The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-25
Aircraft Observes What Was
Done at Zeebrugge.
American-BuiIt Launches Help
ed Rescue Sailors.
ALL ENGLAND is PLEASED
Many Acts of Bravery Among
Officers and Men.
The Vindictiye Badly Shot up,
but Came Thru.

observed a break of twenty feet in
tie Zeebrugge mole, at the inner end"
an admiralty announcement says. I
AT Ostend a sunken object was OBJ |
served between the piers, blocking the |
greater part of the Fairway."
One of the most thrilling incidents |
of the British naval raid on Zeebrugge |
last Tuesday was the rescue by two |
American-built motor launches of !
nearly 200 members of the crew of two |
block ships sunk at the entrance to
the Bruges canal.
The feat was accomplished under a |
heavy fire and the actual transfer was |
made in less than five minutes.
Still Topic of Discussion.
Ottawa, Ont, April 25.-The naval
raid at Zeebrugge continues the all
engrossing topic in England almost to
the exclusion of the battle in France,
says a Reuter- dispatch from London.
Special leave has been granted to the
men who participated, and there are
columns of interviews in the daily
press. Rejecting the spirit of the
survivors, one stated he would go
even tho he knew that he would not
return; others expressed desire Ito go
into the mainland and fight some
other German batteries
"All the men testify to the gallantry
of the commander of the Vindictive,"
the dispatch adds. u
Soon after the German batteries
opened fire on the ship, it's bridge was
blown away but this officer. who mi
racuously escaped injury, continued to
navigate the vessel.
A Submarine Exploit
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 interviewed. stated his submarine
| g.fn -Sxr1,A
where it was spotted by the Germans
who turned a searchlight on it. The
crew had 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 a motor boat picked up the
crew. The officer commanding the
motor boat said that the submarine
had been ten minutes beside the via
duct before 1t was discovered.
Germans Were Nervous.
the German fire was passing over
| it and in the meantime the submarine
was attacking the famous Mole from
the outside. The Germans apparently
thought that it had merely lost its wav
IN an endeavor to get inside the har-
Dor to torpedo something. They con-
| sequently sent up a shower of star
shells, which greatly assisted the sub
marine to reach it's objective
We could see,' said one of the
| submarine crew, about 200 Germans
jumping and dancing on the bridge
connecting the Mole with the shore
Ihey 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 some
time after the debris of the bridge and
the Germans who had been on it. fell
| around u.s.
| Sank a Destroyer.
"A destroyer at one time suddenly
turned its searchlight on us. so We
promptly torpedoed and sank her.
This apparently refers to the de-
s.royer Whicn was also reported to
nave been set afire by grenades.
Another motor boat Officer stated
that mis- boat had torpedoed a Ger
man destroyer lying alongside the
Mole, that second destroyer had been
| torpedoed by another boat and a +hird
rammed and sunk by his own vessel.
Half way down the Mole were wire
! entrenchments with machine guns
sweeping the entire width. This no
| sltlon was captured and a number of
fled to the fact of hand to hand fieht-
| ing having done the trick
Block Ships Were Sunk.
The crews of the block ships. OBJ
| solete cruisers filled with concrete
stayed aboard until the boats had
sunk almost down to the" water line
They then scrambled aboard a motor
boat and returned to the ships inst
In time, for the block ships went
down as soon as the men Jumped
away from them.
Among the ships torpedoed was
the old Great Eastern steamer Brus-
sells. the famous Captain Fryatt's ship
which the Germans had been using az
a torpedo training school An officer
of the Vindictive said that six big Ger
man guns on top of the Mole were
abandoned. The British landing party
then advanced along the Mole which
is about mile long and so yards wide
Some of the officers carried only heavy
sticks.
The men of the lost British DESTROY
err state that when they entered the
harbor they emerged from darkness
into the most dazzling light, for all the
enemy searchlights were focused on
them. Enemy guns. big and little
riddled the destroyer from end to end
The knockout was a torpedo in the en-
CINE room. The captain ordered the
crew into the forecastle and they dived
and swan thru water in their own
bunkers. 1t was the first time that the
water was not cold.
Part of Big Strategy
THE landing party, which is salts
fled that it effected great damage de-
scribes the German firing as of the
heaviest, but remarkably wild.
Naval authorities emphasized the
fact that the raid was not an adven-
ture but a deliberately planned action.
1t was built on strategy of the highest
order"
Vfndictive Was Shot Up.
London, April 25.-British marines
who landed on the Mole at Zeebrugge,
according to- narrative printed in the
Mail, say that when the cruiser Vim
: dictive got alongside the Mole it was
found that of the fourteen gangways
aboard all had been shot to pieces ex-
: cept two which were damaged and
shaky Nevertheless. the men. led by