way of definite arrangements, or even assurances. Admiral Goette was
given very plainly to understand, however, that it was the intention
of the Allied Commission to visit and inspect, in accordance with the
terms laid down in the armistice, not only all of the remaining German
warships, but also all interned British merchantmen, irrespective of
where they were, and all naval airship and seaplane stations, on the
Baltic as well as the North Sea side. Also, that full and complete
guarantee of the safety of every party landed must be given before
the first visit was made. Failing this, it would be necessary for the
Commission to return to England and report that the assistance promised
by Germany in carrying out the armistice terms had not been given.
The deep corrugation in Admiral Goette's brow grew deeper still when he
heard this plain warning, and the corners of his hard cynical mouth drew
down at the corners as the thin lips were compressed in his effort at
self-control. Shuffling uneasily in his chair, he leaned over as though
to speak to the sardonic Hinzman on his right, but thought better of
it, and straightened up again. Then his deep-set eyes wandered to the
large-scale map of the Western Front which occupied most of the wall
of the cabin toward which he faced. The row of pins, which had marked
the line of the Front at the moment of the armistice, but had now been
moved up and over the Rhine in three protuberant bridgeheads, evidently
brought home to him the futility of any further circumlocutions for the
present. The muscles of the aggressively squared shoulders relaxed, the
combative lines of the face melted into furrows of deepest depression,
and the pugnacious jaw was drawn in as the iron-grey head was bowed in
submission. His throaty "It shall be done as you say, sir," told that
the first lesson had sunk home.
An undertaking on the part of the German Commission to secure, and to
send off at an as early hour as practicable the following morning, the
required "safe conduct," brought the first conference to a close. The
kinema man, who endeavoured to take a picture of the departure from
cover, in order not to offend the sensibilities of his distinguished
subjects, spoiled a film as a consequence of his consideration.
Observing that the galley scuttle opened out upon the quarter-deck, but
not (in his haste) that the pots of beans simmering on the range were
filling the air with clouds of steam as thick as fragrant, set up his
machine just inside. Engrossed in turning the crank as one Hun after
another went through his heel-clicking round of salutes, he failed to
notice the translucent mask of moisture condensing on his lens. The
natural result was that this particular reel of film, when it came to
be developed, had very little to differentiate it from another reel he
exposed the following morning on the men "doubling round," the latter
having been taken with the cap over the lens.
The situation as it presented itself that evening was far from
encouraging. Having no information whatever of our own as to conditions
ashore, we had, perforce, to take the word of the Germans that many of
the projected visits of inspection could only be undertaken subject
to much difficulty and delay, if at all. There was not even positive
assurance that a safe conduct would be forthcoming for the landing in
Wilhelmshaven, where the headquarters of the German Naval Command were
located at the moment, and where there had been a minimum of disorder.
The wireless caught ominous fragments pointing to an imminent _coup
d'état_ in Berlin, while rioting was already taking place in Hamburg
and Bremen, and Kiel was completely under the control of the workmen
and soldiers. It certainly looked as though, the armistice agreement
notwithstanding, we had struck Northern Germany in the closed season for
touring.
A ray of light in the gloom which hung over the ship that night came in
the form of two British prisoners of war who managed to induce a German
launch they had found at the quay to bring them off to the _Hercules_.
Cheery souls they were, after all their two years of starvation and
rough treatment in one of the worst prison camps in Germany. When the
armistice was signed, they said, they had been released, given a ticket
which was made out to carry them in the Fourth or "Military" class on
any German railway, and told they were free to go home. This appears to
have been done at a good many prison camps, and where these were within
a few days' march of the Western Front, or of Holland, it probably
saved a good deal of time over waiting for regular transport by the
demoralized and congested railway systems. The cruelty of this criminal
evasion of responsibility was most felt in the parts of the country
more remote from the Western Front, where many hundreds of miles had to
be covered before the prisoners had any chance of getting in touch with
friends. In the cases of most of these unfortunate derelicts long delays
were inevitable, and, not infrequently, much hardship. There was little
interference, apparently, with the exercise of the travel privilege, but
the almost total absence of authoritative information concerning the
departure of ships from Baltic ports, by which considerable numbers of
British were repatriated _viâ_ Denmark and Sweden, resulted in an almost
interminable series of wanderings.
