CHAPTER IV
THE FIGHT ON THE MOLE. H.M.S. IRIS.
As soon as the two foremost gangways reached the wall a party of seamen led by Lieutenant-Commander Adams had commenced the storming of the Mole. Lieutenant-Commander A. L. Harrison, the senior officer of the seamen storming parties, had been wounded in the head and was too dazed to land on the Mole until later. Commander Brock, having completed his duties in the aft flamethrower hut, also stormed the Mole.
Adams and a handful of men made their way along the parapet to the left and found an observation hut situated on it close by. This was bombed, but no occupants were found inside. Brock is believed to have gone inside this hut for the purpose of examining its interior; there is no authentic evidence that he was ever seen again. Adams stationed some of his men to guard a ladder leading from the parapet to the floor of the Mole and then returned to find us struggling with the grappling anchors as already described. Adams then reconnoitred again to the eastward and located a German machine-gun firing at the parapet from the trench system on the floor of the Mole. Barbed wire surrounded this trench, which interposed between Vindictive and the three-gun battery at the end of the broad part of the Mole. The seamen were then detailed to bomb the trench position, but in doing so they suffered many casualties from machine-gun fire. The position on the parapet was almost entirely exposed to gun-fire from the Mole itself, the lookout station affording the only cover. The German vessels berthed at the inner side of the Mole had also joined in the fight.
The terrific noise, the darkness, the bursting of shell, and the hail of machine-gun bullets rendered it exceedingly difficult for any one individual to make such observations as would lead to a connected account of the fighting on the Mole itself.
A Splendid Sacrifice
Just before arriving alongside the Mole, Lieutenant-Commander Harrison, in supreme command of the seamen storming parties after Commander Halahan's death, was struck on the head by a fragment of a shell; he was knocked senseless and sustained a broken jaw. On recovering consciousness he proceeded over one of the gangways to the parapet, where he took over command of the party detailed to attack the Mole batteries to the eastward, Lieutenant-Commander Adams going back to obtain reënforcements. Gathering together a handful of his men, Harrison led a charge along the parapet itself in the face of heavy machine-gun fire. He was killed at the head of his men, all but two of whom were also killed, these two being wounded.
Harrison's charge down that narrow gangway of death was a worthy finale to the large number of charges which, as a forward of the first rank, he had led down many a Rugby football ground. He had "played the game" to the end. To quote the final words in the official notification of his posthumous award of the Victoria Cross—"Lieutenant-Commander Harrison, although already severely wounded and undoubtedly in great pain, displayed indomitable resolution and courage of the highest order in pressing his attack, knowing as he did that any delay in silencing the guns might jeopardise the main object of the expedition, i.e., the blocking of the Zeebrugge-Bruges Canal."
With Harrison's death the Navy lost an officer who was as popular and as keen as he had been invaluable to the success of this particular operation, especially in the preparatory work.
Able-Seaman McKenzie, one of the survivors of Harrison's party, finding himself alone, did good execution with his Lewis gun in spite of being wounded in several places; he eventually returned to Vindictive after accounting for a number of the enemy.
Storming of the Mole
The Marines, now commanded by Major B. G. Weller, R.M.L.I., had followed the seamen over the gangways.
The prearranged details of the operations on the Mole had to be somewhat modified owing to the fact that Vindictive was further to the westward than originally intended. The reason for the latter has already been given, but a further word may not be out of place. The responsibility for the actual position of the ship was entirely my own; the error in position was, therefore, my own also. When the attack was originally planned the intention had been to endeavour to place the ship with her stern seventy yards from the western gun of the battery on the lighthouse extension. Actually Vindictive's gangways rested on the Mole nearly three hundred yards to the westward. One can only conjecture what would have happened, under the circumstances of the failure of the smoke screen owing to the change of wind, if the ship had proceeded past the six-gun battery at a speed sufficiently slow for berthing so close to the battery itself. Whether the ship would ever have reached the Mole, or whether there would have been any storming parties left on arrival alongside, can only be guessed. It certainly looks as if our mistake in position was as providential as it was unintentional.
Lieutenant F. T. V. Cooke, who afterwards greatly distinguished himself, led out the first party of Marines and silenced a party of Germans who were observed firing at the parapet from a position near No. 2 shed. Another party under Lieutenant Lamplough then established a strong point near No. 3 shed for the purpose of dealing with any enemy approaching from the westward. His party also attacked and bombed a German destroyer berthed at the inner side of the Mole.
Another party was ordered to the eastward to reënforce the seamen. As soon as the position was more clear the main party of the Marine force, under Captain E. Bamford, commenced an assault on the German positions covering the Mole battery.
It is not possible to say how many of the storming parties reached the Mole—the loss of officers and men and the resulting temporary disorganisation naturally prevented the collection of definite information. Suffice it to say that a large number stormed the Mole in furtherance of our diversion, and that the latter was undoubtedly successful in that we attained our primary object of assisting the blockships to pass an all-important obstacle in the Mole batteries.
Before passing on to other phases of the operation a general idea of the difficulties faced by the storming parties may be of interest, together with a brief account of the manner in which these difficulties were surmounted.
From the time of our arrival the Mole abreast the ship was subjected to extremely heavy fire. Presumably the shore guns, including the Kaiser Wilhelm battery with its twelve-inch guns and the Goeben battery (9.4-inch guns) situated almost within point-blank range, were shelling the Mole for all they were worth, regardless of damage to their own property or of danger to their own personnel. That, of course, would be a correct action, the repulse of the enemy always being of first importance.
The parapet on the high wall was almost entirely destitute of cover. The difficulty of placing the scaling ladders from the parapet to the floor-level of the Mole and of descending them whilst carrying such paraphernalia as rifles, bombs, flame-throwers, Lewis guns, etc., can easily be imagined. The difficulty would certainly not be lessened by the fact that the men would have their backs to any enemy who might be awaiting them on the Mole itself. The fighting amidst entirely strange surroundings in the face of properly organised strong points held by the enemy would not be easy. Add to that the certain losses and consequent disorganisation entailed during the assault, the difficulty of recognising friend from foe at night, and the blinding glare of star shell or searchlights alternating with momentary periods of inky darkness.
THE FIGHT ON THE MOLE.
Drawn by Charles De Lacy from details supplied by the Author.
Note the men coming down the outer wall of the Mole from Vindictive
Undoubtedly the assault would be difficult enough. But what of the retirement? The bodies of any men who were killed or disabled on the Mole could only be re-embarked by way of the vertical ladders against the wall. It would be bad enough to descend them in the first place, but a herculean task to carry a body twenty feet up a vertical ladder under incessant shell and machine-gun fire. Yet—and I think this fact sums up the splendid gallantry of these men—of the large number of men who stormed the Mole, many of whom were killed or completely disabled, the total number left on the Mole after the retirement, including both dead and wounded, amounted to little more than a dozen.
Daffodil and Iris
Daffodil, as already described, was prevented from landing her demolition parties in the prearranged manner, but some of them, led by Sub-Lieutenant F. E. Chevallier, had climbed into Vindictive and made their way to the Mole. Lieutenant C. C. Dickinson, commanding the demolition parties, and a party of his men on board Vindictive had landed at the commencement of the assault. They placed a couple of ladders, descended them, and then proceeded across the Mole, killing some Germans who were apparently making for the ladders. Demolition charges were placed in position, but not actually exploded owing to the presence of our own men in the vicinity. There is little doubt that the demolition parties would have been able to carry out considerable destructive work if more time had been available. Whatever the results of their efforts it is certain that Dickinson, Chevallier, and their men did all that was possible under the circumstances.
Iris had reached the Mole and dropped her anchor at the foot of the wall, about 12.15 A.M., her position being roughly one hundred yards ahead, i.e., to the westward, of Vindictive. The heavy swell was tossing her about like a cork, with the result that the use of the parapet anchors was extremely difficult. After several failures to get these parapet anchors hooked to the top of the wall Lieutenant Claude E. K. Hawkings, one of the officers of the storming party, ordered some men to hold up one of the scaling ladders. They could not actually lean it against the wall; the rough nature of the latter and the surging of the ship would have combined to break the ladder immediately. The ladder was, therefore, merely sloping towards the wall without any support at its upper end. Hawkings ran up it and leaped to the top of the Mole, the ladder being smashed to pieces a moment later. He sat astride the wall for the purpose of fixing an anchor and appears to have been immediately attacked by some enemy on the parapet itself. He was seen defending himself with his revolver before he was actually killed. It was terribly sad that his great act should have cost him his life.
