21 juni - 100 år sedan Hochseeflotte sänktes i Scapa Flow

[Ördög]

Det är idag 100 år sedan amiral Ludwig von Reuter gav order om att sänka tyska högsjöflottans fartyg i Scapa Flow på Orkneyöarna. Tilltaget firas som en seger av dagens Bundesmarine, och även i Storbritannien minns man den märkliga dagen då Royal Navy blev så snöpligt dragen vid näsan.

https://www.scapaflow1919.com/
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-scut ... fleet-1919
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-navy-to- ... a-49281737
https://www.die-tagespost.de/aus-aller- ... 309,199092

The scuttling at Scapa Flow was, as German military historian Michael Epkenhans told DW, "a kind of belated victory."

"They had failed to beat the British on the high seas, but thus they made sure that the British and their allies wouldn't get the High Seas fleet," he said, speaking from the Orkney Islands. "It was better than nothing, and, when they came home, they felt like victors, and were treated as heroes. And, if you look at the memoirs of some of the admirals, you can see they really rejoiced about [the scuttling]."

[Mackan L]

Dessvärre dödades (mördades?) nio tyska sjömän av brittisk eldgivning i samband med det hela.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-48599958

The only civilian witnesses were schoolchildren from Stromness who were on a trip to view the German fleet onboard a water tender.

One of the schoolchildren, 12-year-old Leslie Thorpe, wrote that one German boat full of fleeing soldiers did not have a white flag and the British fired on it with a machine gun.

"The one thing that should not be forgotten is men died that day," says Mr Muir. "We see all these images and it is just a huge piece of metal rolling over in the sea and sinking and you forget about the cost in human terms.

"The men in the drifters were ordered to open fire on the defenceless German sailors. They had no weapons, they were not allowed them and they didn't have any."

It is believed nine Germans died as a result of the actions that day.