Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 308
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[Page 308]
and where we lost or destroyed less than one-eight of the German forces. Sir Eric Geddes told us officially that the German High Seas Fleet was ordered to come out and fight, but the men refused to bring their ships out, - he said the H.S. Fleet had gone mad, because it dare not fight – Was there any madness in the in the course taken ? I wonder. The German sailor was tired and heartless of the war, we had a superiority of three to one almost, they hated their dynasty their submarine methods had proved an utter failure, and their land forces were hopelessly beaten so they cannot be blamed for taking the hostile action they did in refusing to take their ships out to sea.
We remained at Portsmouth for some considerable time during which period every opportunity was given to have as much leave as possible before leaving England, and during which time H.M.A.S. "Australia" and "Brisbane" arrived also to refit etc