South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-10-26
ZEEBRUGGE IS
LEFT TANGLED
RUIN BY HUNS
Lighthouse, Bridges, Trolley
Lines Are Mass of Wreck
age, But BrugeS is Left
Almost Intact.
BY JOHN It. PARKERSON.

International News Service.
WITH THE BRITISH ARMY on
THE WESTERN BATTLE FRONT,
Oct. 25.-(6 p. m.)-Picture Coney
Island in ruins and deserted and
one gets an idea Of what Zeebrugge,
until recently one of the most i'm
portant German submarine bases,
looks like.
The famous Zeebrugge lighthouse
and all of the bridges and trolley
lines have been wrecked.
The harbor Is filled with CHASTITY
blackened hulks of British destroy
ers at the entrance of the canal. The
water way was completely stopped
up.
Many Pill Boxes Seen.
The surrounding country. covered
with oily water and pitted with shell
holes. is covered with twisted wire
and trenches. Here and there are
great gun emplacements and many
concrete pill boxes" Cement block
houses) with the walls 10 feet thick
off the port is the famous mole
where "A British submarine was fill
ed with explosives and sunk earlier
in the war
(The mole is a seawall which was
built TO prevent the Zeebrugge port
from filling with sand.)
The only living soul in sight when
I entered Zeebrugge were three Bel
gian peasants with packs on their
hacks returning to their homes and
six Belgian priests who were intent
upon the examination of some
wrecked buildings. The great Solvay
works were still intact but the
ground was strewn with wreckage
of searchlights and burned and dam
aged supplies left by the fleeing Ger
mans in their hurried flight.
(The Solvay works were used by
the Germans for the manufacture of
poison gas. It had previously been
reported that they had been wreck
ed by the Germans before they re-
treated from the North sea coast }
Bruges Left Intact.
The scene at Zeebrugge was in
contrast with the happy picture OF
But while these buildings had not
sustained damage. the population
had suffered
on my way 10 Bruges 7 saw the
roads lined with children carrying
the kits Of Belgian soldiers Occa-
sionally the parent or sweetheart
Of a soldier would meet up with a
10
would follow.
saw two Germans who were
caught hiding in the city. A great
crowd had gathered about them and
Il was said that on the day previous
two others had been captured in the
suburbs where they had been firing
upon automobiles from a clump OF
bushes
The great docks at Bruges had ap-
parently been left undamaged by the
Germans and great heaps OF coal
were found which the Germans had
been unable to carry away in their
flight The gardens were still filled
with fresh vegetables.
Dawn OF a New Day.
AAE rNr4AN an lAO4A nAA NEEAFA At y
was like the dawn OF a new day.
The rebuilding OF the city had al
ready begun and the population was
rushing through the streets. happy.
smiling and business-like. Some were
busy plugging UP broken windows
and others were cleaning out their
homes and shops
The stores in Bruges suffered bad
r. when the Germans left The sol
diers making up the rearguards
smashed the windows and doors
with the butts OF their rifles and re-
moved the valuab from the whole
countryside
In Menin and Zeebrugge many
persons who had refused 10 comply
with the German order 10 give up
their wool mattresses were found in
prisons
When the allied advance began on
the Flanders front the Germans told
CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE)