Papurau Newydd Cymru
Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru
6 erthygl ar y dudalen hon
H.M.S. " VINDICTIVE."
H.M.S. VINDICTIVE." A Gallant Ship Rides to a Glorious End. In the War Supplement" a week or two ago we gave the story of the great part played by H.M.S. Vindictive in the St. George's Day attack by British Naval Forces on Zee- brugge. Battered almost into shapelessness by German shell fire, the gallant ship was still able to return to her base. Treasure her as an inspiration," people said. But the Admiralty found a more splendid service for her to perform. They filled her with cejnent. and ull the morning of May 10th she steamed across it he North Sea for the last time—to be sunk in the fairway of Ostend harbour, where she lies in such a position that she partly blocks the channel used by the German pirate craft, and makes their passing a I hazardous business. The story of how Vindictive finished her work is finely told in an Admiralty narrative. A Fiery Picture. Fifteen minutes before Vindictive was due at the harbour mouth, the signal for the monitors' great guns and those of the Royal Marine Artillery in Flanders to open fire was given. Two motor-boats, under Lieut. Darrei Heid. R.N.R., and Lieut. Albert L, Poland, R. N,. dashed in -towards the ends of the high wooden piers and torpedoed them. There was a machine-gun on the end of the western I pier, and that vanished in the roar. Uver the town a flame suddenly appeared high in the air and sank slowly earthwards—the signal that the aeroplanes had seen and under- stood and almost coincident with their first bombs came ithe first shells whooping up from the monitors at sea. The surprise part of the attack was isprung. Up till the moment when the torpedoes of the motor-boats exploded there had not been a shot from the land. The motor-launches were doing their work magnificently. These pocket-warships, manned by the R..N.V.R.. are specialists at smoke production they built to either hand of Vindictive's course the likeness of a dense sea-mist driving landward with the wind. It blinded the observers of the great German batteries when, suddenly, upon the warning of the explosions, the guns roared into action. There was a while of tremen- dous uproar. Star-shells spouted up and floated down, lighting the smoke banks with spreading green fireS; and those strings of luminous green balls which airmen call flaming onions soared up to lose them selves in the clouds. "Vindictive" Cropes About. Through aU this stridency and blaze of con flict: the old Vindictive," still unhurrying. was walking the lighted waters towards the entrance. It was then that those in the des- troyer- became aware that what had seemed to be merely smoke was wet and cold, that the rigging was beginning to drip, that there were no longer any stars—a real sea fog had come on. The destroyers had to turn on their lights and use their sirens to keep ill touch with each other the air attack was suspended; and Vindictive" found herself in gross darkness. ";r, Motor-boats to eitner side oi ner were supplied with Dover flares—enormous lights capable of illuminating square miles of sea at once. "Vindictive" put her helm over and started to cruise to find the entrance. Twice in her wanderings she must have passed across it. and at her third turn, upon reach- ing the position at which she had first lost, her way, there came a rift in the mist and she saw the entrance clear, the piers to either side, and the opening dead ahead. The inevitable motor-boat dashed up, raced on into the opening under a heavy and momen- tarily growing fire, and planted a flare on the water between the piers. Vindictive" steamed over it and on. She was in. Found by the Enemy Cuns. The guns found her at once. She was hit every few seconds after she entered, her scarred hull broken afresh in a score of places, and her decks and upper works swept. The after control was demolished by a shell which killed all its occupants. Upper and lower bridges and chart-room were swept by bullets, and Commander Godsal ordered his officers to go with him to the conning tower. They observed through the observation slit in the steel wall of the conning-tower that the eastern pier was breathed some 200 yards from its seaward end as though at some time a ship had been in collision with it. Imme- diately after passing the breach Commander Godsal went out on deck, the better to watch the ship's itioveiiieijt,, he chose his position and called in ,through the slit of the conning- tower his order to starboard the helm. Vindictive responded she laid her bat- tered nose to the eastern pier and prepared to swing her 320 ft. of length across the channel. It was at that moment that a shell from the shore batteries struck the conning-tower. Lieut. Sir John Alleyne and Lieut. V. A. C. Crutchley, R.N., were still within Com- mander Godsal was close to the tower outside. Lieut. Alleyne was stunned by the shock; Lieut. Crutchley shouted through the slit to the commander, and receiving no answer (the commander had been killed) rang the port engine full speed astern to help in swinging the By this time she was lying a,t an angle of about 40 degrees to the pier and seemed to be hard and fast, so that it was impossible to bring her farther round. After working the engines for some minutes to no effect, Lieut. Crutchley gave the order to clear the engine-room and abandon ship according to the programme previously laid down. Engineer-Lieut.-Com. Wm. A. Bury, who was the last to leave the engine-room, blew the main charges by the switch installed aft; Lieut. Crutchley blew the auxiliary charges in the forward 6-in. magazine from the conning-tower. Those on board felt the old ship shrug as the explosive tore the bottom plates and the bulkheads from her she sank about 6 ft. and lav upon the bottom of the channel. Her work was done.
