240 THE YPRES TIMES naval operations on the coast, which continued for more than two weeks without intermission. Churchill, in the 1st volume of "The World Crisis," quotes a Swedish writer, Dr. Sven Hedin, who describes a scene in the restaurant of the best Ostend hotel; he says "A destroyer had just detached itself from the rest and was making at full speed for Ostend, parallel with the coast, as close as possible to the shore. Presently another destroyer appeared, following in the wake of the first. What could they want, these ruffians? Strong language was heardit was a piece of consummate impudence to come steaming right under our noses like this. Evidently they were reconnoitringbut what insolence, they must have known that we had occupied Ostend. Aha, they suspect that there are submarines and destroyers in the inner harbour, and want to see whether they can detect anything from outside. Astounding insolence! Two small German guns are hurried up. 'Are they going to shoot?' I asked. Oh yes, they are going to shoot all right.' The first shot rang out. Directly the German shots had been fired, the two destroyers swung round to port and at the same moment opened fire. Their guns seemed to flash out straight at us. The results were instantaneous. The restaurant which had been one of the most elegant in Europe was blasted into a smoking shambles of ruin and death. In this manner the German Army and the British Navy first came into contact with one another." The ships remained under weigh during bombardment, which increased the difficulties of keeping on a target, but this was necessary owing to the danger of attack by submarines; the firing, too, was indirect, as the target could seldom be seen. Prominent objects on shore were fixed on the chart by angles from the ship, and the bearings and ranges of the targets derived from these fixed points. Wire less messages indicating positions on a squared map of bodies of troops and batteries, etc., were constantly received, and naval balloons did some general spot ting, but corrections for individual guns were not possible. The enemy were undoubtedly taken unawares on the 18th; firing was incessant throughout the day, and all reports indicated that great execution had been done. The King of the Belgians expressed his appreciation in a W/T message in which he said that his General Staff estimated the casualties of the enemy, due to the bombardment of the flotilla, as being 1,600 killed and wounded, a battery of artillery had been put out of action, and an immense amount of commissariat had been destroyed. The bombardment from the sea continued day after day from daylight to dawn and the coast was swept by a devastating fire, with an occasional interval for rushing off to Dunkirk to replenish with ammunition and coal and then back again to the hunting ground. They were strenuous times for the crews, often ammunitioning and coaling most of the night and in action all day. At other times the ships anchored on the Nieuport Bank for the night and trusted to provi dence that they were unseen by the ever-vigilant submarine. Aircraft, too, became increasingly active. Was there ever such a war? Ships and submarines, aircraft and land artillery all engaged in fighting one another. To quote from the writer's diary at the time: One soon gets used to the everlasting din, day after day. It was a bit disturbing at firstthe guns, when fired, shake the ship from bow to stern; cabins are wrecked, fittings fall down in a most unseemly manner and we live in an unholy mess, empty cartridge cases lumber the deck,

HISTORISCHE KRANTEN

The Ypres Times (1921-1936) | 1929 | | pagina 18