[Illustration: THE PADRE OF THE "HERCULES" TALKING WITH NEWLY ARRIVED
BRITISH PRISONERS]
The case of the two men I have mentioned was typical of the experiences
undergone by prisoners from camps in northern or central Germany.
Released, as I have described, when the armistice was signed, they had
broken away from their fellows, the bulk of whom were starting to drift
toward the Western Front, and struck out for the North Sea coast, acting
on the theory that navigation would be opened up at once, and that this
route, therefore, would offer the easiest and quickest way of getting
home. Well off for money and fairly considerately treated on the food
score, they found travelling simple enough, but extremely tedious and
full of delays. Arriving at Emden, they learned that there had been
no provision whatever made for dispatching ships with prisoners from
there, and that--both on account of the lack of shipping and the danger
of navigating the still unswept minefields--there was no prospect of
anything of the kind in the near future. Instead of crossing over the
neighbouring frontier of Holland, as they might easily have done, they
pushed north to Bremen and Hamburg on the chance that there might be
ships from one of these formerly busy ports by which they could find
their way back to England. Disappointed again, they were about to go
on to Kiel, when they read in a newspaper of the arrival of a British
battleship at Wilhelmshaven. Rightly conjecturing that they were at
last on the "home trail," they effected the best series of connections
possible to the once great naval base, where no obstacles were placed in
the way of their getting put off to the _Hercules_ without delay.
As the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council had been endeavouring to
establish touch with the Commission ever since the arrival of the
_Hercules_ in German waters, and as the way the "authorities" had
co-operated in getting these men put off to the ship looked just a
bit suspicious, it was only natural that the latter should be put
through a very thorough examination calculated to establish their
identity as British prisoners beyond a doubt. This was being proceeded
with by the Commander and the Major of Marines in a room of the after
superstructure, when a steward came up from the galley to ask what the
new arrivals would like to have for supper. There was quite a list to
choose from, it appears. They could have roast beef, said the steward,
or sausage and "mashed," or steak and kidney pie, or--"Stop right there,
mytey," cut in one of the men, raising his hand with the gesture of a
crossings policeman halting the flow of the traffic. "No use goin' any
further. 'Styke an' kidney' fer mine." Then, turning to the Commander
apologetically, "Begging your pardon, sir, but wot was it you was askin'
'bout wot engagement we wus captured in?" "I don't think we need trouble
any further about that, my man," replied the Commander with a grin.
"That 'styke an' kidney' marks you for British all right, and if you'll
vouch for your mate here, we'll take your word that he's on the level
too. We'll send you home by the first mail destroyer, and be glad of the
chance to do it. That won't be for a couple of days yet, but I dare say
you'll be able to make yourself at home in the _Hercules_ until then."
As the first of the hundred or more prisoners for whom the _Hercules_
ultimately acted as a "clearing house" in passing home to England,
these two men were very welcome on their own account, but especially so
for the news they brought of conditions ashore. It was quiet everywhere
they had been in Northern Germany, they said. Nobody was starving, and
where the people took any notice of them at all, it was--since the
armistice--invariably of a friendly character. "W'y, 'pon my word, sir,"
said one of them, where I found him that night in a warm corner of one
of the mess decks, the centre of an admiring circle of matelots, who
were crowding in with offerings of everything from mugs of bitter beer
to cakes of chocolate; "'pon my word, all you 'ave to do is to tyke a
kyke o' perfumed soap to the beach when you land, an' they'll all come
an' eat right out o' yer 'and. W'y, the gurls--"
Although the Allied Naval Armistice Commission could hardly be expected
to smooth its way with "kykes o' perfumed soap," yet all these men had
to tell, in that it went to prove how greatly the officers of the German
Commission had (to use a charitable term) exaggerated the difficulties
to be encountered in getting about ashore, was distinctly encouraging.
