A TRIP TO KIEL
1IIERR NOSKE AT CLOSE RANGE HATRED OF BRITAIN : Over the waters loomed .Krupp's works, a dark arid sullen mass. ■ Except for the activities of workmen on 'a. aismaiitled aeroplane ship, all was eileut. Merely to be in this notorious place was enough to -give' one a delicious . thrill. Unlike Berlin and other places, it had not hysterically cast off the marks symbolic of the past. The policemen were still armed with swords and pistols, and looked as insolent as ever, writes Percy Brown in the "Graphic." ' • A momentary feeling of danger I experienced was dispelled by the knowledge that the advance guard of the great' British Fleet could not lie far behind the nondescrip group of crocked German seacraft, I. soon met the man, Noske,,who has played a leading part in the German "Revolution, and I felt a certain resnect for him. Although he savagely said that-he hated England and. Englishmen, yet, after .hearing from others so many eulogies of the English, which I believed, to be insinccre, it. was a relief to come up against: honesty, no matter what its form. I nearly sent him raving when I asked if he was. going to meet Admiral Browning. The sailor guards would have annihilated 1 any one at a word from their leader; but, luckily, I succeeded in regaining .control of the situation. The leaders of the new regime haw not yet had time to discard their platform style. . As Noske, who is Governor of Kiel, was speaking of pe Allies, • his voice throbbed with passion, -while it. subsided to a sympathetic.conversational note when 110 mentioned the and Arbeiter. ' At Krupps. On December 1,1 visited Krupp's works and the docks. The adjutant in charge, Captain Schnabel, greeted me with a loud "How too you too?" and took great pains to explain to me the topography of the place. A few minutes, however, of watching the gigantic, but now inactive, machinery and unfinished weapons of warfare quenched my turioity, and I ultimately took train fcr the signalling and subii'iaviro-.boat stations. Here I met Spiegvogol, the chief signaller, who had -ssrvcd on the Schlesicn in the Battle of Jutland, of which he gaup me' a ,j ery vivid account, intimately I boarded. the Koenig, which took tiw leading part on the German side,' in that momentous conflict. Commandant Otto, who had been a servant to Captain Men-' inge.r before the revolution, listened patiently to what I liad to say, and after examining my papers, he became more kindly, and told me I could stay aboard. I soon learned that three English sailors were aboard, but only one of them, Taylor, of the Naval Brigade, who had been captured ,at the fall of Antwerp, was a real sesiman; the others had donned the sailor's garb the more easily (o get out of-the Dobritz Military Camp.
It may interest English people to' know what manner of- men the members of the ; Soldiers'- Councils are. In Berlin I had ample opportunity of meeting them. They seem generally to have been selected by the sailors and soldiers as provisional governors, and they emphasise . the temporary nature of their services, ' pending the selection of a National Assembly. I have heard it said .that they have Bolshevik tendencies. Prom what I have seen of them. I should say they display an earnest desire for order. The Council of the Koenig oonsisted of a chairman and four other members. I was allowed to spend an afternoon in the Council room while they were busy making ready for the arrival of the British officers. There was a.constant stream of sailors with reports, •and all shoved a respectful demeanour •towards the Council. Not once did I hear a harsh word or seo a brusque gesture towards officers, who, in the past, had proved tyrants. Oiie councillor reminded me frequently'of his being "uneducated." But this was after lie had discussed with knowledge the French Revolution writers, his own■"country's;"great nien—Luther,' Inimanuel, Kant,- Fichte, Schiller, and Goethe—compared "Maria Stuart" and "Wilhelm Tell," with plots in Shakespeare, and finally, dropped into French to explain'the exact. s lrieaning of a long German word. His cabin shelves contained a great number of the favourite /'Reclame" editions of the classics to which he constantly referred. The revolutionaries realised the exact 'signification of Germany's kultur, the true nature of the political situation, and since the beginning of tho war had worked to bring matters to a crisis, and the fact that three of their comrades had been 6hot, and many sent to Ion? terms of imprisonment did not deter them. A Relic of Jutland.
On the Ivoenig I saw a piece of shell about a hundred pounds in weight, and reputed to have been the last shot fired from the Queen Alary in the battle of Jutland. It was placed upon a stand near a'statuo o! Hindenburg. From an inscription in ; white letters I learned' that • the Germans regarded it. as "An English Greeting." The German pettyofticei's seemed particularly happy as they Rave their version of the arrival of tha shot. Although there was a huge hole in the ship's plates, and all manner of damage had been done to the inferior, they said the casualties were very small. From sailors afterwards, however, I gathered that this was very, fa:- indeed from being, the case. Indeed, it appears that besides an entire Run's crew there were a great many other casualties.
As soon as 1 saw it I made up my mind to get the splinter. There was only one survivor from the Queen Mary said one German maliciously. Well, I thought, if I could find the survivor he should have this trophy. The Germans, to ray surprise, gave - up the piece of shell as tamely as the German nation surrendered its fleet. A talk of three hours' duration was all that was needed before I had the- proud satisfaction of being the possessor of this memento of the greatest naval battle of the war.
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 138, 6 March 1919, Page 7
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1,000A TRIP TO KIEL Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 138, 6 March 1919, Page 7
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