HUNTING THE SHARK. Stori
HUNTING THE SHARK. Stori That Illustrate Our War Against U = Boats. I.—THE TRAWLERS' CATCH. The great liner swung her proud stem, and woofed" peremptorily with her syren. The little pair of trawlers with the tiny red flags at their mastheads appeared to take no notice of this huge and resplen- dent sister of the sea, whereupon, as if determined to attract attention to herself, he woofed even more loudly, gruffly, and peremptorily than before. This time the trawlers turned to look at her, and the nearest one steamed down, her companion following at a certain set distance. A figure in a yellow footba: jersey on her bridge raised a battered megaphone. That's right, you flat-faced duck," he cried, or words to that effect. If you want to give a free advertisement to some Fritz or other that you're knocking about waiting for a torpedo, keep all making that row." The liner said nothing; her captain, full of gold, lace and dignity, was too full for words. Nevertheless, he saw that there was at least horse-sense in the trawler skipper's advice, and, whipping up his engines, began to steam round and round in an extremely irregular circle—-a manoeuvre which baffles the pirate shark.1 The trawlers, having eased their minds, returned to the job in hand. Very care- fully and very slowly, as though searching the breaking seas for some particular wave- tip, they plodded on, and watchers from the liner noted that astern of each boat sagged something like a thin black thread. It was really a btout wire hawser slung between the two boats, for they were creeping for-well, for iiiiii-es-or other things. For the better part of an hour they worked on thus, moving less than a mile in the whole time. Then, quite suddenly, through their binoculars, the watchers in the liner saw the port boat bring up with a jerk and then hastily cross, her sister's bows, the black thread tautening out astern of her as she went. Then the trawlers whipped up their engines and performed a sort of devil's dance around each other. Then they stopped—and almost immediately a great I grey mound of water rose in the sea along- side them, and cast them widely apart. A dull, muffled explosion, as though miles under the earth, followed- and the pert trawler hoisted a strip of bunting at lie-r masthead. You may now proceed into harbour," read the liner, and she proceeded. As her stem cut through the tumbling water which had taken the. place cf the grey mound, those who looked over her side saw, with sudden horror, a German sea- man's cap, three pieces of splintered wood, and a broad patch of oil slowly rise to the surface and drift past—the only remnants of the German submarine which, lying in wait for an easy target such as the liner presented, had been spotted, located, and disposed of by the trawler. II- A U-BOAT'S SHORT CAREER. Here is the short story of the black and happily brief career of UC39, a new German mine-laying submarine, which had its career of mischief-making stopped on its very first trip. On the first day after leaving the base, the UC39, carrying several torpedoes and a quantity of ammunition for her gun, but no mines, for it was her first trip and a shakedown' cruise for her officers and men, sank the Norwegian s.s. 'Hans Kinck and the British steamer Hanna Larsen.' 011 the second morning she sighted the Norwegian s.s. 'Ida' and opened fire. The 'Ida' stopped immediately, probably after the first round, but nevertheless the submarine con- tinued firing. When the gunlayer saw that the ship had stopped and that he had obtained several hits, he asked if he should cease tiring. He was told by the cap fa in to carry on. Some 25 rounds in all were fired. When the Ger- man finally ceased fire, one of the Ida's boats went alongside the submarine and said that two wounded had been left on the steamer. The sub-lieutenant and three men were sent on board, and found the mate and a steward lying dead on the deck. having been killed whilst in the act of lowering the boats. The Ida' was then sunk by bombs. Two hours later UC39 opened tire on a steamer and a trawler, but. un diving, lost them in the mist. About 1 p.m. she came to the surface and opened fire on another steamer, but her lire was almust immediately answered from a British destroyer. She dived but nut soon enough, fur a depth charge shook her vitally, so that water poured into her conning tower and cohtrol room, causing a panic amongst the crew. UC39 rose sharply to the surface, and the destroyeI: s guns raked her fore and aft. The captain climbed out of the conning tower hatch, and was preparing to surrender when he was killed by a shell. The engineer and sub-lieutenant were the next on deck, and the former was immediately wounded. The UC boat was still making speed on the surface, and the destroyer therefore continued to fire. Three of the crew jumped overboard and were immediately drowned, while three others on the deck were killed by gunfire, and several were wounded. Finally, the destroyer hailed the UC boat through a megaphone to stop, and, this being done, fire ceased, and seventeen German sui- vivors were taken off by the destroyer.
A LOOK ROUND.
