Bisbee daily review., 1918-04-25
MOLE is DESTROYED

LONDON. April 24.-Alr ObSerVa-
ton shows clear break of twenty
yards in width in the Zeebrugge mole
at the inner end and that a sunken
cbjecl blocks the greater part OF the
channel in the harbOr of Ostend. ac,
cording TO an official bulletin issued
by the admiralty
An officer of one Of the motor boats
has given the Daily Mail a story of
the blowing up of the mole
"The submarine which did it," says
this officer, fwent at fit from the
outer side The German star shells
helped greatly in showing the way.
We could see about 200 Germans on
the bridge leading from the mole to
the shore. They apparently thought
that the submarine had lost her way
and were rejoicing in the belief that
they were going to rap her. But the
submarine pushed under the bridge
and when her cargo of explosives was
touched off it blew the bridge and all
standing on it into the air.
Marines Show Bravery.
For a little time afterward frag
ments of Germans and wreckage of
the bridge were falling around us.
Due to the blowing up of the bridge,
the mole was isolated. and it was on
this island that the Vindictive's men
were landed and the fighting occur
Eed"
British marines who landed on the
mole at Zeebruggee say that when the
cruiser Vindictive got alongside the
mole it was found that of the IA gang
ways aboard all had been shot TO
pieces except two which were damag-
ed and shaky. Nevertheless the men,
headed by Captain Edward Bamford
and Lieutenant G. Cooke, dashed over
and landed on the first ledge of the
mole. but lest severely from the ter
rible she'll fire. From the ledge there
was a wall to be climbed and then
drop of 20 feet which was negotiated
by ropes and rope ladders.
''They tried to take our ladders"
said a marine, but We let them come
within ten yards and then blew them
away with. grensdes. We chased the
Germans through sliding doors and
underground passages. Some of them
ran but others got in corners and
sniped at us with rifles and machine
guns. Evidently they were prepared
for a possible attack as the whole
place was & stuffed with machine
guns"
Marine Tells Story
Ho wthe Vindictive went in is thus
described by an officer of the ma
rines:
"All the ships used the smoke cloud
device, the smallest emitting as much
as the largest until there was an un-
impenetrlble smoke wall all the way
from Zeebruggee TO Ostend. This de-
ceived the defenders for a while, but
when they found us out and sem
up star shells. we steamed through
and got hell.
IAN our men were on the deck and
we were shelled increasingly for 20
minutes The Vindictive had three
ncwitzers aboard and before we left
the crew of the foremost gun had
been wiped out three times by the
guns ashore, but our gunners did
remarkably well and pumped lyddite
into the German gunners on the
beach.
Several German destroyerS were
alongside the mole and three of them
kept firing at the Vindictive at close
range. We charged one and threw in
fifty bombs. A loud explosion fol
lowed and we say that the ship was
afire and sinking We could not reach
the other sand we do not know what
became of them.
After sinking the destroyer we
forced our way ashore at the point
of the bayonet and charged a gun
crew which had been giving much
trouble killing many and dispensing
the rest and capturing the gun. When
we got back the Vindictive presented
a sad sight The upper decks were
slippery with blood. The cries and
means were heartrending All around
lay dead, dying and wounded"