Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-01-09
GERMANS LONG
FED UPON LIES
BY Won TIRP|Tz

high seas feet would fight second
Skagerak battle and that thereby
the doom of British elimination Of
the seas would be sealed, ust as it
was almost universally believed that
our U-boats would in a short time
force England ito her knees
All these hopeful ones were blind
ed by the lie--the lie which was one
of the chief weapons of our war
fare on land and sea. Lie and i.uff
celebrated veritable orgies, particu-
ilarly under Tirpitz and Capelle.
People in Ignorance. 49,;
The innocent people did not know
that for year we could speak of
our high seas, feet only in a
limited way; they did not know
that actually the U-boat squadrons
were equal to the task that was Sc,
them only in the mouths of the
leaders of our feet never in reality;
they did not know that the "Prus-
sian system" had been long since
sentenced to death and damnstion.
They did not know that the SOL
diers and engineers, this magnif-
cent human material, infinitely good
natured and devoted, must finally be
driven to despair by the wrong kind
of treatment and other factors. All
these things can be only briefly al
luded to in the frame of this ar
ticle.
Lips Were Sealed.
Those who know the truth had
their lips sealed by the censorship.
Those who were honest and upright
and whom the ardent love of their
country and their people command
ed to give warning against under
estimating the enemy and over
estimating our own power, were
muzzled in every way. ,..
Despite all the obstacles and the
sharp restrictions this writer has
unswervingly endeavored to tell the
truth. Naturally, this was possible
most of the time only between the
lines" and thus much remained hid
den to the eyes of those whose per-
spective was not properly set to
look for. the many tricks of decep-
ton.
Facts as to Shipping.
What are the facts? In Novem-
Der. 1914, we had little over
million tons of naval shipping
against the British 100000 tons. |
The German material was inferior
to the British, thanks to the mis-
takes of Won Tirpitz. Our ships |
OF the line, battleships and cruisers, |
were of smaller displacement than |
they British; they were less power
fully armer and possessed less
speed
If one compares the strength of |
the two fleets and remembers that |
the Russian Baltic feet of 100000 |
tons, was, up to Russia's collapse,
to be counted on the enemy's side
the French naval forces were for
the greater part arrested in : the
Mediterranean by the Austriahf feet
Il. is clear that our feet had slight
chances. ~
In spite of this the personnel OF
orr navy has, as far as was posi-
Bile with the deficient material and
in the circumstances, made an ex-
traordinary record. With very few
exceptions, the officers and men
stood the trying test brilliantly. II
Won Tirpitz to Blame. +
On nearly every occasion our de-
feats were traceable to the Won Tir-'
pitt wrong building policy. Think,
for instance, of the duel between
the Emden and the Sydney on No
vcmber 9, 1914, when the glorious
raiding cruiser of Captain Won
Mueller came to an end. Both YES
sells had been built in the same
year. The Sydney had l5.2-centi-
meter guns, the Emden only 10.5-
centimeter guns. The Sydney, with
its one-third larger caliber guns,
naturally could fight the Emden
down easily without even coming
within the Emden's range. Similar
conditions prevailed in the fight off
the Falkland islands.
Saved from Disaster.
In the Skagerak battle our fleet
was saved from disaster by three
things:
THE clever leadership of Ad-
miral Scheer.
2-The clumsy handling of the