Deal, April 24. Survivors of the special battalion of Royal Marines who took part in Monday night’s enterprise are still dribbling back here in small parties. I visited the depot this morning, and the majority of the survivors were drawn up in the drill hall answering the roll-call. All the men showed signs of having been through some hazardous ordeal, but they make light of their injuries and are as cheerful as could possibly be. The most connected account of the undertaking was given to me by two officers, both of whom made light of their own gallant share in the venture, and of their many wonderful escapes during the hour of fierce combat on the Mole.
Both officers belong to the Plymouth Company and this was the third landing in which each had taken part during the war. Their story was as follows:
We were on board the
Vindictive, and we arrived at our allotted position. In accordance with plan, we approached under cover of our own smoke clouds. All the vessels, large and small, took part in this ingenious device, the smaller craft letting out as much smoke as their larger consorts. In fact there was a veritable blanket of smoke stretching from Zeebrugge to Ostend. The black, impenetrable wall of smoke completely deceived the Hun for a time, but when he discovered what we were about he put up star shells, and then we had no alternative but to go ahead. We steamed through the smoke screen, and then we caught Hell. There is no other word for it.
THE LANDING.
All our men were on deck, and the Germans shelled the
Vindictive without cessation for 20 minutes. Despite this terrific fire wc carried on, but when we got alongside the Mole we found that out of 14 prows, or gangways, which we had on board only two were of any use, all the remainder having been shot away. There was nothing for it but for our storming party to land by these two prows, damaged and shaking as they were.
With a clear “Over you go, Royals” our men effected a landing on the first ledge of the Mole, but we lost heavily in the process, for the shellfire directed against us was terrible.
After reaching the first ledge we had another drop of some 20ft to negotiate before we could get at grips with the enemy. To make matters worse, it was raining heavily all the time. Undaunted, we lowered ourselves by means of ropes and rope-ladders. Three Hun destroyers lay alongside the other side of the Mole, and all three of them kept firing at the
Vindictive at close range, so it became necessary to silence them first. From these boats the German sailors came swarming up to attack us, but they found themselves face to face with British pluck, and with a cheer our men charged. This was more than Fritz could stand. Clearing a space, we dashed up to the first destroyer, into which we threw some 50 hand bombs. A loud explosion followed, and the last we saw of her was that she was on fire and sinking. We were unable to reach the other two destroyers, and what became of them we do not know.
The
Vindictive had three howitzers on board - one in front, one amidships, and the other aft - and before we left the foremost gun’s crew was wiped out three times in succession by the guns from the shore. But our own gunners on board did extremely well. An abundance of shells were put ashore from howitzers, pom-poms, and Stokes guns, creating considerable havoc among the Germans.
After setting fire to the destroyer we formed up and forced our way ashore at the point of the bayonet. We attacked the gun’s crew on shore which had been giving us so much trouble, and after killing a large number, dispersed the rest and captured the guns. Our men behaved magnificently. Meanwhile the
Vindictive was being shelled, and she was heavily engaged with the shore batteries, when we received by siren the signal to withdraw the block ships had by this time been sunk, and our object had been accomplished.
During the whole of the engagement oue of our sergeant-majors worked a gun in the foretop of the
Vindictive with consummate skill and bravery, firing round after round at the enemy and creating considerable havoc and destruction. He claims to have made a direct hit on the face of one of the enemy’s searchlights, thus putting it completely out of action.
“WELL DONE, VINDICTIVE!”
The captain of the
Vindictive was a fine seaman. With the utmost coolness he gave his orders from the bridge, in spite of the flying and bursting shrapnel all round him. With the greatest skill he managed his ship and got her safely out, covered by the smoke screen which we emitted as we steered down the Channel for home.
We met just at daybreak the warship in which was Vice-Admiral Keyes. The admiral signalled to us, “Well Done,
Vindictive!” and both crews cheered themselves hoarse as the ships passed each other. We arrived at Dover at 8.30 on Tuesday and on entering the harbour we received a splendid ovation from the crews of the ships there, and also from a large number of the inhabitants. One of the finest achievements of the engagement is credited to British submarines.
Two of our oldest boats managed to get in under the viaduct at Zeebrugge, and placed some 10 tons of explosives under the shore end of the viaduct which connects the Mole with the shore, blowing it up and preventing reinforcements coming from the shore. After getting their boat into position the submarine’s crew set the time-fuse and escaped in small dinghies.
