The Diary of German Soldier

This is the diary of a Naval soldier from Germany during WWI

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After Effects

The battle was over. We claimed victory. England was doing the same. We  lost one battle cruiser, one pre-Dreadnought, four light cruisers and five destroyers, while the British lost three battle cruisers, four armoured cruisers, and eight destroyers. But they still maintained sea control. Still we could handle them. All was well. 

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June 1, 1916. Night Action.

We sunk two more British ships late into the night. Then another two. We were gaining it back. We kept retreating. But they kept attacking. Soon our ships were sunken down. We arrived back home. 

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May 31, 1916. Main Action.

Our ship is attacked. We continued to move forward. Ships around us were tumbling down. We were losing our fleet. But we were still gaining ground. One of our ships beside us, Derfflinger, exploded. We continue to move. But I looked ahead in the sea: the entire Grand Fleet was moving towards us. We immediately attempted to flea, and we continued to be chased by Jellicoe and the fleet of British ships. There was constant open fire. Our neighboring German ship, Frauenlob, was shot down. We continued to fight back even as we fled: we shot down Tipperary. We kept fighting.

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Scheer told us to retreat. But then we turned back again. We were going to persevere. This could be a grave mistake. But we needed to try. 

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We thought we could destroy the British's battle ship. But as we chased them farther North, we were met with another British fleet. We assumed they were farther out. Their general, Jellicoe led another raid against us. We were not ready for this kind of attack. Our lead was dwindling. 

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It was messy and hot. I didn't know what was happening. It was very hectic. But we were gaining. I was confident with our abilities.

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May 31, 1916. Evening.

We chased down Beatty and his crew. We were gaining on them; they seemed to have a design failure on some of their ships. We were surprised at the beginning but now we actually could fight back. Our Dreadnoughts actually stood a chance against the greatest naval power in the world.

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British ships approaching

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May 31, 1916. Midday.

The English captured our message and knew we were coming. We were met with the Grand Fleet. They had almost the same formation as us. Admiral Hipper chased us; we were definitely the weaker German squadron. We were chased until we reached the rest of our German ships. I was scared. This was the best navy in the world.

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Ready for battle

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May 30, 1916

Tomorrow we are planning to attack the Royal Navy. Reinhard Scheer sent a message out saying he wanted the British at the Scapa Flow out. We are attacking tomorrow and are expecting to meet Admiral Beatty's battle cruiser squadron