck, Finally Sunk by
n Commanders Order.

The Hague, Netherlands. Aug. T.
Scenes on board the German flagship
Lutzow during the Jutland naval bat
tie when some of the newest and
f largest of the German battle cruisers
were battered or sunk by Admiral
Beafty's British squadron In June,
1915, are wildly described by p.
krug, one of the Lutzow's survivors
In a pamphlet which has just been
published here. 1t is believed to be
the first detailed story of that great
battle from the point of view of the
German sailor to reach the public eve. |
Torpedoed by a British warship
early in the engagement the Lutzow,
which was the flagship of Admiral
Hipper, was hammered numerically
by the big guns of the British vessels. |
and soon became a complete wreck, n
ship of the dead as Krug describes
her
% Trapped in Dynam1 Room.
According to his story twenty-seven
Gernan sailors were trapped in the
Diesel dynamo room before the battle
had been long in progress and re-
NAMED there when the Lutzow. a lis
able hulk. was abandoned and sent to
thef bottom by a torpedo from a Ger
man destroyer. Two of these impris-
once men mad been driven insane and
We're kept tied by their shipmates.
After describing the first mart of
the battle and telling how the arrival
OF the British battleships turned the
apies on the Germans, Krug writes:
=, Suddenly the entire ship is rough
~ shaken. The colossus heaves far
over and everything that is not fixed
IS upset. The first direct hiti n a
loiPedo pierces the fore part of the
snip. Its effects are terrible. Iron.
sbj 1G, netaI, parts of bodies, smashed
sP implements are all intermixed.
anu the electric light, by chance
sight. uPoh Ihls
.Broadside Hit Torpedo Boat
5,,ra wo decks lower, in the Diesel
uyIdno room, there is still life. That
compartment has not been hit and
,t,wenty-seven men in the prime Of
ne nave been spared, but the cham
Der Is smut off from all others, for the
mater Is rushing into all sections.
ihey are doomed to death. Severai
So-eenumeter shells squareIy hit their
marx. working terrible havoc. The
4rst mt the wireless department OF
sa az WE'VE lVlng men who moment
aso were seated before the apparatus
tnere is nothing more to be seen
Nothlng Is left but a smoking heao
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 roor1 was mast
saving. Another broadside meant for
the LutzoY fell short, but a torpedo
Doa seiose BY disappeared; leaving only
re1r odd pieces of wood and smash
ed Hfeboat drifting around. It is now
mai past Z, and the hostile circle
grows smaller.
The Lutzow and the Seydlitz lie with
theH bows deep in the water. both
are BADLY mauled. The fore. part of
Il the Lutzow was in flames Shells
burst against the ships side in rapid
SUCCESSION. A terrible sight is pre-
sentsd on board the Lutzow, and it
neeSs' IRON nerves to look upon it
cooAy Hundreds have lost their lives,
while many have lain for hours in tor
ture and the fight is not yet over.
The bow is now crushed in and is en-
TREY submerged. The four screws
are ~already sticking half out of the
water, so that the Lutzow can only
make eight to ten knots an hour, as
against the normal thirty-two.
Gas Fumes Deadly.
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 broadside
of 2S-centimeter Shells The entire
ship was filled with the poisonous
fumes 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 re-
stored. Then for the first time coul1
the Extent of the damage wrought by
the lsalvo be seen. One of the shells
had. landed in the sick bay. Here
there were three doctors and fifteen
attendants besides $50 to $50 wound
ed OF all these only four remained
alive. These four were hurled into
N the next compartment by the air pres
sure; there they lay unconscious.
Deck Strewn With Bodies.
1.-The Lutzow was now complete
wreck. Corpses drifted past. From
the bows up to the first 30-centimeter
gun-turret the ship lay submerged.
The other gun-turrets were complete
IN Disabled with the gurs sticking out
in all directions On the deck lay the
bodies of the sailors in their torn uni
forms, in the midst of the empty shell
cases From the masts f1uttered torn
flags. twisted signal lines and pieces
of wire from the wireless installation.
Had not the lookout man and the
three officers on the commanders
bridge given signs of life. the Lutzow
would have truly resembled = ship OF
the-dead Below, on the battery deck
and<in the coal bunkers. there still
lay 5fnnumerable wounded, but there
was no longer a doctor to attend tc
then;
eight came on and hope was en-
tertained of getting away without a
further encounter. But at O'Clock
in the night news of the approach OF
two British cruisers and five destroy
ers WAS received and just az that crit
ica1 lime the fore and middle bulk
heads gave way.
Had TO Desert wounded.
Orders were given to quickly carry
the Wounded to the stern. Then the
order rings out: All hands muster ir
divisions order abaft.' A tumult arise:
on the lower deck. for everybody j:
now bent on saving his life. 1t is
impossible in that short space of time
to bring up all the wounded, for they
are scattered everywhere. Fighter
men, bad the good fortune to be car
ried up. but all the rest who could
not walk or crawl had to be left be.
hind.
The twenty-seven men shut up ir
the Diesel dynamo chamber had heard