A heavyset English sailor flies a panoply of flags of neutral nations including Sweden (civil ensign), Norway, Spanish Merchant Marine, the United States, Netherlands, Italy, and the Red Cross. Germany accused Great Britain of flying false flags on merchant and passenger ships, and of arming them. A postcard by P.O.Engelhard (P.O.E.), dated and postmarked January 15, 1916.
Die englische KriegsflaggeThe English Battle Flag
"If neutral vessels have come to grief through the German submarine war during the past few months by mistake, it is a question of isolated and exceptional cases which are traceable to the misuse of flags by the British Government in connection with carelessness or suspicious actions on the part of the captains of the vessels."
Excerpt from the May 28, 1915 statement of German Minister of Foreign Affairs Gottfried von Jagow defending the May 7 sinking of the Lusitania. In his statement von Jagow further charges not only that 'practically all the more valuable English merchant vessels have been provided with guns, ammunition and other weapons, and reënforced with a crew specially practiced in manning guns,' but also that when disguised by neutral flags and markings, they 'attack German submarines by ramming them.'
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. III, 1915, pp. 196 and 197, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
1915-05-28, 1915, May, von Jagow, Jagow, false flagging, Lusitania
