The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1920-06-10
HOW GERMAN SHIPS
EVADED The BRITISH
REVEALED IN ''NAEAL OPERA.
TIONS.'
FOR THE FIRST TIME.
Story of Escape of Goeben and Bres'
Iau From DardaneIles is Told
in Official British Document.

the escape OF IneS6. Oerudu ud'aI
ships from the Dardanelles at the
outbreak of of the war has been re-
vealed in Naval Operations, the
first volume of the official history
of the war, which has just been pub
lished here.
There has always been great deal
of mystery about the happenings IN
the Mediterranean between August
8 and August 10, 1914. All that is
known is that afterward the Admiral
ty said Admiral Sir Berkeley Milne
was not to blame and that a court
martial acquitted Rear Admiral Trou-
bridge of negligence. The fact re-
mained that the two German ships
escaped.
The British Mediterranean squad
ron was ordered by the Admiralty
to assist in covering the transport
of French troops from Africa to
France, and it was mot to be brought
to action by superior forces" That
last instruction weighed like mill
stone on all the actions of the fate
full week.
The Goeben was superior to any
of the British ships except the bat
tie cruisers, and they were almost
constantly to the westward guarding
the French transport lines. Conse-
ouently she was only really chal-
lenged by the little Glouchester,
whose immortal daring is already
famous. Moreover, the British bat
tie cruisers were wasted by the strate-
gical disposition, because the French
navy had. it's full strength on the
transport lines, and did not need
British help.
, There was no collaboration bet
tween the British and French ad-
mirals during the period of strained
relations" and neither knew what
the other was doing because there
was no written diplomatic alliance
between these two countries.
There was, however, one other
factor that no naval man could have
foreseen, and that was the treach-
ery of Enver Pasha and his col
leagues to their own country. They
were prepared secretly to league
Turkey with Germany and to admit
the Goeben and the Breslau to the
.Dardanelles, not for internment,
but as a stiffening to the Turkish
fleet.
While the British were seeking
to prevent the German ships escaping
to the Atlantic through the straits OF
Gibraltar, or seeking shelter in the
Adriatic, their real objectice was quite
different. 1t was repetition of the
position in which Nelson found him
self in 1906, when he misjudged Vii
lenenve's movements, and in which
Couingwood found himself four years
later against Gauteaume and Allie
mande in the same waters.
The difference was that this time
no chance arose to repair the blum
der, and as Sir Joulian Corbett says:
much as there was in those crowd
ed opening days to excuse the fall
ure, it must always tell as a shadow
in our naval history" The presence
OF the Goeben and the Breslau at
Constantinople was the deciding fac
tor in Turkeys fate.
When we add to them the we'll
tried Russian device of lying tele-
gram from the German admiral to
the Turkish ministers in October,
alleging that his squadron had been
attacked by the Russian fleet off the
Bosphorus, we got an irresistible
combination. Turkey came into the
war on the losing side, but the par
ticipation caused endless cOmplica-
tions, cost thousands of lives, and
even today is ,hampering and hinder
ing the settlement of peace.
It was Turkey that was mainly
responsible for the suppression OF
the news of the loss Of the Auda-
cious. THE Foreign office at that
moment was faced with what was to
prove and was even then recognized
to be one of the momentous crises
of the war, and the announcement
of the startling German success
against the British fleet might well
turn the swaying scales in their ia
vor. The Germans were clearly do
ing everything in their power to
force Turkey into the war.
In these circumstances there was
obviously every reason to conceal
the loss as long as POSSIBLE
Why Lord Fisher objected to re-