Current purchase price:
£17.50
This book is the fruit of the chance discovery of a series of photographic plates belonging to Alfred Carpenter, who commanded the lead ship, HMS Vindictive, during the raid. These pictures provide us with a unique insight into this daring naval operation, which was to result in the most Victoria crosses ever being awarded for a single action. The plates were used by Captain Carpenter to illustrate a lecture tour of the United States and Canada after the war.
Winston Churchill called the raid on Zeebrugge 'the finest feat of arms of the Great War'. This brief, but bloody, action resulted in the highest number of Victoria Crosses ever awarded for a single action. Approximately one thousand officers and men of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines stormed the most heavily defended U-Boat base in Occupied Europe. German submarines based in Zeebrugge were responsible for a third of all allied shipping losses during the First World War.
During the Passchendaele offensive of 1917, the Allies attempted to capture these U-boat bases by means of a land-based attack. The failure of the Battle of Passchendaele made it clear that a naval assault was the only solution. As a result, on 23 April 1918, a small force of fighting vessels, towing three blockships, set out across the North Sea..
![]() Flight Craft 18: British Military Test and Evaluation Aircraft By: Malcolm Lowe, Neil Robinson Edited by: Martin Derry Illustrations by: Mark Rolfe | ![]() 1914 By: Matthew Richardson Foreword by: Dr Peter Liddle | ![]() The Battle of the Atlantic By: Donald Macintyre |
![]() The End - Napoleon at Saint Helena 1815-1821 By: Lee Preston | ![]() Warships of the Napoleonic Era By: Robert Gardiner | ![]() Holocaust By: Stephen Wynn |
![]() Trapped Behind Enemy Lines By: John Anderson, Victor Piuk | ![]() The Anatomy of Glory By: Anne S K Brown, Henry Lachouque | ![]() After Stalingrad By: Adelbert Holl |