Indeed, it left those of us who talked with them quite prepared to
expect the "guarantee of safety," which came off in the morning, with
word that arrangements had been made for parties to land at once for
the inspection of warships and the seaplane station. It even forecasted
the message received in the course of the afternoon, to the effect that
conditions now appeared to be favourable to the arranging of visits
to Norderney, Borkhum, Nordholz, and the other seaplane and Zeppelin
stations which the Allied Commission had expressed a desire to see. The
Hamburg visit was still in the air, pending the receipt of guarantees
of safety, but there was no longer any doubt that it would be arranged,
and, moreover, as promptly as the Commission saw fit to insist upon.
For the purpose of the search of warships, and the inspection of
merchant ships and air stations, the staff of the Allied Commission
had been divided into several parties. The senior party, which was to
confine its work entirely to warships and land fortifications, had at
least one member of each of the Allied nationalities represented in the
Commission. The head of it was the Flag Commander of the _Hercules_, and
the technical duties in connection with its work devolved principally
upon the British and American naval gunnery experts which it always
included, and at least one engineer officer.
There were two "air" parties, one for the inspection of seaplane
stations, and the other for that of airship stations. The senior
flying officer was Brigadier-General Masterman, R.A.F., who was one of
England's pioneers in the development of lighter-than-air machines, his
experience dating back to the experiments with the ill-fated _Mayfly_.
His interest was in Zeppelins, and he had the leadership of the party
formed for the inspection of airship stations. This party included one
other British officer and two Americans.
Colonel Clark-Hall was the head of the second "air" party, which had
charge of the inspection of seaplane stations. He had flown in a
seaplane in the first year of the war at Gallipoli, and more recently
had directed flying operations from the _Furious_, with the Grand Fleet.
Having sent off the aeroplanes whose bombs had practically wiped out
the Zeppelin station at Tondern, near the Danish border, the previous
summer, he had an especial interest in seeing at first hand the effects
of that raid, though otherwise his interest was centred in seaplane
stations. Two American flying officers, and one British, completed the
"seaplane station" party.
The Shipping Board, which had in hand the matter of the return to
England of the two score and more of British ships in German harbours,
was headed by Commodore George P. Bevan, R.N., the Naval Adviser of the
Minister of Shipping, who had distinguished himself earlier in the war
as commander of the British trawler patrol in the Mediterranean. With
him were associated Commander John Leighton, R.N.R., who had achieved
notable success in effecting the return to England of the numerous
British merchant ships in Baltic ports at the outbreak of the war, and
Mr. Percy Turner, a prominent shipbuilder and Secretary to the Minister
of Shipping. The actual inspection of the ships in German harbours was
to be done by Commander Leighton, with such assistance as was needed
from officers of the _Hercules_.
It fell to the lot of the senior of the warship-searching party to make
the first landing. As this party, with at least one member from each
nationality, was more or less a "microcosm" of the Commission itself, it
was decreed that it should make its visits in state, in the full pomp
and panoply of--peace. This meant, one supposed, frock coats, cocked
hats, and swords, but as all the former had been sent ashore, by order,
early in the war, and as none of the Americans had even the latter, it
was evident at once that there was no use competing in a dress parade
with the Germans, who were operating at their own base, so to speak. The
best that could be done was to borrow swords--from any of the ward-room
officers chancing to have theirs along--for the Americans, and let
it go at that. The "International" members, whose principal duty, in
connection with the searches, was to walk about the upper decks and
look dignified, managed to wear their swords from the time they left
the _Hercules_ to their return; the others, who had really to look for
things, and, therefore, to clamber up and down steel ladders of boiler
rooms and the "trunks" of turrets, after numerous annoying trippings up,
had finally to "stack arms" in order to get on with their search.
