The Brecon County Times Neath Gazette and General Advertiser for the Counties of Brecon Carmarthen Radnor Monmouth Glamorgan Cardigan Montgomery Hereford

A LOOK ROUND. -0 Jack's Night Out. -0 [Ih "SENTJEL- "J IT was the old i';unili;ir louch which the Navy gave at Ostend and Zee- brugge. on St. George's Day. Call it the Drake touch, the Nelson touch, or what you will. It showed the same old glorious contempt of odds which our sailors have always shown when they are given a chance to come to close quarters with the foe. To steam in close to the enemy's batteries through waters which were thickly sown with mines; to sink the very ships beneath them and take their chance of escaping in their boats; to land on the breakwater in the teeth of the enemy's machine-"tins—-all this was a desperate business enough. But when volunteers were called for from the Fleet, the number who offered themselves was so great that only a very small part could be taken. Of those who were chosen, very many returned no more. But they did a uJorious deed which will be told to our children's children. and they stopped up the entrance to the hornet's nest in a war of which we shall sec the results in the future. The object was to prevent the torpedo boats and submarines, which the Ger- mans have collected in these Belgian ports, from coming out and interfering with our shipping, especially our trans- ports. Perhaps there were other objects, too, of which we shall hear all in good time. The harbour of Zeebrugge is connected with the port of Bruges, where the German vessels lie, by a Canal which has lock gates to it. The Canal is blocked by sunken ships full of concrcle. and the lock gates are injured, if not destroyed. It will take the Germans a long time to clean up the mess, and, while they are doing it, things will probably have happened. It is not yet clear whether we had as much success at Ostend. But if not, the brave bluejackets will, no doubt, try again. W hen we talk of Jack's Night Out," we must not forget Joe, the Marine His Majesty's Jolly, or Leather-neck," as he is affectionately called. They were men of the fine old Sea liegiment who landed on the Mole and fought the Germans hand-to-hand while their comrades in blue did their work of destruction. They were there just to distract the eneriv and they knew their lives were scarcely worth a min- ute's purchase. But into it they went with right (food will, and well they did their business. There's nothing on earth can beat Joe when he's on the job." There will be proud hearts as well as sad in Hampshire and Wiltshire vil- lages, in the coombs of Devon, in the I; le of Sheppey and in London streets when the folk learn what the Jollies have done and suffered. Now, this gallant deed has been a useful reminder to us that we are a nation which lives by the sea. Our army has staggered under the blows dealt by the mailed fist of Hindenburg, and has gloriously recovered itself, standing stiffly at bay with its back to the wall. And just at the moment when it is get- ting its second wind, comes this splendid proof of the mighty force which stands behind it, and which will, most assuredly, strike many blows in a,id of the soldiers should need arise. The Navy has sent a message of good cheer to the Army, and it has also reminded us slow- witted, home-staving folk that our "sure shield" is not even dinted, for all the wild blows of the enemy. Let the storm howl never so wildly over the plains of France and Flanders, in quiet- ness and confidence, we shall find our strength, and in bull-dog determination to go on to the end and to save our children from the foul thing which oppresses the world. We have learned recently that Bel- gian boys—lads of thirteen to fifteen— have been torn from their homes by the German savages, sent to do the work of a strong man behind their lines under the fire of the guns, and that their poor dead bodies arc all that have been returned to their heart-broken parents. All this we have escaped, for our soldiers have made a living rampart of their bodies to save our homes from German violence and cruelty. But let us never forget that behind the soldiers there has been and is the Navy. keeping its cease- less watch. Thanks to the Navy, we right to .deliver the homes of others, not our own. That is the duty which we owe as the price of our safety. The Kaiser's battle has begun again, and more thousands of his soldiers have become food for powder," We may take heart and be of good courage, for the Navv has shown us who and what it is which says They shall not pass." Well may we Praise Him who isled us here and roughly set His Briton in blown seas and storming showers.

