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The Raid on Zeebrugge - 23rd April 1918 |
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Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, the commander of the British Army in France sent a telegram saying 'On behalf
of the Army in France, please accept for yourself and all ranks engaged, our most hearty congratulations on the success of your operation against Zeebrugge. St George's Day was indeed a fitting day for such
a daring feat of arms'. Most naval officers were delighted to see the Royal Navy in action against the Germans at last. Admiral 'Jacky' Fisher, who as First Sea Lord had forced through the
modernisation of the Royal Navy before the War, but who had resigned during the Dardenelles campaign wrote; 'Admiral Keyes, you have earned the gratitude of the whole Navy. We feel vindicated. We
can put our heads up again...' |
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The burial parade through the streets of Dover for those killed at Zeebrugge. A parade still takes
place every year in Dover on 23rd April to commemorate the Raid. |
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Later, in his memoirs, Lloyd George the Prime Minster during the War wrote; 'Every child knows the story of
Zeebrugge, the one Naval exploit of the war that moved and still moves the imagination of the Nation'. |
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Winston Churchill, one of Keyes' greatest friends and supporters wrote; 'The raid on Zeebrugge may well
rank as the finest feat of arms in the Great War, and certainly as an episode unsurpassed in the history of the Royal Navy.'Keyes had established himself overnight as the world's leading
expert on combined naval and military amphibious assaults. Both Winston Churchill and the United States Navy were later to call upon this experience some twenty years later, during the Second World War.
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... Praise |
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