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HELFFERICH—HELIGOLAND BIGHT
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Turks to hold Medina until Jan. 1919. The prolongation of the line to Mecca was prevented by the opposition of the Harb tribes, which were inspired by the Grand Sherif of Mecca and by the cessation of subscriptions.

See Auler Pasha, Die Iledschasbahn, 1906 ; Angus Hamilton, The Hcjaz Railway in Problems of the Near East, 1909. (H. P. G.)


HELFFERICH, KARL (1872- ), German financier and politician, was born July 22 1872 at Neustadt-on-the-Havel. In 1901 he was appointed to a professorship of political science in Berlin. In 1906 he went to Constantinople as manager of the Anatolian railway, which was financed by the Deutsche Bank, and in 1908 he returned to Berlin to take up the chairmanship of the directorate of that great bank. In 1913 he was the chief German delegate at the international financial conference held in Paris for the settlement of Balkan financial affairs after the Bal- kan wars. In 1915 he was appointed Secretary of State for the Imperial Treasury and carried the votes for the second, third and fourth war loans through the Reichstag. His financial policy was based upon the principle of defraying the cost of the war by borrowing rather than by fresh taxation. He counted upon a final German victory and upon imposing very heavy indemnities upon the Allies. He, therefore, became identified with the policy of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, and considered that no sacrifice of men and money was too great if Germany could hold out un- til the Allied and Associated Powers were sufficiently exhausted to be willing to accept a " German peace." After a period of scepticism regarding the prospects of the U-boat warfare, he became the most vigorous political advocate of the unrestricted sub marine campaign, and was one of those who expected it to reduce Great Britain to impotence in six months' time. In June 1916 he exchanged the Treasury for the Imperial Home Office, and, as Secretary of State for that department, acted as vice- chancellor or representative of the head of the Imperial Govern- ment. On the assassination of Count Mirbach at Moscow, Helfferich was appointed in June 1918 as his successor in the diplomatic representation of Germany at the headquarters of the Russian Soviet Republic. Owing to the conditions of insecurity which prevailed under the Bolshevik Government, Helfferich was never able to occupy his post. He returned to Berlin in order to conduct the economic and industrial demobilization of Germany after the Armistice. He remained the irreconcil- able adversary of the new republican regime, and, in particular, directed his denunciations against the democratic Catholic leader, Erzberger, with whom he had a celebrated lawsuit in 1920. In the Reichstag he led the Conservative and monarchist right, known as the Dcutsch-Nationalen. He was the author of Deulschlands Wohlstand, 1888-1913 (1913) and of Der Weltkricg (three vols., 1919).

HELIGOLAND BIGHT. The naval battle known as that of Heligoland Bight was fought in the Bight on Aug. 28 1914.

The original plan of the British operations included only the forces in the southern part of the North Sea, and took the form of a sweep to be carried out in the Bight by Commodore (T) and his Harwich flotillas, in conjunction with six submarines of Commodore (S), supported by the " Invincible " and " New Zealand" from the Humber and Cruiser Force (C). Three sub- marines were to be posted off Heligoland to attack any cruisers coming out, and three to the W. to entice enemy destroyers to come out. The Harwich flotillas were to come down from the N. of Heligoland, then turning W. sweep on a g-mile front towards Terschelling, cutting off any craft patrolling to the W. of Heli- goland. The operation was arranged for Aug. 28 and the opera- tion orders went out on Aug. 25. WhenAdml. Jellicoe heard of it the next day, he proposed to send Vice-Adml. Beatty with the Bat- tle Cruiser Squadron and the ist Light Cruiser Squadron to cooper- ate. This was approved about midnight on Aug. 26, but there was no time to send a full draft of the operation orders N. and Vice- Adml. Beatty, when he sailed from Scapa at 5:20 A.M. on Aug. 27, had only a rough outline of the proposed operation and the ren- dezvous of the Humber battle -cruisers. He was still in the dark as to the positions and intended movements of the submarines. This by itself would not have been a serious handicap, but

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unfortunately information of Beatty's cooperation was not sent out to Commodore (S) (Comm. Roger Keyes) and Commodore (T) (Comm. Reginald Tyrwhitt) till 1:10 P.M. on Aug. 27, by which time they had both sailed, and as the message was not signalled to them, they did not know that Beatty was taking part in the operations till they had actually begun.

By Aug. 27 the British forces were all on their way to the Bight, organized as follows:

Sweeping Force. " Arethusa," I.e., 2 6-in., 6 4-in., 27 knots;

Fearless," I.e., 10 4-in., 26 knots.

3rd Flotilla: 1st Div. : "Lookout" (Comm. A. B. S.^Dutton),

Leonidas," "Legion," "Lennox"; 2nd Div.: "Lark" (Comm. R. Rowley-Con wy), "Lance," "Linnet," "Landrail"; 3rd Div.: " Laforey " (Comm. G. R. Edwards), " Lawford," " Louis," " Ly- diard"; 4th Div.: "Laurel" (Comm. F. F. Rose), "Liberty," " Lysander," " Laertes."

1st Flotilla: 1st Div.: "Acheron" (Comm. Brien Money), "Attack," "Hind," "Archer"; 2nd Div.: "Ariel" (Comm. Dashwood Moir), "Lucifer," "Llewellyn"; 3rd Div.: "Ferret" (Comm. G. Mackworth), "Forester," "Druid," "Defender"; gth Div.: " Goshawk " (Comm. Hon. Herbert Meade), " Lizard," ' Lapwing," " Phoenix."

Submarines. Off Heligoland : E 4 (Lt.-Comm. Leir), E 5, E 9. To W. of Heligoland: E 6 (Lt.-Comm. C. P. Talbot), E 7 (Lt.-Comm. . Feilmann), E 8, " Lurcher " Commodore (S), and " Firedrake."

Supporting Force. 1st B.C.S. (Vice-Adml. Sir David Beatty): "Lion" (flag), Capt. Alfred Chatfield, b.c., 8 13'5-in.; "Queen Mary," Capt. VV. R. Hall, b.c., 8 13'5-in.; " Princess Royal," Capt. Osmond de B. Brock, b.c., 8 13'5-in.

ist L.C.S. (Comm. VV. E. Goodenough): "Southampton" (flag), Comm. E. Astley-Rushton, I.e., 8 6-in.; " Birmingham," Capt. Arthur A. Duff., I.e., 9 6-in.; " Falmouth," Capt. John D. Edwards, I.e., 8 6-in.; "Liverpool," Capt. Ed. Reeves, 2 6-in., 10 4-in.; " Nottingham," Capt. Chas. B. Miller, I.e., 9 6-in.; " Lowestoft," Capt. T. W. Kennedy, I.e., 9 6-in.

Cruiser Force K (Rear-Adml. Sir Archibald G. Moore) : " In- vincible " (flag), Capt. Chas. M. de Bartolome, b.c., 8 12-in. ; " New Zealand," Capt. Lionel Halsey, b.c., 8 12-in. ; attended by 1st Flotilla, 4th Div., " Badger" (Comm. Chas. Fremantle), "Beaver," " Jackal," " Sandfly."

In Reserve. Cruiser Force K (Rear-Adml. Arthur Christian): " Euryalus " (flag), Capt. Eustace La T. Leatham; " Bacchante," Rear-Adml. H. H. Campbell, Capt. Hon. Algernon Boyle; " Cressy," Capt. Robert Johnson; " Hogue," Capt. Wilmot S. Nicholson; "Aboukir," Capt. John E. Drummond; all a.c., 2 9-2-in., 12 6-in.; and "Amethyst," Capt. Bertram Thesiger, 12 4-in.

It was light at 4 A.M. Comm. Tyrwhitt had met Comm. Good- enough and the ist L.C.S. at daybreak, and at first mistook him for the enemy, but his challenge was answered and the cruisers recognized in time to prevent an accident. By 5 A.M. the sun was rising, and the forces were in position some 60 m. N. of Heligo- land. The flotillas went off at 20 knots, the " Arethusa " and 3rd flotilla ahead, with the " Fearless " and ist flotilla 2 m. astern. They were in cruising order, with divisions in line ahead disposed abeam, half a mile apart. Eight m. behind came the ist L.C.S. with its six light cruisers in three divisions, 2 m. apart. The ist B.C.S. was some 30 m. to the westward. On reaching a point about 12 m. W. of Heligoland, as he should do about 8 A.M., it was Tyrwhitt's intention to turn W. and sweep down the Bight, while the cruiser squadrons supported his movements.

Let us glance now at the German dispositions. Though their strategical policy was largely based on the idea of the British fleet invading the Bight, the actual attack came as a complete surprise. Posted round Heligoland in a semicircle they had two lines of patrols, an outer line of nine destroyers of the 1st flotilla 25m. from the fortress, and an inner line of older vessels of the 3rd Minesweeping Div. 13 m. from it. These were supported bj another torpedo flotilla (the $th) at Heligoland, three cruiserb on outpost duty and a battleship in the mouth of the Jade.

Their detailed disposition was as follows: Outpost, Outer Line: 1st Flotilla, Gi93, 6196, G 194, V 187, V 188, V 190, V 191, G 197, V 189. Outpost, Inner Line: 3rd Minesweeping Div. D 8, T25, T 29, T 3 i,T33, T 34 , T 35 , T 3 6, T 37 (?), T 4 o (?), T 7 i (?).

Cruisers in support : " Stettin " (10 4- 1 -in., 23 knots), off Heligoland, with Chief of 2nd U. Flotilla; " Frauenlob " (10 4-i-in., 19 knots), off the Jade; " Hela " (4 I5j-pdr., 16 knots), N.E. of Heligoland. Battleship in support: " Heligoland " (12 12-in.), Jade river, inside outer bar. T.B. in support: 5th Flotilla in Heligoland; Submarines Us, Ui6, U_25 and three others in Heligoland; U24, U 28 off Heligoland. In Wilhelmshaven Roads: Cruisers: " Ariadne " (1900, 2,660 tons, lO4-l-in., 19 knots) ; " Kolberg " (12 4-l-in., 25 knots); Battle