MODERN SLAVE DRIVERS Some of the Cruelties of German Tyrants. [By ARGUS."] The other day I heard a man say quite petulantly: Don't talk to me about Ger- man atrocities; I'm sick of them. They all belong to the early days of the war when the Germans thought they could shake our nerves by frightfulness. All that is ancient history." The petulant man was altogether wrong, for the Ger- mans continue to perpetrate atrocities even in the fourth year of the war. Only this month a White Paper (No. 8,988. Price 3d., obtainable from Wyman < & Sons) has been published by the Govern- ment about certain horrible tortures inflicted on British prisoners of war behind the firing lines in France and in Belgium. The Germans, disregarding all the accepted usages of war, have compelled numbers of our men to do heavy work for the German Army in areas under the shell-fire of Bri- tish guns. 'Many havje been killed by our own guns, and others wounded, but that, horrible as it is, is not the worst there is to relate. Many of our poor fellows so employed have died from starvation and overwork. It is proved beyond the shadow of doubt that the Germans have com- pelled our men to make roads, repair and construct railways, dig trenches, erect wire entanglements, make gun- pits, and do all manner of heavy fatigue work. On a diet of lIb. of black bread and coffee for breakfast, soup at midday, and coffee without sugar or milk at 4.30, the men had to work eight and more hours a day. If men, owing to physical weakness, were slow in getting to work, the Germans used dog whips to stimulate them. If they fell down from sheer exhaustion they were kicked till they got up again. They were herded together in barns at night, and had to sleep in their wet clothes> on bare boards without blankets. If a starving man fell out to snatch up a scrap of bread inl the roadway or a piece of potato peeling he was shot down by a guard. More appalling still are recent dis- closures about the German enslavement of women and children in Belgium. All boys over the age of thirteen are now swept into the German Army's labour battalions, and compelled t-6 work in the trenches. They, too, are subjected to the cruellest forms of ill-treatment—fed on starvation-rations, compelled to work till they drop by the whips of modern slave drivers. They are dying like flies, these poor boys. To one little village in Belgium ten dead bodies were returned the other day. Why dwell on these nauseous things? Surely it is a duty to dwell on them—a disagreeable but urgent duty. They prove amongst other things that German civilisa- tion is a mere pretence of virtue. Prisoners of war," says the German War Book, which is full of virtuous lip- service to civilisation, are protected against unjustifiable severities, ill-treat- ment, and unworthy handling." What shameless hypocrisy is this in the light of all that was being done by the war-fiends to their helpless victims only a few short months ago. 6

A SAINT GEORGE'S DAY CELEBRATION. HOW THE NAVY RAIDED A U-BOAT LAIR. On St. George's Day, the feast of England's warrior patron saint, our seamen pli-formed a glorious feat of arms. They raided the two ports in Belgium, Ostend and Zeebrugge, which the Germans have been using as lairs for U-boats and other pirate craft. At Zeebrugge our adventure was highly successful, the concrete Mole which shelters the harbour from the sea was partly destroyed, and the approach to the Zeebrugge Canal was blocked by the sinking of old ships filled with concrete. Approach under Smoke Clouds. Two officers of the "Vindictive" took part in the attack on Zeebrugge Mole. This is, in shortened form, their story :— "It was a damned fi lie adventure carried nut with dare-devil pluck. We approached Zeebrugge under cover of our own smoke slouds so that the enemy could not tell what we were, large or small, many or few. There was a veritable blanket of smoke stretching from Zeebrugge to Ostend, a jet black, impenetrable wall of vapour which com- pletely deceived the Hun for a time. But when he discovered we were about he put up star-shells. "We had no alternative then but to go ahead. We steamed through the smoke screen, and then we got hell. Yes there is no other word for it. It was pure, unadulterated hell. All our men were on deck, and the Germans shelled the Vindic- tive without cessation for twelllty minutes. Despite 'this terrific fire we carried on. But when we got alongside the Mole we found that out of fourteen prows or gang- ways which we had on board for landing purposes only two were of any use, the remainder being short away. There was no help for it but for our landing party to go ahead with these two, damaged and shaking though they were." I The Landing on the Mole. As the attacking vessels neared the entrance to the harbour of Zeebrugge the boom across the mouth had first to be burst, and then a swarm of little craft rushed into the harbour looking for victims. At the same moment the Ger- mans flooded the sky, with star shells, and it was as light as day." Meanwhile, the men on the Vindictive made their landing on the Mole, the long concrete pier which protects the harbour from the sea. Let the officers continue the story :— With a ringing cheer and Over you go, Royals! our storming party made for the first ledge of the Mole. We lost heavily in the process, for the sliell-fire directed against us was terrible. After reaching this first ledge we had another drop of some twenty feet to negotiate before we could get to grips with the enemy. To make matters worse it was raining heavily all the time. Undaunted. our men lowered themselves by means of ropes and rope-ladders. Three Hun des- troyers were lying alongside the Mole on the further side, and all three of them kept firing at the 'Vindictive' at close range, so it became necessary to silence them first. From these boats the German sailors came up in swarms to attack us. but they found themselves face to face with British bayonets. With a cheer our men charged them. Never was a more extraordinary battle fought than this conflict in the very dead of night in pouring rain, with shells bursting around on a narrow plat- form, with the sea on each side. Our men were armed with short staves as well as with rifles, and they