The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-26
Details Now Coming In Tell
Tale of Bravery.
StOrming Parties Landed First
From Vindictive.
men MET DEATH FIGHTING
Blockade Ships Came In Under
Smoke Screen.
German Fire Most Intense and
Unremitting.

London, April 20 Go Reuters OF
! tawa agency).-Details of the British
naval raid on the German submarine
base at Zeebrugge. as contained IN the
! official narrative issued by the admir-
atty show to what lengths the crew of
the cruiser Vindictive and the Liver
pool ferryboats. Iris and Daffodil. sac
/ rificed themselves to draw the atten-
ton of the Germans from the three
| cruisers assigned to block the canal.
Concerning the engagement on the
mole where the Vindictive landed
storming parties, the account says:
THE >Daffodil after aiding to berth
! the Nindictive Should have proceeded
| to land her own men. but Captain Car
penter ordered her to remain as she
was with her bows against the Vim
dictives quarter, pressing the latter
! ship into the mole. Her casualties,
owing to her position during the fight.
were small one killed and eight
wounded, among the latter being her
| commander, Lieutenant Campbell,
who was struck in the right eye by a
| shell splinter.
Trouble in Landing.
1.-The Iris had trouble. Her own
first attempts to make fast to the
mole ahead of the Vindictive failed.
| as her grapnels were not large enough
to span the parapet- Two officers,
| Bradford and Hawkins, climbed
ashore and sat astride the parapet,
trying to make the grapnels fast, till
I each was killed and fell down between
the ship and wall. Commander Gibbs
| had both legs shot away and died next
morning.
Lieutenant Spencer. tho wounded,
took command and refused to be re-
lieved- The Iris was obliged at last to
change her position and fall in astern
of the Vindictive. She suffered very
| heavily from the fire. A single big
shell plunged thru the upper deck and
burst below at the point where sc
marines waited the order to go to the
gangways. Forty-nine were killed, the
remaining seven being wounded. An
other shell burst in ward room which
was serving as sick bay and killed
four officers and &c men. Her total
casualties We're officers and SO men
Killed; 1O2 men and officers
wounded.
German Fire Intense
The storming and demolishing par
ties upon the mole met with no re-
sistance from the Germans other than
intense and unremitting fire. The
geography of the great mole with its
railway line and many buildings
hangers and store sheds was already
well known and the demolition parties
moved to their appointed work in per-
feet or der.
And while they worked and de-
stroyed, the covering party below the
parapet could see in the harbor by
the light of the German star shells
the shapes of the blockships stealing
IN out of their own smoke and max
ing for the mouth of the canal. The
ThetlS came first, running into a tor
| nado of shells from the great bat
teries ashore. The crew. save a
remnant which had remained to
steam her in and sink her, had al
ready been taken off by ubiquitous
motor launches.
But the remnants spared hands
| enough
1t was hers to show the road to the
intrepid 1phigenia which followed
She cleared a score of armed barges
which dotted the channel from the
tip of the mole, but had the ill for
ture to foul her propeller on the net
device which flanks its shore side
The propeller gathere>i in the net and
rendered her practically unmanage-
able. The shore batteries found her
and pounded her unremittingly until
she bumped into the bank, edged off
and found herself in the channel again
still some hundreds of yards from the
mouth of the canal. While in practi-
cally a sinking condition, as she lay
there, she signaled invaluable direc-
tions to the others and her command
er accordingly blew charges and sank
her. The motor launch under the
command of Lieutenant Littletor
raced alongside and took off her crew
Her loss was five killed and five
wounded.
Steercd Straight Into Harbor.
1.-THE Intrepid, smoking like a vol
cano with all her guns blaring, was
followed by her motor launch, which
failed to get alongside in the outside
harbor, and she had men enough fol
anything. Straight into the harbol
she Steered.
Lieut.. Stuart Bonham Carter, com.
handing, placed the nose of his shiI
neatly on the mud of the western
bank. He ordered the crew away ant
blew up the ship by switches in the
chart room. Four dull bumps were al
that could be heard.
Lieut.. Billyard Leak, comma ndins
the Iphigenia, beached her according
to arrangement on the eastern side
blew her up and saw her drop nicely
across the canal and left her there
with her engines still going to hold he
in position until she should have set
tied we'll on the bottom"
Raid Was Success.
London, April 26.-The Associated
Press learns from high naval Sourc,
that the operations at Zeebrugge were
complete success, with the result
that the Flanders flotilla now will b,
obliged to resort to the Ostend route
0 in putting to sea, from which the Brit
. ish forces can more easily handle tn,
I German ships. In addition to tn,
3 damage done the mole and the Ger
n man guns, material and shipping, tn,
. cement ships and a German dredgel
/. was destroyed. The loss of tn,
: dredger, together with the blocking vi
' of the channel, must result in tn,
l. speedy sitting up of the waterway ant
: it will take at least several weeks t,
7 clear the passage.
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