NAVAL SHELLING OF ZEEBRUGGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 November 1916, Page 9

NAVAL SHELLING OF ZEEBRUGGE.

BATTERING DOWN GERMANY'S SEA BREASTWORKS. A naval correspondent writes to the London Daily Graphic;— The Admiralty from time io time informs the. public thai an attack lias been made on Zeebrugge, and a bombardment pTi" ;\illy carried out. So laconic are • messages, 10 bald and unvarying the.r .anguage, .hat the publie has come to as3ume an attack on Zeebrugge is a somewhat commonplace affair.

Zeebrugge is not only ' tlie nearest German base for England; it also constitutes the western flank of that line our troops and our gallant Allie: have breached away down on the Somme. As a base of submarine.! and destroyers, it lias to be covered, and, out there, night after night, day after day, ceaselessly, tirelessly, 'there uiovt famous ships watching for anything; 'hostile that dares to push a head beyond the cover of the land guns. Thasc great ships protect our merchantmen from Holland, taking care, too, tljat nothing escapes to work havoc on the throbbing lines that -rowd the English Channel.

" ::o:-:itor3 in* actio:* But apart ./om the cver-.vr.'. .lilul moment, the constant sweeping nd patrolling, tliors cornea the nigh: ;or the bomlianlmeni of Zeebrugge, the great attack which the sleeping • world will know about in a tour-line communication three days later. The night is miserable, not a beam from the moon, not a star twinkles, every .ight ishore ar.d afloat is doused, ind, for "lioite we pic!; the nijlit wbe;: 'ii is ..vcopir.g in whole witer acres; .inv.liuot:i

It is a hazardous -isderlak.'r.T o ui;ut foes skilled in ;very devic. l of isf-v-ce ar.d attack, ve must into voters choking with mines, and on .5 chore teeming with shallows. But vre know the way, w.j have done it co often; there are lot mar.y entrance:., but tlioy are known' to u?, ~o ve creep cautiously along. The miro-sweepers ,'.ik tip, and the paddles simply roar as they thresh round clearing the mines. The 7 aae making way for the monitors which come barging along with ungainly mien. The destroyers throw out a screen, and in p. 'ow minutes the monitor?, are belching forth their shells. Enemy searchlights sv/oep the sea. In the miserable night and with our low freeboard, we are difficult to locate, jo -ye pound away like thunder in the little time that wo have, and over Zec'orr.gje rises the glare of our explosions. Their guns reply at last, but too late ngft'i.

BATTERED TO ATOMS.' The massive breastworks that the Germans for weeks have ::i building are razed to the ground, a inonth'c work on the great defences lies in rains, and the extreme western liank ol the German army in Flanders cnca more •has been battered to ataais. We never let thess breastworks rise too far. We have the distance registered for our guns, and in a full swoop in the dirtiest night wo ca<i pick in a month v/e bash them down. Kapid though our movements have bsen, the German gunners are busy, but we retire in order, and regain the watching fleet. It is an overwhelming, sledge-ham-mer blow, and to succeed ve must take Hans unawares and knock him out in a fraction of time. Everything must move as if on an oiled wheel, minesweeper!? must clear for monitors, and there are not many minutes for the monitors to execute our work. But we always do it.