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Description: | Photocopied ms transcription (11pp), together with a separate ts transcription (7pp), of a letter written to (?) his sister during his service in the armoured cruiser HMS CARNARVON, 9 - 13 December 1914, giving an eye-witness description of the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914 when, on account of her speed and armament being inferior to that of the two British battle cruisers and because she was ordered to keep out of range of the SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU at first, CARNARVON only took a minor part in the action. However, she afterwards picked up some thirty officers and men from the GNEISENAU, though several died almost immediately, and Leslie comments that he has "... not once felt any feeling of exultation on the action, but only one of pity that such fine fellows... should have to perish so miserably...", attributing the British success to the speed and firepower of the battle cruisers and adding that the Germans, to whose officers and men they felt a close affinity, "...put up an extraordinary good fight but to no purpose."
Cataloguer Backlog
Catalogue date 1980-11-30 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Leslie, A G | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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