Zeebrugge Raid by Philip Warner

Author:Philip Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2008-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

3

The Royal Marines

The 4th Battalion of the Royal Marines had been formed at Dover from a Company brought from Chatham, a Company from Plymouth and a Company from Portsmouth. The commanding officer, Lieutenant-Commander Elliot, DSO, who was killed at Zeebrugge, came of a family who had been serving with the Marines since 1716. The high standards and versatility of the Royal Marines need no special commendation here; they are well enough known.

*

Extracts from diary of RMLI private (from Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. J. Eagles). The anonymous writer was Irish, an avid reader, and blessed with a keen though cynical sense of humour. Colonel Eagles’ father, Major C. E. C. Eagles DSO, was killed in the battle and was mentioned in despatches.

19th March

Volunteered for 4th Battalion at Deal. There were thirty volunteers out of M14, but there were only eleven taken. There were McDowell, Burgess, Whitley, Goodwin, Lightbown, Morris, Mitchell, Wilson, Poole and myself, and last, but not least, Smullen.

20th March

Passed the colonel for 4th Battalion, but, much to our surprise, we were told that we are to go to France in fourteen days, and we cannot get draft leave until we are two months there. We expressed our opinions on this move in no uncertain terms.

21st March (Sunday)

Went to Battalion Quarters El Room, North Barracks. Lightbown, McDowell, Malpas and I are all together in one room. There are a couple of other decent chaps as well, and several ex-drummers. Parade in full marching order at 9.30 a.m. Inspected by Chatham major. All the battalion are off on draft leave, and we volunteers are stuck for drill and forced marches.

22nd March

Physical jerks and bayonet fighting are the leading lines in the training, besides long marches. Lieutenant Claudet, our platoon commander (7th Platoon), brought us out to Freedown and showed us a model of the canal that we are to mop up in France. He says it will be only for two and a half hours. It appears to be two miles long, and seems full of trenches, dug-outs, pill-boxes, and ammunition dumps. We can plainly see that there is an air of mystery about this whole stunt. What the devil do they want going to the expense of sending 950 marines over to France for two and a half hours’ work, when they have millions of men there already, is what puzzles some of us.

23rd March

Battalion back from leave. We pick up our place in Portsmouth section, and train with them. Tons of work and training until eleven at night.

24th March

Same old thing. Gas-mask training and strangle-holds. Fed up with work, and can’t make out where this canal is.

25th March

Night training with star-shells, smoke-screen, and gas-masks. I don’t like the idea of fighting with gas-masks on in darkness. I got lost completely in the smoke-screen. War must be a lot more than inconvenient.

26th March

Our captain brought us for a twelve-mile march before dinner. Looks like as if we shall have a lot of marching in France. No prayers said for captain.

27th March (Sunday)

A day of rest and letter-writing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.