HELIGOLAND

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20046, 19 September 1939, Page 2

HELIGOLAND

NAZI NAVAL PROTECTION 1914 BATTLE RECALLED Within a radius of 100 miles to the *iort]f*and east of Dutch tViesland are Wilholmshaven, one of Germany’s most important naval stations on the North Sea (and a few days ago bombed by British aircraft), Heligoland Bight, Hamburg and Bremen on the Elbe and Weser Rivers.

Heligoland, an island lying off the mouth of the Elbe and the Weser, was heavily fortified by Germany before the Great War and since. It was in this area that a British naval fleet, commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty was successful in an action which was considered to have been one of the causes of the disinclination of the German fleet throughout the war to be drawn from the protection •of its bases. The Battle of Heligoland Bight began at daylight on August 28, 1914. and brought about the first serious contact between the opposing forces during the Great War. It lasted till 1.80 p.m„ when, its object having been served, Vice-Admiral Beatty withdrew his forces. The day ended to the distinct advantage of the British, who had one cruiser, Arethusa, and three destroyers damaged with a total casualty list of 25 killed and 40 wounded. The Germans lost 1242 officers and men killed, wounded and prisoners; three cruisers, Mainz, Coin and Ariadne, and one destroyer, VlB7, were sunk, one cruiser, Frauenlob, was badly crippled, and there was unreported damage to other cruisers and torpedo craft. Serious as was the material loss to the German fleet, it was not comparable with the effect on its morale. Admiral Tirpitz stated that “August 28 was a day fateful both in after effects and in incidental results to the work of the German navy.”

The object of the fortress at Heligoland was, and is, the protection of Wilhelmshaven and the mouth of the Elbe and the Weser, on which Plambui'g, the largest seaport on the Continent of Europe, with a population of more than 1,000,000 and Bremen, another important seaport with a population of 300,000, are situated. Hamburg is 178 miles north-west from Berlin. It is the chief distributing centre for the middle of Europe of the products of other parts of the world, and is also the chief outlet for German raw products and manufactures. Its commercial prosperity was seriously affected by the Great War and during the troubled times after the Armistice.