Zeebrugge Raid 1918

[domwalsh]

Any time. Always happy to try to help on any Zeebrugge-related queries if I can.

Cheers,

Dom

[stiletto_33853]

Dom,

Not sure if you had this or if it outside of what you are looking at. There are quite a few local burials from men outside of the area due to the amount of war hospitals in the area:-

Alexander, Roy Leslie. MB/1839, R.N.V.R

Roy Alexander was a New Zealander wounded in the Zebrugge Raid of 23rd April 1918. He was admitted to Queen Mary's Hospital in May 1918 and died there of his wounds on 21st August 1918 aged 21. He is buried in War Grave E.5857 in Sutton Road Cemetery.

Southend Standard 29/8/18.

Andy

[domwalsh]

Thanks for that Andy. Funnily enough, on a recent visit to the NA I found a whole load of correspondence relating to this man. He must have felt a long way from home as he lay mortally wounded in his hospital bed.

Cheers,

Dom

[stiletto_33853]

Dom,

Glad that it was of some use. Sutton Road Cemetery is not that far from me if you need a picture of the headstone at all.

Andy

[domwalsh]

That's a very kind offer. Don't make a special trip but if you're ever passing, that would be grand.

Best,

Dom

[Lawlersr]

Consider it done Steve. I have photocpied the book pages but if you want to buy it there's a copy on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/THE-ZEEBRUGGE-RAID-b...1QQcmdZViewItem

Thankyou Dom for the information posted.

It has led to another path of research as Thomas Cochran had a brother who survived the sinking of HMS Pathfinder by a German sub in 1914. Almost certainly a great reason to volunteer for the raid?

I'm still looking for photo's, I'll let you know if I find one.

Thanks

Stephen

[domwalsh]

Cheers Stephen, keep me posted.

[chelseawh]

Hi there, in my research for a future book I have located information on your great uncle Thomas Tannahill Cochran which you might already have, but I am happy to copy it for you. This includes service record, birth certificate, grave details, census records, newspaper report. W.H.

[Lawlersr]

Hi there, in my research for a future book I have located information on your great uncle Thomas Tannahill Cochran which you might already have, but I am happy to copy it for you. This includes service record, birth certificate, grave details, census records, newspaper report. W.H.

Thanks for the information. I'd be happy to receive a copy of his birth certificate, and you mentioned in your e-mail information regarding confusion over the body on it's arrival, I'd be interested to see any paperwork on this.

I have received old postcards of the raid and the resultant damage. Happy to scan them and post on the forum if anyone is interested.

Please forward any details to Steve Lawler, 7/12 Terminus street, Grange, South Australia.

[chelseawh]

I have copied all that I have on Thomas Cochran and will put it in the post tomorrow. Wendy.

[sadsac]

Dom, Stephen, nothing on Cochran himself but find here award for sinking of PATHFINDER;

SMYTH Thomas A MB Staff Surgeon RN 83P296 Pathfinder

C-in-C Coast of Iceland 18.06.18 Gazetted

Action with enemy submarines 05.09.14 Promoted Fleet Surgeon 21.05.18

When the Pathfinder was struck by a torpedo fired by a hostile submarine on the 5th September, 1914, he did everything in his power to attend to the wounded, and after the order to "Jump" had been given continued to do so. The ship settled rapidly by the head, but he went on attending to the wounded, until the deck assumed such an angle that he, together with the injured, slid forward and brought up against No. 4 Port 4" gun, where he sustained a severe blow on the forehead, cracking the skull and other small injuries. After the ship sank, he was in the water for about 1¼ hours, or longer, and was unconscious when picked up.

Regards Sadsac

[bobcso75]

hi all

i am new here and was wandering if anyone has any info on my great grandad pte james samuel langhorn chatham batt service no: ch18717. any info i would be most greatful as i would love to no more about him and my family seem to no very little.

thanks in advance

bob langhorn

[horatio2]

There are papers for him at the Fleet Air Arm Museum:

Chatham/18717; LANGHORN, JS; Enlisted 18/08/1914; Discharged to SHORT SERVICE; D.o.b. 29/03/1897; P.o.b. HOXTON. When he enlisted at the very beginning of the war there was no such thing as an enlistment for Short Service (Duration of the War) into the RMLI so he had to join for Continuous Service (i.e. Long Service) for a minimum period of 12 years from age 18. After the war ended such men were allowed to transfer to Short Service and your GGF was discharged from Long Service and re-enlisted for Short Service on the same day. He became Chatham/3369(S) and his papers are under that number. He was then demobilised from Short Service in 1919. He was with Chatham Battalion RMLI and under fire at the Defence of Antwerp in Sep/Oct 1914 and was awarded the 1914 Star and Clasp.