Deaths of Hawkings and Bradford
Lieutenant-Commander George N. Bradford, who was actually in command of the storming party in Iris and whose duties did not include that of securing the ship, climbed up the ship's derrick, which carried a large parapet anchor and which was rigged out over the Mole side of the ship. The derrick itself was crashing on the Mole with each movement of the ship, which, in turn, was rolling and pitching heavily; a more perilous climb can scarcely be imagined. Waiting his opportunity, Bradford chose the right moment and jumped to the wall, taking the anchor with him. He placed the latter in position, but almost immediately was riddled with machine-gun bullets and fell into the sea between Iris and the Mole. Gallant attempts were made to rescue his body, but owing to the darkness and the rush of the strong tidal stream he was swept away beyond recovery.
Nothing could have been finer than Bradford's efforts to secure the ship. He had been a splendid fighter in the "ring"; it was against his nature to give in as long as there was the remotest chance of winning through; his death brought us the great loss of a great gentleman. Really, one cannot conceive greater bravery than was shown by these two officers, who have set an example which will surely never be forgotten.
The anchor placed by Bradford had either slipped or been shot away, with the result that Iris suddenly surged out from the Mole. It was then obvious that the difficulty of securing to the Mole was insuperable, so Commander Gibbs very rightly decided to land his men across Vindictive. He therefore ordered the cable to be slipped and then steamed round the stern of Daffodil and came alongside Vindictive. This change of plan, necessitated by the unfavourable state of the sea, showed a highly creditable degree of initiative. It must be realised that these movements and proceedings of Iris had occupied over half an hour; it was about 12.55 A.M. before Iris was secured to Vindictive. By that time the order for the retirement had been given. A few men scrambled out of Iris, but that ship was almost immediately ordered to shove off. She therefore left Vindictive and shaped course to the northward. She had barely turned when she came under a heavy fire from some enemy batteries. Two large shell and several small shell hit her, and were closely followed by three more large shell. The lookout house at the port extremity of the bridge was destroyed and a serious fire was caused on the upper deck.
Havoc in Iris
Valentine Gibbs, who had remained on the bridge throughout the operation, was mortally wounded. I had known "Val," as we had always called him, since he was a boy of thirteen. Even at that age he had shown himself to be absolutely fearless. Later in life he pad risen rapidly in his profession and would assuredly have been marked out for high command in due course. In peace days he had won the great race on the Cresta Run at St. Moritz, in war he had volunteered for every dangerous operation for which he had the remotest chance of selection. At last his opportunity had come and he lived for nought else than to put Iris alongside Zeebrugge Mole. I was told afterwards that in his short periods of consciousness after being wounded he asked and repeated but one question, "How are things going?" and he continued to ask how things were going until he died. I cannot write more of "Val"—words and phrases fail to do him justice.
The havoc in Iris was serious. From Vindictive she appeared to have been sunk, for she suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke and flame.
Major C. E. E. Eagles, D.S.O., in command of the Marine storming parties in Iris, was killed, and many of his men were killed and wounded at this period. Artificial smoke was emitted and a small motor boat also laid a smoke screen to shoreward of Iris—this probably accounted for her sudden disappearance from view.
LIEUT. GEORGE N. BRADFORD, R.N.,
LIEUT. CLAUDE E. K. HAWKINGS, R.N.,
LIEUT. RICHARD D. SANDFORD, R.N.,
COMMANDER VALENTINE F. GIBBS, R.N.
The navigating officer had been seriously wounded. Lieutenant Oscar Henderson took command. Petty Officer Smith was illuminating the compass with a torch in one hand and steering with the other. Able-Seaman F. E. Blake, having extinguished the fire on the bridge, employed himself in throwing overboard live bombs which were lying amongst the burning debris on the upper deck.
Iris had not received her share of good fortune. Nevertheless, although she actually failed to land her storming parties, there is every probability that her proceedings assisted to enhance the success of the diversion at the Mole and thereby materially assisted towards the safe passage of the blockships, i.e., the attainment of our object.