Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-04-26
Naval Raid Continues
to Interest ENGLAND

OTTAWA. April 25.-The naval raid
a Zeebrugge continues the all-engross-
ing topic in England, says a Reuter- dis
patch from London. Special leave has
been granted to the men who partici-
pated and there are columns of inter
views in the daily press. Rejecting the
spirit of the survivors, one stated he
would go again tomorrow on similar
errand even though he knew he would
not return. .-.-
All the men testify to the gaIlan-
try of the commander of the Vindic-
tive" the dispatch adds. Soon after
the German batteries opened fire on the
ship its bridge was blown away but
this officer, who miraculously escaped
injury, continued to navigate the ves-
sci.
Great praise is voiced for the crews
of the submarines which were blown
up under a viaduct. There were six
men aboard each of these boats.
One said his submarine was steered
right up to the beach, where it was
spotted by the Germans who turned a
searchlight on it. The crew had a
little dinghy into which they tumbled
under the fire of both machine guns
and rifles They had got away about
200 yards when the submarine, which
was filled with explosives to wreck the
viaduct under which it had been placed,
blew up.
soon motor boat picked up the
crew. The officer commanding the mo-
torboat said that the submarine had
been ten minutes beside the viaduct
before it was discovered. The German
fire was passing over it and in the
meanwhile the submarine was attack
ing the famous Mole from the outside.
The Germans apparently thought that
it had merely lost its way in an en-
deavor TO get inside the harbor to tor
pedo something. They consequently
sent up a shower of star shells which
greatly assisted the submarine to
reach it's objective.
200 Huns on Bridge
ct" We could see,' said one of the sub
marine crew, about 200 Germans on
the bridge connecting the Mole with the
shore They thought they were going
to trap the submarine but when it was
blown up beneath the bridge you can
imagine the damage that occurred. For
sometime after the debris of both bridge
and the Germans who had been on 1t,
Tell around up
"A destroyer at one time suddenly
turned it's searchlight on us so we
promptly torpedoed and sank her.
mis- apparently ACAC4o ~ NAAN
stroyer which was also reported 10
have been set afire by grenades.
Another motorboat officer stated
that his boat had torpedoed a German
destroyer lying alongside the Mole
that a second destroyer had been tor
pedoed by another boat, and third
rammed and sunk by his own vessel.
Half way down the Mole were wire
entertainments with machine guns
sweeping the entire width. This po-
sition was captured and a number OF
black eyes and minor injuries testified
TO the fact of hand to hand hghtlng
having done the trick.
The crews of the block ships, obso-
Iete cruisers filled with concrete. stay
ed aboard until the boats had sunk
almost down TO the water line. They
then scrambled ABOARD a motor boat ana
returned TO the ships.
old Ships Torpedoed
Among the ships tOrpedoed was the
old great eastern steamer Brussels, the
famous Captain Fryatt's ship which the
Germans had been using as a torpedo
raining school. An officer OF the
Vindictive said that six big German
guns on top of the Mole were aban-
doned. The British landing party then
advanced along the Mole which IS about
a mile long and eighty yards wide
Some of the officers carried only heavy
sticks.
The men Of the lost British de-
stroyer state that when they entered
the rarbor they emerged from darkness
into the most dazzling light, for all
the enemy searchlights were focused
on them Enemy guns, big and little,
md