MAX SCHULTZ’S LAST RESTING

17 Apr MAX SCHULTZ’S LAST RESTING

The tombstone of Max Schultz’s grave in the Wilhelmshaven Friedhof.

Max Schultz was the VI Torpedo Boat Flotilla commander at Jutland and led SMS V.41 into attack Jellicoe’s Grand fleet battle line forcing the British Turn Away. Schultz and Jellicoe had know each other in China during the Boxer Rising. When the German had run out of food he asked Jellicoe, Seymour’s Chief of Staff. Jellicoe obliged and the two shared an egg and started a longer friendship.

It was a cold and wet morning when we visited. Appropriate as it was not unlike North Sea weather. The Friedhof is somewhere I always go to pay my respects when in Wilhelmshaven at the Naval Museum. It is beautifully and lovingly tended and landscaped. But it’s also a deeply moving and very sad place to reflect a while with the German fallen. There was little glory for the dead of either side.