Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star WEDNESDAY, DEC. 21st, 1920. JUTLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 December 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star WEDNESDAY, DEC. 21st, 1920. JUTLAND.

Tub London “Thunderer” declares that • the publication of the Jutland Battle despatches does no help in dissipating the impression that- the naval battle was a British reverse! As a matter of fact the publication of the Jutland despatches has become something of a nightmare to the Northciiffe press, which 'in soason and out of season, have been clamouring for the documents, and now, evidently, they are not happy. The principal paper dubs the gieat naval battle a British reverse! It. was a matter of fact, • the most positive victory of the war, for the decision of the battle confirmed the British command of the North Sea, and likewise the main ocean routes and highways overseas. When we recall that the battle of Jutland was concluded in the early morning of June Ist., 1916, and that the war did not end till November, 1918, the “victorious” enemy—as the “Times” logic would infer—had two and a half years to profit from this success, yet in that extended period their fleet did not again venture to sea in serious combat.. AH tin's time the British fleet patrolled the North Sea and English Channel, and any other ocean highway where the German fleet was likely to put in an appearance. The British tried by all manner of devices to draw the “victorious” enemy seaward. There is the story of the dummy warships which were sent to within sight of German waters and other manoeuvres to draw on a major conflict. Jutland experiences sent the German Fleet scurrying home, glad of their escape, and unwilling to fight out the engagement to a finish. It was night which clouded their eseapte, and but for the friendly pall there is hut little doubt they would have been hunted home in straggling and crippled order. As it was they . made their exit from the scene of operations with the best gait steam power would give them, and to suggest now that an engagement which terminated in the so-called “victors” running away was a reverse for the attacking ships, is unfair to the naval forces, and to an historic event which will go down into history ns a superb example of British naval deeds. A “reverse” may he regarded as something overthrown, a set hack, a misfortune carrying disaster in its train. Jutland did not mean this to the British, but it was a moral reverse to the enemy, which escaped as best it could from a conflict which would, have ended in annihilation. The German fleet to put the position plainly, .ran away, and thfe British remained seeking for the prey which the black, night had swallowed up. The despatches confirm the skeleton reports of'the battle which were made public in July 1916, by both the British and German officials. The critics will take delight, no doubt, in analysing the details of the operations, but deductions cannot alter the facts of the case, nor the results which the battle of Jutland afterwards influenced. The Germans bad advantages in their ships advantages which only a battle could reveal, but the British personnel with other mechanical shortcomings, discounted the advantage the enemy possessed in equipment. As one critic has said in his final summing up of Jutland “men will count for" everything, every time.” The traditions of the British race on sea, on land, and in the air, bear this nut. and no where has their prowess afloat been excelled. An Admiralty order following Jutland said: “The officers, seamen and marines of the Grand Fleet on this, the first, (and last as it proved) Fleet action which has occurred since the outbreak of the war, as a result of which the enemy, severely punished, withdrew to his own ports. The ovents of hfay 31st. and Juno Ist. gave ample proof of,the gallantry and devotion which characterised all who took part in the battle ; the ships iof eve|ry class were handled with skill and determination; their steaming under battle conditions afforded a splendid testimony to the zeal and efficiency of the engineering staff, while individual initiative and tactical subordination were equalfy conspicuous.” That praise on the component parts of the Fleet was well earned more so now from the fact that at-

Jutland the naval pretentions of the ■enemy who had builded for “The Tiny was settled once and ..for all. When we think of wliat followed after in the surrender at Scapa Flow, we can hut marvel that tho “Times” should still harbor thoughts that Jutland which laid the foundations for that ignoble surrender, should still rankle in tho mind of the dbwspaper as “a. reverse.” Th e “Times” must bo losing its mana. and seeking after notorious sensationalism, when it indulges at this period of time; and in the perspective Jutland now stands, in thoughts such

| as are credited to its leading columns jby this week’s cable news. It is inI foresting to recall that New Zealand I to-day is honored by having as its Governor-General, Admiral Jellicoo who commanded the Grand Fleet in what proved the decisive sea fight of the war. ! The publication of the despatches rc- \ | veals clearly the part Lord Jellicoo | ! took, and tlio details furnished show ■ how closely he had studied the pos- i i Bible dispositions in a naval grand at- , tack. By brilliant forethought ho , j had foreshadowed the possible evolu- ; I tions of the enemy in a. dire attack, i and he was given a free hand to act ns |he thought best. The supreme action was in safe keeping, and the Empire will remain for ever grateful to one j who guided its first lino of defence I with such sure line of action in the r crisis of the great war, and won a vie- , tory which forever settled the enemy’s 'pretentions to again attempt to dispute j 1 the mastery of the sea.