bashed the enemy on the head with their staves when they got ito close quarters." Destroying a Destroyer. The men of the Vindictive made for the German destroyers :— We dashed up to the first destroyer, into which we lobbed some fifty hand bombs. A loud explosion followed, and the last we saw of her was that she was on fire and was sink- ing. We were unable to reach the other two destroyers, and what became of them we are unable to say. Then we forced our way ashore at the point of the bayonet. We charged the crew of the shore gun which had been giving us so much trouble, and after kill- ing a number of them ithe rest dispersed and we captured the gun. My, it was warm work All around us we could hear above the din of the cannonading the cries of the wounded. It was ghastly, but our men behaved magnifi- cently. Meanwhile the Vindictive was being shelled from all quarters, and she was still engaged with ithe shore batteries when we received by syren the signal to withdraw. The block ships had by this time been sunk and our object had been attained,. When we got back on board the poor old Vindictive was a terrible sight, but her captain was a fine seaman. With the utmost coolness he gave his orders from the exposed bridge, despite the flying and bursting shrapnel, and with the greatest skill he manoeuvred his ship and got her safely out, under cover of her own smoke screen. As we steered down channel for home, just ait daylight, we met the war- ship on which was Admiral Roger Keyes. The Admiral signalled to us Well done, 'Vindictive" and both crews cheered them- selves hoarse as the vessels passed each other." How Vindictive Cot Away. One of the amazing features of the whole adventure was that the Vindictive got away and returned to England. Of course she was badly battered and sustained heavy losses. Before the landing party got ashore the crew of her forward gun had been wiped out three times, but as fast as men fell others took their plages, and the pounding of the Germans never ceased. One of the crew says: — The Vindictive's casualties were rather severe, mainly owing to one shell from a. big German gun. This shell struck the Mole alongside the cruiser while a portion of the landing party were on deck. Large fragments of the blown-up masonry added to the casualties resulting from the shell splinters. Are you sure all the men are aboard?' was the captain's last enquiry before getting away from the Mole, and it was not until there was an assurance that everybody who could be expected to return was then on board that ithe order to steam away from Zeebrugge was given. Then the old ship went off with a rush, sending out flame from her funnels twelve feet high, and giving her best imita- tion of a battle-cruiser. They must have been stoking her like blazes." German Guns Destroyed. The landing party numbered 450 men. Of their work this is a sample:— Our first work was to destroy ithe German guns. The six big guns at the top of the Mole in the entrance to the harbour had been abandoned by itheir crews when they saw that we must land. We destroyed them and then pressed forward, throwing hand grenades and bayoneting the enemy. Some of our officers carried heavy sticks, like entrenching tools, for hand-to-hand fighting. The number of black eyes and bruises is sufficient evidence of the extent of this close fighting. We made our way along the Mole, a place about a mile long and eighty yards wide. Halfway down it were barbed-wire entrenchments and machine guns which swept the entire width. We captured that position. The work of demolishing the enemy guns having been completed, in came ithe block-ships, and then the landing party returned." The Submarine Full of Explosives. One it-eiii of the plan of attack was to destroy the structure of the Mole itself, and for this particular purpose an old sub- marine was stuffed full of explosives, driven right close to the Mole, and then fired. Here is their story :— "It was Lieut. Sandford, R.N., who took the old submarine full of explosives and blew her up under the viaduct. The crew did their duty, every man. They were All volunteers and picked men. The six were: Lieut. Sandford, R.N., Lieut. Price, R.N.R., Cox- swain Hamer, Chief Engine-Room Artificer Roxburgh, Leading Torpedo Operator Cleaver, Stoker Bendall. Lieut. Sandford commanded, with Lieut. Price as second in command, and with her engines running smoothly the sub- marine glided into the shoal waters of Zeebrugge at midnight, the whole crew of six being on deck. The Mole looming up black in the darkness and the viaduct joining it to the shore were clearly seen. It was a silemt and nervy business. She was going at full tilt when we hit the viaduct. It was a good jolt, but you can stand a lot when you hang on tight. We ran right into the middle of the viaduct and stuck there as intended. I do not think anybody said a word except, Well, we're here all right.' We lowered the skiff and stood by while the com- mander touched off the fuse. Then we tumbled into the skiff and pushed off. We had raither a bit of bad luck. The propeller fouled the exhaust pipe and left us with only a couple of oars and two minutes to get away. The lights were now on us and the machine- guns going from the shore. Before we had made 200 yards the submarine went up. We had no doubt about that. There was a tremendous flash, bang, crash, and lots of concrete from the Mole fell all round us into the water. It was luck we were not struck. In the darkness, lit by shell-fire, star-shells, blinding, bursting flashes of destroyers, the little disabled ship was pulled away from the Mole. Coxswain Hamer and Stoker Bendall took the oars first, till Bendall was knocked out, when Cleaver grabbed the oar and carried on till the coxswain was hit. Shifting Bendall, who was hit again, and Hamer into the bows, Lieut. Price took the oar, after- wards to be relieved by Roxburgh when Lieut. Sandford was hit. In the nick of time a picket-boat found the little skiff. We gave a shout of joy when we saw her,' said Bendall. She took us on board and transferred us to another ship.' Hoisting the Union Jack. As a wind-up to the adventure OIl the Mole our brave men hoisted the Union Jack,- and left it flying when they returned to their ship