Zeebrugge Raid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Zeebrugge Raid | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War I | |||||||
 The wrecks of British cruisers after the Zeebrugge Raid, April 1918. |
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Combatants | |||||||
| United Kingdom | German Empire | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Roger Keyes | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 75 ships 1,700 regulars |
Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 200 dead 300 wounded |
Unknown | ||||||
The Zeebrugge Raid, which took place on April 23, 1918, was an attempt by the British Royal Navy to neutralize the key Belgian port of Zeebrugge. The port was used by the German Navy as a base for their U-boats and light shipping, which was a serious threat to Allied shipping, especially in the English Channel.
A raid on Zeebrugge was first proposed in 1917 by Sir John Jellicoe, but was not authorised until Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes created a plan for a blocking operation which would make it difficult for German ships and submarines to easily exit the port. The raid was formally approved by the British Admiralty in February 1918 and launched two months later consisting of seventy-five volunteer ships and two-hundred soldiers.
The raid began with a diversionary attack against the mile-long Zeebrugge mole. The attack was lead by the old cruiser, HMS Vindictive, with two Mersey ferries, Daffodil and Iris II. The three ships were accompanied by two old submarines, which were filled with explosives to blow up the viaduct connecting the mole to the shore. HMS Vindictive was to land 200 marines at the entrance to the Bruges Canal, however, at the time of the landing the winds changed and the planned smoke-screen to cover the ship proved ineffective. The marines, whose objective was to destroy German gun positions, immediately came under heavy fire and suffered heavy casualties. Vindictive, spotted by German gun positions, was forced to land in the wrong location, resulting in the loss of the marines' fire support. Eventually, one of the old submarines destroyed the viaduct after it exploded.
The plan to sink three old cruisers to block the flow of traffic in and out of the Port of Zeebrugge did not go as planned. The failure of the attack on the Zeebrugge mole resulted in heavy German fire on the three blocking ships, Thetis, Intrepid and Iphigenia, which were filled with concrete. Thetis did not make it to the canal entrance, after it had hit an obstruction and was scuttled prematurely. The two other ships were sunk at the narrowest point of the canal. However, they were not in the correct position and only managed to block the canal for a few days.
The Zeebrugge Raid was promoted by Allied propaganda as a key British victory and resulted in the awarding of eight Victoria Crosses. Of the 1,700 men involved in the operation, 300 men were injured while more than 200 were killed.
[edit] References
- 23 April 1918 - Zeebrugge Raid. The Western Front Association. Retrieved on August 15, 2006.
- Battles: The Raid on Zeebrugge, 1918. FirstWorldWar.net. Retrieved on August 15, 2006.
- Making History: The Zeebrugge Raid. BBC.co.uk. Retrieved on August 15, 2006.
