In my childhood days, in the fifties, elderly people especially of Central Travancore, used to refer to anything big or/and formidable as "EMANDAN". The origin of the word intrigued me a long time, till a man in who had lived through the first world war told me about this German ship "Emden".
T.M
Remembering a German ship that rocked Madras
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Remembering a German ship that rocked Madras
CHENNAI: On this day 100 years ago, German cruiser SMS Emden advanced close to the Madras shore and opened fire at storage tanks of the British-owned Burmah Oil Company in one of the first acts of belligerence in World War I (1914-18).
Madras would go down as the only city in India which came under assault by the Central Powers of Germany, Austria and Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, one of the two sides in the Great War. Some historians say Fort St George was the main target of the German warship but the sailors proved to be poor marksmen.
By the time the British responded, Emden had left the area after destroying the oil tanks and merchant ships inside the harbour.
The Emden's captain, Karl von Muller directed the ship into the Madras harbour on the night of 22 September 1914, managing to elude the British navy that had a huge fleet in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. The Emden had already destroyed several merchant vessels of Italy, Briton and Australia within 15 days before it approached Madras.
At 9.30pm, the port was completely illuminated despite a blackout order, when Muller gave the order to engage. An attack by a German warship was the last thing that overconfident British navy officers in Madras expected.
"The German ship fired at least 125 shells within 10 minutes. The shells targeted and destroyed four tanks containing 350,000 gallons of oil," said V Dhivakar, historian and author of 'SMS Emden 22-09-1914', a novel based on the attack. When the Emden pulled out of the harbour, huge plumes of smoke billowed from the Madras coast.
The British later claimed that Emden left quickly because they had responded strongly. This was not true, Dhivakar said.
"After Emden reached a safe distance, the British started responding towards what for them was an unknown object in the dark far out at sea," he said. "The Emden could have damaged the whole fort and the high court building along with the harbour had it stayed for longer."
But that is itself an unresolved question. Why didn't captain and crew of the Emden capitalise on the opportunity? "This is a question that led me to do a lot of research on Emden's history from the time she was commissioned in 1908," Dhivakar said.
The Emden was a fearsome battleship for her time, with 10 SK L/40 guns of 10.5 cm calibre each and two 50 cm torpedo tubes. She was also protected by strong armour. Why she did not stay for longer and continue her attack on Madras is likely to remain an unsolved mystery.
Some believe the attack on Madras was planned by Dr Chempakaraman Pillai, an Indian-born political activist and revolutionary who lived in Germany. "Pillai was not in Emden while she was engaged in the war. A book written by Hellmuth von Mucke, vice-commander of Emden, mentions a number of incidents that took place on the Emden, but Pillai's name is not mentioned anywhere. However, he did mention that an Indian passenger provided him with information," he said.
http://toi.in/8IqU4Z
Madras would go down as the only city in India which came under assault by the Central Powers of Germany, Austria and Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, one of the two sides in the Great War. Some historians say Fort St George was the main target of the German warship but the sailors proved to be poor marksmen.
By the time the British responded, Emden had left the area after destroying the oil tanks and merchant ships inside the harbour.
The Emden's captain, Karl von Muller directed the ship into the Madras harbour on the night of 22 September 1914, managing to elude the British navy that had a huge fleet in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. The Emden had already destroyed several merchant vessels of Italy, Briton and Australia within 15 days before it approached Madras.
At 9.30pm, the port was completely illuminated despite a blackout order, when Muller gave the order to engage. An attack by a German warship was the last thing that overconfident British navy officers in Madras expected.
"The German ship fired at least 125 shells within 10 minutes. The shells targeted and destroyed four tanks containing 350,000 gallons of oil," said V Dhivakar, historian and author of 'SMS Emden 22-09-1914', a novel based on the attack. When the Emden pulled out of the harbour, huge plumes of smoke billowed from the Madras coast.
The British later claimed that Emden left quickly because they had responded strongly. This was not true, Dhivakar said.
"After Emden reached a safe distance, the British started responding towards what for them was an unknown object in the dark far out at sea," he said. "The Emden could have damaged the whole fort and the high court building along with the harbour had it stayed for longer."
But that is itself an unresolved question. Why didn't captain and crew of the Emden capitalise on the opportunity? "This is a question that led me to do a lot of research on Emden's history from the time she was commissioned in 1908," Dhivakar said.
The Emden was a fearsome battleship for her time, with 10 SK L/40 guns of 10.5 cm calibre each and two 50 cm torpedo tubes. She was also protected by strong armour. Why she did not stay for longer and continue her attack on Madras is likely to remain an unsolved mystery.
Some believe the attack on Madras was planned by Dr Chempakaraman Pillai, an Indian-born political activist and revolutionary who lived in Germany. "Pillai was not in Emden while she was engaged in the war. A book written by Hellmuth von Mucke, vice-commander of Emden, mentions a number of incidents that took place on the Emden, but Pillai's name is not mentioned anywhere. However, he did mention that an Indian passenger provided him with information," he said.
http://toi.in/8IqU4Z
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