PM me for info on how to get these records.

[awakefield]

Regarding the use of flame throwers at Zeebrugge, IWM holds an account by Air Mechanic W H Gough (one of the 2 AMs mentioned in Keyes' dispatch as having rendered 'good service during the attack on the mole' (papa 85: Experimental Party). In the account Gough states his job was to destroy some sheds. However, on reaching these he found them already on fire. Moving on he found himself close to a German destroyer: 'I therefore turned my flammenwerfer on them and swept the whole deck with flames. I must have kiklled a lot of them. I tried to reach the bridge...but the range was too great and my flame-thrower played out...I subsequently learnt that, following the wiping out of the deck crew...some of our seamen had boarded the destroyer, accounted for the rest of its crew, and finally sunk her by exploding a charge in her engine room.'

Just wondering if anyone can verify Gough's use of the flamethrower against the destroyer?

ALAN

[bobcso75]

thanks very much hartio2

thats fantastic this info is more than i dared hope for you are truly kind.

i affraid this sill computer has a prob with being able to pm people it has mind of its own, so heres my email bobby.burgess@merseymail.com if that helps again many thanks

bob langhorn

[domwalsh]

Bob,

I have checked my files and can confirm Pte Langhorn did not serve at Zeebrugge.

Regards,

Dom

[bobcso75]

thank very much tom

now ive just got to find out where else he did serve i know he was at gallipoli and now antwerp

.

again many thanks

bob

[Regulus 1]

Alan, having seen reports on both sides of the story, I would dare to say, never happened. Last flamethrower was probably destroyed when Lt. Eastlake wanted to use it and it was shot to pieces when HMS Vindictive was alongside the Mole.

I did read another account on the matter of the flamethrowers but will have to look it up.

[awakefield]

Thanks for the reply - I was rather wary of Gough's account as I can find no other reference to members of the landing party taking on a destroyer and eventually sinking her with a charge. Will be interested to hear of the other accounts if you can find it. Gough obviously did something worthy of a MID during the raid!

ALAN

[Regulus 1]

Alan, did put my head in the German accounts again and couldn't find any reference to it. Will check further these days what happened, am working on a Flemish book on the matter (Marinekorps Flandern) and have nearly finished it.

[domwalsh]

By the way, Johann, thanks very much for the newspaper cutting

Best

Dom

[Regulus 1]

Well, glad to see it finally made it !

Alan, German reports say they captured two of these flamethrowers, but do not mention the use of it, curious thing.

[SiegeGunner]

Johan,

The big FWs on Vindictive were both put out of action before they could be brought into operation (pace Carpenter). The units captured were presumably man-portable Hayes FWs of the kind shown in this photo (from Percival Haslam's "How We Twisted The Dragon's Tail" (Hutchinson & Co, 1918).

[Regulus 1]

Siege Gunner, yes that would be logical indeed !

Curious thing is that there's nothing in any of the sometimes detailed reports on the damage on the torpedoboats and destroyers moored along the Mole that mentions damage or casualties by the flamethrower(s).

[awakefield]

Chaps

I was looking through a volume of Admiralty reports relating to the Zeebrugge Raid and found a report from an officer of the experimental section, which included the portable flamethrowers, that corroborates Gough's account - at least to some extent, in that Gough's mention in despatches was down to his use of a flamethrower to prevent German sailors using machine guns against the landing party on the mole and then from leaving the destroyer to attack the landing party. There is even a paragraph from Gough (plus similar testimony from two guys who were using phospherous bombs) giving his own, very matter of fact, account. What is evident is that Gough elaborated somewhat on his flamethrower work in his own extended account held by the Department of Documents at the Imperial War Museum. I'll check the name of the officer who wrote the report and post something in the next day or so.

ALAN