St George's Day/Zeebrugge Raid Commemoration
DOVER TOWN COUNCIL
ST GEORGE’S DAY/ZEEBRUGGE RAID
COMMEMORATION
FRIDAY 23rd APRIL 2010
The 92nd Anniversary of the Dover Patrol’s heroic and historic raid on Zeebrugge on St George’s Day 1918 will be commemorated on Friday 23rd April 2010 with ceremonies at St James’ Cemetery and The Zeebrugge Bell at Dover Town Hall.
The parade participants, accompanied by the Town Mayor of Dover, the Mayors of Deal and Folkestone and a civic party including serving members of the Armed Forces, local ex-service organisations and representatives from Belgium, will proceed to St James’ Cemetery for a short service and placing of the wreaths at the Zeebrugge Memorial, near to the grave of Admiral Lord Keyes, who planned and led the daring raid, and the graves of many of the gallant Marines and Sailors who lost their lives.
It was a most inspiring episode in recent British and Belgian history. Despite the terrible loss of life, the history books show that the Zeebrugge Raid had a significant influence in hastening the end of the First World War.
After the ceremony at St James’ Cemetery, the parade will return to Dover Town Hall, where a brief service will take place, including the ‘time-honoured’ ringing of the Zeebrugge Bell at noon.
“Remembering those who took part 92 years ago reminds us all of the sacrifices the armed services and civilian branches made on our behalf down the years in other parts of the world. It is fitting that we should remember them and continues to remember them in this way”.
As in previous years, residents of Dover and other members of the public are welcome to observe the commemorations, in particular the ringing of the Zeebrugge Bell at noon. The bell was a gift to the people of Dover from the King of Belgium (see further details below).
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DOVER TOWN COUNCIL
ST. GEORGE’S DAY/ZEEBRUGGE RAID COMMEMORATIONS 2010
SERVICE DETAILS
Approx. 11.20am – ST. JAMES’ CEMETERY
The Bidding
“Last Post”
THE SILENCE
The Exhortation
THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD
AS WE THAT ARE LEFT, GROW OLD
AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM
NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN
AND IN THE MORNING
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
“Reveille”
The Kohima Prayer
WHEN YOU GO HOME
TELL THEM OF US AND SAY
FOR YOUR TOMORROW
WE GAVE OUR TODAY
The Eulogy
Prayers for the Fallen
The Lords’ Prayer
The Blessing
Laying of the wreaths
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12.00 noon – THE ZEEBRUGGE BELL AT DOVER TOWN HALL
The Mayor sounds “Eight Bells”
The Bidding
“Last Post”
THE SILENCE
The Exhortation
“Reveille”
The Kohima Prayer
The Eulogy
The Blessing
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THE ZEEBRUGGE RAID
The raid on Zeebrugge took place in the last year of the First World War. It was an operation designed to block the port and was carried out on St. George’s Day, 23 April 1918.
Zeebrugge was where Germany U-boats and destroyers came up the river from Bruges and went into the sea. The British plan was to go in, neutralise the defences under the cover of a smokescreen, and sink three old cruisers – Intrepid, Iphigenia and Thetis – in the channel in front of the port. This it was hoped would effectively block the waterway. The cruisers would have to go along the heavily guarded harbour mole and, when they were in, the plugs would be pulled and the ships scuttled.
The mole was to be stormed by the another old cruiser, HMS Vindictive, with two Mersey ferries, Daffodil and Iris II, as assault vessels, while two old British submarines were filled with explosives to blow up the viaduct connecting the mole to the shore. Unfortunately, the weather changed – the wind got up and the smokescreen was ineffective. The Germans caught sight of the Vindictive and opened fire on her, causing many casualties. The captain had manoeuvred her into the mole very quickly and got out of position, making it difficult for the landing parties to get to their targets.
In the end, one of the two submarines managed to blow up the viaduct and two of the three cruisers were scuttled in place. HMS Vindictive was badly hit and eventually withdrew. When the ship got back to Dover, Admiral Keyes ordered Captain Carpenter to organise a ballot for Victoria Crosses. He thought that there was so much bravery that there should be many on the various ships. He invoked Clause 13 of the statute which put the VC in place. This allowed for a group or a company to nominate a number of ten men for the VC and then to hold a ballot among them. This is what happened and eight VCs were awarded to seamen and Royal Marines. Admiral Keyes was knighted. Seventy vessels carrying 1,700 men were involved in the operation. More than 240 were killed.
THE ZEEBRUGGE BELL
In the Belfry in front of the Town Hall hangs the Zeebrugge Bell; stolen by the Germans from a Belgian church it was hung from the Zeebrugge Mole to give warnings of attacks
The Bronze Bell was a gift of the King of the Belgians and is a memorial to the sacrifice of British Servicemen in the Raid on Zeebrugge on the 23rd April 1918.
The bell is struck at noon every year on the anniversary.
The Naval Raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend were carried out by volunteers and denied the effective use of the ports to the Germans. Eleven Victoria Crosses and 679 other decorations were awarded. Some 200 British Servicemen were killed and 400 were wounded. A number of the fallen are buried in St. James’ Cemetery, Dover.
Picture Gallery
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