THE VICTORY AT JUTLAND

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2236, 8 February 1921, Page 1

THE VICTORY AT JUTLAND

The arguments used in the controversy regarding the Battle of Jutland have been weighed by. the New York Outlook in reference to Admiral Scheer’s report. When the battle was ended, it says, “German war-vessels were back in their base behind their defences, and British war-vessels retained their privilege of moving at will through the high seas. If we were to believe not only the Germans, but also some other narrators of that event, we would accept this battle as a great German victory. Even if we grant us' verified all the claims that the Germans make in their own far our, even if it is conceded that the British losses were much greater than the German losses, even if all the criticism that has been made of the British strategy in the battle were to be accepted as justified, the facts remain that Great Britain retained control of the sea and that Germany failed to weaken that control in any particular. If there is any consolation for the supporters of a football team which is beaten by a decisive score to count up the yards gained in rushing and in punting, and to discover thereby that the team with the smaller score gained a greater number of yards; if there is any consolation to be found by the supporters of a defeated Presidential candidate in the moral victory secured by those who cast their ballot for their convictions though the ballots on the other side outnumbered'them; there ma> be con solution for the Germans m the facts concerning the Battle of In - land. But those who count victory on the football field by the score of the game, and who count victories in elections by the majority of the votes, will continue to believe that moral victories in war such as the Germans won at the Battle o • u land are not the kind of victories which armies and navies are designed to win.”