Although none of the officers of the Commission had taken part in the
search of the German ships interned at Scapa, they had heard enough of
their filthiness and lack of discipline to be prepared to encounter the
same things when the inspection of the ships still remaining in home
waters was undertaken. In spite of this, the conditions--the dirtiness,
the slothfulness, the apparent utter disregard of the men for such few
of their officers as still remained--were everywhere much worse than
had been anticipated. This may well be accounted for by the fact that
the surrendered ships were manned entirely by volunteers, and these,
naturally, being the men less revolutionary in spirit and more amenable
to discipline, had taken better care of themselves and their quarters
than those who remained behind. At any rate, every one of the ships
remaining to the German Navy was an offence to the eye, and most of them
to the nose as well. If it was true, as had been said, that sloth and
filth are the high hand-maidens of Bolshevism, there is little doubt
that these twin trollops were in a position to hand the dregs of the
ex-Kaiser's fleet over to their mistress any day she wanted it.
We had, as yet, no definite hint of what attitude the men of the
Workmen's and Soldiers' Council were going to take toward parties landed
to carry out the work of the Allied Commission, and that was one of the
things which it was expected this first search of the warships in the
Wilhelmshaven dockyard would reveal. The beginning was not auspicious,
for in the very first ship visited the whole of the remaining crew were
found loitering indolently about the decks, in direct contravention of
the clause in the armistice which provided that all men should be sent
ashore during the visits of Allied searching parties. The captain, on
being appealed to, shrugged his shoulders and said that he was quite
helpless. "I ordered them to leave half an hour ago," he explained to
the interpreter, "and here they are still. I have no authority over
them, as you see; so what is there to do? I am sorry, but you see the
position I am in. I trust you will understand how humiliating a one
it is for an officer of the Imperial"--he checked himself at the word
_Kaiserliche_, and added merely, "German Navy."
"And, believe me, it _was_ humiliating," said one of the American
officers in telling of the incident later. "I had to keep reminding
myself that the man was a brother officer of the swine that sank the
_Lusitania_, and so many hospital ships, to stop myself from telling him
how gol darned sorry I was for any one that had got let in for a mess
like that."
The situation was scarcely less embarrassing for the officer at the head
of the Allied party than for the Germans. Fortunately the Flag Commander
was fully equal to the emergency. "If these men are not out on the dock
in ten minutes," he said to the captain, "I shall have no alternative
but to return at once to the _Hercules_ and report that the facilities
for search stipulated in the armistice have not been granted me."
Glancing at his wrist-watch, he sauntered over to the other side of the
deck.
The effect of the words (which appeared to have been understood by some
of the men standing near even in English) was galvanic. Blue-jackets
were streaming down the gangways before the orders had been passed
on to them by their officers, and the ship, save for a few cooks in
the galley, was emptied well within the time-limit assigned. It had
evidently been an attempt upon the part of the men to show contempt
for their officers, and was not intended to interfere with the work
of the searching party. Although we observed countless instances of
indiscipline in one form or another, on no subsequent occasion did it
appear in a way calculated to annoy or delay one of the Allied parties.
On the contrary, indeed, the men--and especially the representatives of
the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council--were almost invariably more than
willing to do anything to help. This spirit, it is needless to say, made
progress much faster and easier, and a continuance of it boded hopefully
for the completion of the Commission's program within the limit of the
original period of armistice.
It seems to have been the strong--and, I have no doubt, entirely
sincere--desire of both the German naval officers and the members of
the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council to get the inspection over and the
Allied Commission out of the way that led to a co-operation between
the two which I can hardly conceive as existing in connection with
their other relations. The representatives of the Workmen and Soldiers
appeared quite reconciled to the ruling of the Commission that the
latter was to have no direct dealings with them, and they exhibited no
evidences of ill-feeling over the failure of their attempts to establish
such relations. The Naval authorities and the Council had evidently
come to an agreement by which the latter were to be allowed to have
a representative--"watching" but not "talking"--with every Allied
party landing, in return for which privilege the Council undertook
to prevent any interference from the men remaining in ships or air
stations visited. Later, when journeys by railway were undertaken, and
a guarantee of freedom from molestation by the civilian population was
required, a second Workmen's and Soldiers' representative--a sort of a
"plain clothes" detective--was added. Both white-banded men were there
to help, not to interfere. Indeed, the men seemed fully to realize the
need of a higher mentality than their own in the conduct of the more or
less complicated negotiations with the Allied representatives, and were
therefore content to support their officers in an attempt to make the
best of what was a sorry situation for both.
