Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1916 — WIRELESS AND WIT COVERED GOEBEN FLIGHT [ARTICLE]

WIRELESS AND WIT COVERED GOEBEN FLIGHT

With Breslau, Watched on One Route, She Got to Turkey by Another. FLASHES TOLD EVERY MOVE Fooled British as to Destination, Changed Course and Jammed Enemy’s Wireless So Warships Could Not Be Advised. London. —A picturesque account of the thrilling escape of the Goeben and the Breslau to the Dardanelles at the beginning of the war is contained in a book which is causing a sensation in Germany. The author, Emil Ludwig, who says that the facts were gathered from sources of unquestioned reliability, asserts that the two German warships owe their escape from the British pursuit to a remarkable wireless device. He also says that the British fleet was so certain of the enemy cruisers’ intention to gain an Austrian port in the Adriatic that special precautions were taken to guard the Strait of Otranto, thus leaving to the Germans a clear road from Messina to Constantinople. There is evidence that the author has had access to the log book of the Goeben, and that he also received first hand information regarding the flight from the commander in chief, Vice-Admiral Souchon. Vice-Admiral Souchon, it appears from the book, was informed on June 28, 1914, by wireless of the murder of the archduke, and later —the exact date is not given, but judging by tlje context it would seem to have been toward the middle of July—the following wireless message reached the Goeben from the German admiralty staff at Berlin:

“German ships must not touch French and English harbors.” Exchanged Courtesies. Officers and men of the Goeben working in the wireless room in relays of four hours at a time for ten days flashed the message to German ships In the Mediterranean, the Black sea and the Atlantic ocean. The writer dates the story of the flight from July 30, when he says the crew of the Breslau gave cheers for the British destroyers Defence and Raccoon, which she encountered. The cheers were promptly returned. On the evening, of the. same day the Braalau received the following message from the British “ship of the line” Gloucester: “Tomorrow an English sailor is to be buried; please run your flag down to half mast.” An invitation was extended to the British officers to come on board the Breslau on the following evening. Obviously only the respective staffs knew then the possibilities of the European situation. The Gloucester disappeared during the night. Four days later the Gloucester was chasing the Breslau through the Mediterranean sea. On the same morning on which the British ship had disappeared' an order came from the admiral that the Breslau should leave for Brindisi, there to await instructions. The Breslau weighed anchor and rushed away at twenty-eight miles an hour toward Brindisi. On the way the following emphatic message was received by the admiral: , “Political relations broken off between Triple Alliance and France, Russia and Great Britain.” At one o’clock in the afternoon of August l,the Breslau came alongside the Goebdn before Brindisi. A third ship, the German passenger liner General, Joined the warships at about the same time, having been called thither by the admiral. The . three ships arrived at Messina on August 2. ' War News by Wireless.

At one o’clock on , the morning of August 3 the Goeben and Breslau put to sea. Only the staff knew why and whither. Throughout the next day, proceeds the writer, Souchon anxiously awaited nqws by wireless, and it was not before six o’clock in the evening that an officer slipped on to the bridge with the following deciphered message: T —_ “Eranqe has declared war.” “Coal like the devil,” said the admiral a little latef: “We shall see the Algerian coast at dawn and get the first shot in.” At two minutes to midnight the following wireless message was handed to the admiral: “Breslau and Goeben must steam with all speed to Constantinople.” The message was "unexpected, startling; almpst incredible.” The admiral resolved to get his blow in at the first hour. The Breslau shelled Bone, Algeria, and the Goeben Philippeville, and the admiral laughed as he read intercepted French wireless messages which indicated a belief that “the German cruiser" was eontintflbg westward. At 10:50 in the morning the two German ships sighted two British ships; Invincible and Inflexible. Later a British vessel, of the 'Vijeyclass, toined the latter. At eleven o’clock that night the wireless officer deciphered by Mans of his lamp and code book the following message received from Norddeich: “England has declared war." The admiral and his staff were not surprised,, bat the crew, when the

