Zeebrugge Raid

[Halder]

Herewith my review from the June edition of Navy News. A really outstanding book, really nicely produced, scores of images. It was fascinating to read about the boxer Fred Larby as I interviewed his daughter when she visited the UK four or five years ago. I doubt anyone will ever write a more comprehensive account of the raid.

HAVING followed the author’s exhaustive research on the internet, it’s fair to say that Paul Kendall’s Zeebrugge Raid 1918: The Finest Feat of Arms (Spellmount, £25 ISBN 978-186227-4778) was eagerly awaited.

In the flesh, it does not disappoint – in fact it surpasses expectations.

Zeebrugge is probably the ultimate Boy’s Own story of the Great War – the attempt by sailors and marines to cork the U-boats in their bottle by blocking the Belgian po rt on St George’s Day 1918.

The raid failed in its aim, but such was the success of the British propaganda machine – and the bravery of the men involved – that this “immortal deed” became an instant tonic to flagging Allied morale in the spring of 1918.

It is a story oft told – but never better and never as comprehensively, or as copiously illustrated.

Regular Navy News readers will know that we aim to recount battles from ‘both sides of the hill’ in our historical features.

So, refreshingly, the author describes the Zeebrugge raid from the viewpoint of attacker and defender (the latter is often sorely neglected).

The emphasis, nevertheless, is on those men who stormed the Mole or led blockships into the gates of hell that fateful April 23.

Many of these stories will be well-known: the accounts by Royal Marine Sgt Harry Wright or Capt Alfred Carpenter VC, for example.

But many will not, thanks to the author’s efforts to track down the families of participants.

Indeed, a good third of the book is devoted to a series of moving biographies and first-hand accounts from every aspect of the assault and support force.

LS Edward Gilkerson volunteered for Operation ZO, leaving behind the magnificent dreadnought HMS King George V and joining the obsolete cruiser Vindictive. It would be his final ship; he was killed, probably by a shell.

His battleship shipmates mourned his loss as much as his parents did. They wrote an eloquent and heartfelt letter of condolence to the Gilkersons:

“Dear parents of a noble son. We find him one with all things at night the stars show us where a bed is made for him in Heaven.

“As long as men’s hearts are young and the blood runs warm, Edward Gilkerson’s memory will be great.”

Often overlooked in the aftermath of the raid are the funerals which followed in its wake: there were burials for a good week or more, invariably very public affairs – particularly those in what became known as ‘Zeebrugge Corner’ of St James’ Cemetery in Dover. It remains immaculately maintained to this day.

There are now no living reminders of the raid; the last survivors passed away in 2002, but their immortal deed will rightly live on through this outstanding volume.

The blurb on the dustjacket proclaims “there is no more complete account” of the raid. It is spot on.