WAR- CHRONICLE

42
English ships was burning, and a few minutes after that: "One of
the big English ships has-exploded!" It happened like this: im*
mediately after the second volley, fire broke out on the "Good
Hope." The ilames could be seen darting out from different places
«hiring the fighting so that at last the whole was burning brightly.
On the "Monmouth'' an explosion took place towards the end of
the fight. It seems that a powder magazine was blown up, as we
•could see a pillar of-fire about 30 m. in height and 20 m. in diameter,
mixed with blue, green, and red flames, followed by a dense
cloud of smoke. This cloud of smoke was unfortunately favoured
by a thick black rainbow, which enveloped the enemy and prevented
our seeing anything more.
I forgot to mention that the "Dresden" had followed us at
full speed and helped in the fighting, upon which the English
Auxiliary cruiser promptly disappeared. We now found ourselves
overtaken by darkness, without a trace of the enemy, and we
got orders to proceed to a torpedo attack. As we had to separate in all
directions, following this or the other shadow, we found ourselves in
;a pretty uncomfortable situation. We saw ourselves surrounded by
four ships, without knowing whether they were friend or foe. Of
«ourse we could not give signals:—altogether we were in a nice fix.
At last the "Scharnhorst" gave signs of recognition and rallied us.
Half an hour before, a short but violent fight had taken place
-on the, horizon. The "Nurnberg" had come up with ihe "Monmouth,"
which had listed to one side, but in spite of the violent
.•explosion had not yet sunk, and opening fire on her in a short
.Mme destroyed her, so that she sank, keel upwards with her 550
men. This was of course the definite result. What the end of the
^burning "Good Hope" may have been, we do not know. The
•"-.Glasgow" and the auxiliary cruiser got off safely, as they were
only slightly damaged... We searched for them the whole night, but
without success. Our damages were slight: On the "Leipzig" a
flag line was shot through. The "Scharnhorst" was hit in the bow
causing a small hole, and one of her funnels had a hole. " Gneisenau "
was hit ineffectively on one of her armour-plates. "Dresden" and
"Niimberg" had no damages worth relating.—Now we are waiting
for the next, batch of English.
You see, my dear wife, we can do something, So be of good
•cheer and have confidence in the future!"
(Berliner Tageblatt, 3li_ January 1915.)
The Second Attack on the English Coast
(A combatant's letter.)
We now have one of the first reports of the attack made by
•our fleet, on 16!!l December on Hartlepool and Scarborough, which
is sent by one of the men, who took part in the daring adventure.