news was communicated to them, "became quiet.” At four o’clock in the morning of August .5 the two Bhips. reached Messina. The General Was waiting there laden with coal, but the representatives of the Italian government refused on grounds of neutrality to allow the warships themselves to coal there. Planned to Deceive British. On the evening of the same day another shock occurred. An Italian officer "representing the commander at Messina” arrived and was ushered into the admiral’s dining room. The admiral asked him to take a seat, but he preferred to stand. "What may I do for you?” asked the admiral. "We want to know,” replied the officer (in German), “how long the German ships propose to remain here. They can only remain twenty-four hours in a neutral port.” The semi-official writer observes, “The last words came with difficulty from the Italian's lips.” "Very well, I will remain here twentyfour hours,” replied the admiral. There was a pause. “Of course I reckon the respite from this moment in which you inform me that Messina Is, in fact, a neutral port.” At midday on August 6 the admiral issued the following order to *the three ships under his command:

“News about the enemy is uncertain. I presume his strength lies in the Adriatic and that he is watching both exits in the Messina straits. “Object: To break through to the East and reach the Dardanelles. "Order of going: Goeben leaves at five o’clock at seventeen miles an hour; Breslau follows at a distance of five miles and closes it up at darkness. “I want to create the impression that we are wanting to go to the Adriatic, and in case I do succeed in creating the impression that we are wanting to go to the Adriatic we shall veer round in the night and make for Cape Matapan, if possible throwing off the enemy. "The steamer General to leave at seven o’clock in the evening, to keep along the Sicilian coast and to try and reach Santorin.” "As the ships—flags flying and music playing—were reaching the open sea the following wireless message from the kaiser reached the admiral : “His majesty expects the Goeben and the Breslau to succeed in breaking through.” Shortly after leaving the harbor an English cruiser of the Weymouth class, alleged to be the Gloucester, appeared on the horizon. ' The German narrative proceeds: Profited by Enemy’s Wrong Guess.

“The commander asked the admiral whether they should open fire. ‘No, no.’ Astonishment. The wireless officers were even more puzzled. They could hear the wireless waves being transmitted by the operators on the English cruiser. They did not know the code, but they noted the call and the answer. The German boats were evidently expected, and all preparations for attacking them were being made. “The English cruiser was emitting signals in three groups, and it was clear that it referred to the Goeben. wireless receivers finally deciphered the signal of the British cruiser as ‘Goeben making for the Adriatic.’ • . “The German wireless officer argued thuswise: ‘I can jam him. If I break my waves against his I can confuse, hold up, destroy his messages.’ ‘Shall I jam his wireless?’ he asked the admiral. “ ‘No,’ was the answer to both questions. No one apart from the staff

understood the admiral. This Is how he argued, however: ‘This boat is evidently a patrol intending to wireless our movement to the main British fleet. He shall save us; not ruin us. He shall do his work. We shall neither Are at nor Jam him. Let him wireless that the Germans are making for the Adriatic, whereas the Dardanelles is ouf v object.’ Jammed the Wireless. "It was dark. The Breslau closed In. It was ten o’clock in the evening. Then came the order from the bridge: ‘Right about: starboard; make for Cape Matapan’ (the southern point of Greece). "The watching British cruiser saw the maneuver, but before it could wireless the news that the Gormans were making for the east the following order was flashed out from the admiral: "‘Jam the wireless; jam it like the devil!’ "The Goeben operators began the work of confusion. Wireless wave broke in upon wireless wave; sound interrupted sound for two solid hours. And during all that time the British fleet lay securely off Malta and the straits of Otranto, ready to prevent the Germans bearking through into the Adriatic. During these two hours, however, the Germans were traveling eastward without obstaclj, while the patrol boat tried to make itself understood in vain. A wild weird song of sounds quivered through the air, wireless wave crashed into wireless wave, always confusion and uncertainty.” The writer admits that the wireless messages of the cruiser which he calls the Gloucester evidently reached the British fleet, but they reached it too late —the German ships were on the way to Constantinople.