Source: File: Lieutenant Guy D'Oyly Hughes with the raft
holding the demolition-Charge.jpeg [online] see an original image at at: <http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/item/swimming-from-a-submarine-to-blow-up-a-dardanelles-railway-viaduct-iln0-1915-1030-0001-002/> [10 October 2015].
Not far from shore in the sea
of Marmora,
Lay a British submarine on a
mission -
This was to involve a target onshore;
The destruction of a rail viaduct.
The volunteer Officer, a
lieutenant
D’Oyly Hughes RN, briefed and
armed
With bayonet and automatic
pistol;
This officer dipped into
night-time.
Leaving the submarine D’Oyly
Hughes
Slipped through seawater, steering
Frame of raft, some distance; the
Platform carried an explosive charge.
In addition taking change of clothes
A torch and whistle - in steady
progress
Hughes reached the shore at sixty
yards.
Finding the cliff too steep he drifted
on.
In dry clothes he carried the
charge
And climbed - tracking the rail line
To make steady progress over one
And half hours to reach
destination.
600 yards from the viaduct, Hughes
Heard voices, making out three
men
Sitting close to the lines - believed
To be guards - he made a detour.
Hiding the clumsy charge, Hughes
took
A route to assess the target viaduct
-
On way he slipped into a farmyard,
Chickens cackled but the house
was quiet.
On the other side, 300 yards from viaduct,
Hughes saw the structure
lit by a fire -
A poised engine with
figures walking
About the place; the plan was
impossible.
Slowly returning to the hidden
charge,
Hughes adapted the plan, to destroy
The line - the only
effective place lay
150 yards from the loud, talking
guards.
To cause most damage he placed
charge
Down into a hollow, beneath
bridging
Support - using a using a
rag to muffle
Sound, Hughes fired the pistol.
The noise proved too loud in
still night,
Alerting the three guards, who hurried
Down line towards him - Hughes ran,
Firing two random shots behind him.
Two shots came in reply Hughes ran -
Knowing impossibility of scaling
Down the same place, he decided
To run on further on down the line.
Reaching an east point he
scrambled
To dive into the water - at that
moment
An explosion of the rail
line, though
Some half mile away, rained
debris.
The explosion's strength caused
Remnant to fly into the bay, hitting
Water about the waiting
boat - 500
Yards from shore he blew the whistle.
The small, waiting boat lay beyond
Cliffs, yet did not hear the
whistle -
Turning back to shore Hughes rested
A short time, then returned to the water.
Hughes swam outwards towards
boat -
As light of dawn grew -
determined
He swam the distance into the bay
Losing bayonet, gun and
torch weights.
Again he blew on the whistle to
attract
Boats attention, when the
sound attracted
An enemy presence on cliff - they
aimed
Shots at the boat waiting in the waters.
The boat turned astern - in
the morning
Mist gave illusion of three
smaller boats;
The gun, coning tower and the bow -
Hughes turned ashore for cover by
cliffs.
In realisation of
his mistake he yelled
Again, diving into the water towards
The boat - at forty yards from
shore
They picked up the exhausted
saboteur.
On hearing the mission of D’Oyly
Hughes, a British Submarine
Officer,
King George approved DSO award,
In destroying a rail line in Ismid,
Turkey.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Daring
Exploit By A Submarine Officer - Swam Ashore With a Bomb - Damaging a Railway. The
Daily Telegraph, [online] 10 October. P.9. Col.6. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11914688/Daily-Telegraph-October-9-1915.html [Accessed: 10 October 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 10 October 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Sabotage
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