Although only two German destroyers were seen to sink, most
of the eighteen or twenty others were badly punished, and escaped in scattered flight. The British destroyers freely engaged the German cruisers with both guns and torpedoes, and were, of course, to some extent damaged in the process. The ' Laurel' and 'Liberty ' suffered more than the others. A noble act of heroism followed the fight. The British destroyers remained, at considerable risk, among the mines saving as many Germans as possible. The official accotmt records an astonishing fact. "The British officers present vouch for the fact that German officers were observed firing at their own men in the water with pistols, and that several were shot before their eyes under these peculiar circum- stances." The complements of the three German cruisers and the two destroyers known to have been sunk numbered . about twelve hundred officers and men. These all perished with the exception of about three hundred who were picked up and brought to England. The loss on the German vessels which did not sink must have been severe. The British loss was sixty-nine killed and wounded. All the damaged British ships are nearly ready for service again.
Previous page