A slight hitch which occurred in the arrangements of the "seaplane
station" party one morning, when the officer who was to have accompanied
it failed to turn up on the landing at the appointed hour, showed
how slender was the thread by which the authority of the once proud
and domineering German naval officer hung. After cooling their heels
in the slush of the dockyard for half an hour, the party returned
to the _Hercules_ to await an explanation. This came an hour later,
when the officer in question, very red in the face, came bumping up
to the gangway in a madly driven motor-boat, and clambered up to the
quarter-deck to make his apologies.
"I am very sorry," he ejaculated volubly, "but it was not understood
by the _Arbeiter und Soldatenrat_ that it was I who was to go with you
today. In consequence, the permit to wear my sword and epaulettes and
other markings of an officer was not sent to me, and so I could not be
allowed to travel by the tramway until I had made known the trouble by
telephone and had the permit sent. It was even very difficult for me to
be allowed to speak over the telephone. You must see how very hard life
is for us officers as things are now."
It appears that even the officers going about with the Allied naval
sub-commissions were only allowed to wear their designating marks for
the occasion, and that, unless a special permit from the Workmen's and
Soldiers' Council was shown, these had to be removed as soon as they
went ashore. The constant "self-pity" which the officers kept showing
in the matter of their humiliating predicament was the one thing needed
to extinguish the sparks of sympathy which would keep flaring up in
one's breast unless one stopped to think how thoroughly deserved--how
poetically just--it all was.
With one or two exceptions, all the best of Germany's capital ships
were known to have been surrendered, and this applied to light cruisers
and destroyers as well. The U-boat situation was somewhat obscure, but
it was supposed--incorrectly, as transpired later--that a fairly clean
sweep of the best of the under-water craft had also been made. The
most interesting ships which the Allied Commission expected to see in
German waters were the battleship _Baden_, sister of the surrendered
_Bayern_, and the battle-cruiser _Mackensen_, sister of the surrendered
_Hindenburg_. The _Regensburg_ and _Königsberg_, which had been left
to the Germans to "get about in," were also considered worthy of study
at close range as examples of the latest type of German light cruiser.
The _Mackensen_, still far from completed, was in a yard on the Elbe at
Hamburg. The others were inspected at Wilhelmshaven.
I think I am speaking conservatively when I say that all of the Allied
officers who saw them from the inside were distinctly disappointed in
even these most modern examples of German naval construction. After
the extremely good fight that practically every one of them--from the
_Emden_ and _Königsberg_ and the ships of Von Spee's squadron at the
Falklands to the battle-cruisers of Von Hipper at Jutland--had put up
when it was once drawn into action, it was only natural to expect that
some radical departures in construction, armament, and gunnery control
would be revealed on closer acquaintance. This did not prove to be the
case, though it is only fair to say that, in the matter of gunnery
control, there was little opportunity to pass judgment, owing to the
fact that, in every instance, the Germans--as they had a perfect right
to do--had removed all the instruments and gear calculated to give any
indication of the character of the installation.
The German ships were found to be extremely well built, especially in
the solidity of construction of their hulls, the fact that they were not
intended to be lived in by a full ship's company all of the time making
it easy to multiply bulkheads and dispense with doors. But there was
nothing new in this fact to those who knew the amount of hammering the
_Seydlitz_ and _Derfflinger_ had survived at Dogger Bank and Jutland.
Even so, however, there was nothing to indicate that these latest of
German ships would stand more punishment than any unit of the Grand
Fleet after the stiffening all British capital ships received as a
consequence of what was learned at Jutland.