Evening star., 1940-04-17
Eyewitness
Continued From First Page

NSOIICA1luCO EIOH c1TSL EdRc.)
greatest speed. Soon it became evi-
dent how necessary this speed was,
for only a short time after us Brit
ish destroyers appeared before Mar
vik.
"Foggy weather alone had kept
them from carrying out their COM
mand to invade Narvik the day
before. Thus, in the final analysis,
1t was our better navigation skill
which assured us of priority. We
simply risked running into the
fjord despite weather conditions
giving poor visibility.
I'VE had hardly set up our de-
lenses when the British destroyers.
at first invisible to us, began shoot
ing into the city. We started
counter attack Immediately,
Il was standing on the bridge
OF the destroyer on which also our
commodore (Fritz Bonte, whose
death in action was reported today
by the high commanO found him.
self.
Hot Fight Insues.
"A hot fight insued between our
ships and our enemy.
"As soon as we started firing the
English turned of. They were pur-
sued by our destroyers, which sank
three British destroyers right of
the bat and so badly damaged q
fourth that 1t sank soon thereafter.
Reports and detonations, re-
peated manifold by the echo of the
mountains, resounded across the
harbor and ford.
Suddenly there was an explosion
IN my immediate vicinity. Our shin
had been hit.
Heavy pieces of iron hurled into
the air struck me and I was later
brought ashore wounded.
The first attack by the English
had been repulsed.
(The British reported they
sank one destroyer and left
others In flames in the first battle
OF Narvik. The British also ad-
mitted the loss of two destroyers.
The Germans said they sank six
British destroyers in the first two
days OF German occupancy of
Narvik.)
They later repeated their attack.
In so doing they shot blindly into
the city. They didn't attempt to
concentrate On military aims.
Dwelling houses at the harbor.
rocks and Norwegian inhabitants
who wanted to save themselves
were targets for these planless
attacks.
Major Attack Described.
Then came the major attack of
Saturday. Our <destroyers, still
ready for a tight, warded of an
enemy tremendously superior to us
until the last grenade and last
torpedo had been fred.
Again the ford reverberated with
the thunder Of cannons and with
explosions.
The Englishmen couldn't carry
out their command to enter the m
ner fjord. They neither reached the
harbor nor has single Englishman
reached land"
This second encounter, Gerlach
said. he watched from the tower on
hill above Narvik city.
cThe British reported the de-
struction of seven German de-
stroyers in the second fight and
asserted their damages were only
slightly
I myself was received in friendly
manner in Narvik Hospital, together
with our other wounded" Gerlach
continued.
The doctors and nurses of the
city shared the care Of the wounded
Inhabitants visited us and brought
us friendly gifts.
Injured Taken Home.
"The transport back home of the
injured was started. After the Eng
llsh reports had for days already
been claiming the capture of Narvik,
my turn came for transport home.
"Narvik city, harbor and the
entire hinterland up to the Swedish
border were still in our hands when
we left Narvik by airplane. And so
I arrived today in Berlin for a re-
port and must go to a hospital to-
night.
up there, however, the crews of
our destroyers stand ready to defend
the soil. After having shot all their
munition at sea they will now, after
Commodore Bonte's heroic spirit.
continue to fight on land in the same
spirit and determination.
CThis seems to bear out the
British contention that the Ger
man destroyers at Narvik were
destroyed and the Berlin high
commands report that the sur
vivors joined German forces
ashore.)
That's the contribution of our
destroyers to the total action where
by Germany anticipated England's
attack on Norway's neutrality. That
such an attack was already in proc
ess of execution is proven not only
by British mines in Norwegian SOW
VXyrYEDr MN ar~-~- -