Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1918-11-07
STORY Of raid ON zEEBRuCCE
BY one Of COMMANDING OFFICERS
Work in Face Of Whi1wind Of Fire and Heroic Attack
of stormng Party Graphically Described-BIock Ships
{" Still in Position Sealing the Navigable Channel
Into C~anaIs-Keyes in Charge.

LOndon.-An official interview with
n Of the commanding officers of the
Zeebrugge raid gives for the first
time some idea of the tremendous, in
tricate schemes that must be devised
for modern naval operations, such as
bottling up the Zeebrugge submarine
base.
While the name of the officer who
gave the interview may not be used,
for obvious reasons, the study was
arranged with the permission Of the
first sea lord, Sir Rosslyn Wemyss,
and through the courtesy Of Sir Doug
las Brownrigg, chief naval censor.
The spectacular story of the raid the
almost superhuman work done in the
face of a whirlwind of fire, and the
heroic attack Of the storming party
scrambling over the Mole were all
placed by the British officer as mere
fncidentals in the tremendous assault
that was determined upon.
e"The problem that lay before u.s."
he said, twas far bigger and greater
than the landing on the Mole, or. any
mere spectacular features. 1t was
vastly different from merely sending
one or more ships into a harbor pro-
tected by shore batteries, because the
channel to be blocked was narrow,
6nd a ship OF ships must be placed
carefully to make the effort success
full. Moreover, the waters through
which the vessels must dash were n
der the protection of heavy guns
which commanded the sea practically
for Is miles out from the coast.
~ Dash Under Cover.
: "iThis meant that the vessels, with
the block ships, must arrange their
dash under cover for Is miles. And
then, having run the coast batteries,
they must run close to a heavy bat
terry on the Mole, located practically q
mile out in the harbor, and which
could fire practically point blank at
the vessels. And then, of course, also
under cover of the nea shore bat
teries of the Mole and the heavier
coast batteries, making another run
of Is miles. The German mine fields
also had to be encountered.
"Various elements had to be taken
into consideration. Naturally the
dash must be made at high tide.
There was only n way in which we
rould hope to protect the vessels if
the raid were made by daylight, ana
that was q smoke screen. But air.
planes, scouting above, would lay q
feet open to observation and to prac-
ttcally the same attack By indirect fire
as on land. SO the dash had to be
made at night, and ON such 2 night
as the tide would be high at about
midnight, for the ships must go i'll,
do t22i@ destruction, and then come
out a@ain before the shore batteries
Wostid have the daylight To help them,
F"Flcre. we're Gomethi!@ like 153
guns on the shore commanding tie 10
mile radius. Il these discovered the
vessels none OF the ships could have
iiyod through the falling shells. As
the batteries al had the use OF
scarcLli&hts and star shells it became
necessary to take measures to pre-
vent the Ships being seen by any
method OF Illumination until the last
momenG. That neces@itated the use
of smoke screens. a smoke acracn il
gcrT little use unless it approaches
With yau; thus YOU must o7warg nav.
the wind blowing III youl direction Of
advance. III Il case ii VAS Gr9m the
Ecrth, The use Of any craft 10 rta',a