A LOOK ROUND. A "Moral Effect." [BY SE.NTIXEL."] PEOPLE sometimes find fault with JL the publication of stories of Ger- man cruelties to our prisoners of War and to the women and children of France and Belgium. They say that I these things only stir up hate, which is Unworthy and un-Christian, and that by spreading these stories abroad we Illake ourselves as bad as the Germans Mth their Hymn of Hate." We flight be inclined to agree with this "pinion if the German atrocities were ^•mply the result of the mad passion of kittle or the rage of the mob. The Soldiers of Wellington's Army did Hrocious things after the storming of Wlajoz. But Wellington punished the C'dprits with the utmost severity. The Germans, on the contrary, boast that I these things ure dony quite deliberately, in order to terrify their enemies and force them to their will- A horrible story is'told by an English ,Jfrieer who was a German prisoner and has been exchanged. He was shot through the head and chest at the I battle of Loos, and left on the field \hen our men retreated. An English dudor stayed with him, and was kneeling beside him binding up His wounds when a German soldier t'dme along and shot him through the head. He then shot the bounded officer through the thigh <tnd left him for (lead. He was after- wards picked up bv the Germans, triplwd of all his clothes but his shirt. 3rid left to lie for three days and nights 01) the bare brick floor of a hut. He was afterwards taken to a town in (formally, and, with other British bounded, was carried through the streets on a stretcher between rows of German civilians. The women spat on the wounded, and the men belaboured them with sticks, choosing particularly wounded limb for their blows. Such treatment of helpless enemies Seems incredible to us, but the Germans hoast that it is sirnplv part of their system, and done for a purpose. In u, circular which the Germans are I circulating in Spain, they boast that they have 50.000 British prisoners, and .o on 10 sav :—■ Although to these figures the English oPpose 124,806 German prisoners, it must be remm bered that the English treat their prisoners with notable kindness, while the treatment imposed on English prisoners by t, the Germans is one of extreme harshness, 11 So that, the Germans, with the number of prisoners they have, have$(cured a much N/I}J/'J'ioJ' moral effect. To the 2.244 officerf and 51,325 soldiers must be added the several thousands of English prisoners who have died in consequence of disease, scanty ood, and other accidents in German con- centration camps." Even this is what the Germans call a superior moral effect." Truly a horrible confession That the Spaniards shall not miss its meaning, the circular adds: "These statistics are useful warnings to neutral countries. If there are anv still think- ing of siding with the Allies, let them take warning from the fate of others." So we can see that the tortures inflicted on the wounded officer whose tale is. told above were not the outcome of mere mad passion. The people who Tovern (p-ermauy and command the German armies deliberately allow these nngs to be done-indeecf, order them be done. They gloat over the facts id give the reason in cold blood. Ve- Irding to the German mind, these •oniinable cruelties produce a moral ect." English people give the word moral quite a different meaning. M e have it on the word of the Ger- mans themselves that they purposely treat our prisoners harshly; that they give them scanty food, and that thou- sands have died in the prison camps in consequence. If it is right for the Germans to publish these facts in order to frighten the Spaniards, it is right for us to publish them in order that the British people may know that the enemy they are fighting is as impenitent as he is brutal, and may understand that no peace is possible with the Ger- mans so long as they remain in the same frame of mind." Horrible as the story of German cruelty is, it is a simple duty to make it widely known. It is not less a duty to fight till the power to do evil is struck from the blood- stained hands of the Kaiser and his fellow-criminals.
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i è- < ( ( < ( ( ( I ( U.S.A. NAVY TYPES. I ) ————————— ( ) ( These are photographs of two men in < the United States Navy, serving on I ) American ships now in British waters. > > ( ) In Britain we all love Jack because he ( < is so hearty as well as so brave, and it is ] ) plain from these jolly faces that our men and Uncle Sam's men have much in f'< ) common. ( ) ( ) They have been caught by the camera ( ( at a happy moment, but we do not forget ) that their mission to Europe is stern and ( serious. They have come from their ( famous Land of Liberty to help us to win [ ( the great fight for Liberty--the great fight I which shall make the world, as President Wilson so finely said, SAFE FOR < DEMOCRACY. '( ( Î (I ) ;.J
TAKING IT EASY!
TAKING IT EASY! 1% [British Official. A happy picture of British soldiers in the battle area on the Western front. As you see they are tranquil enough to be nursing rabbits and smoking contentedly. Yet the thatched cottage they occupy is a fortified outpost, and when this photograph was taken the men knew that atany moment they might have to "stand to in readiness for a fight.
<0 \ KITE BALLOONS.
<0 KITE BALLOONS. The Kite, or captive balloon, is used for obser- vation purposes on the battle- field, and those who serve with them have peril- o u s duties, because the enemy is ever striving to destroy these balloons and so blind the Army using them. Often when they are destroyed, the officers who are observing have onlll one chance of iiie-to leap from the basket into space. If the parachute (note two of them attached outside the basket) opens properly they u s it a y land. without mishap, but the headlong fall before the parachute opens is one of the tensest thrills any man can experience. o