2-365-001 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sir Douglas Haig inspecting sailors, World War I, 1918. Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, inspecting participants in the raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge. The Belgian ports were in German hands and were used as bases for U-boats and surface vessels that threatened Allied shipping. The raids, launched in April and May 1918, were intended to block the approaches to the ports by sinking obsolete ships in positions that would block the harbour entrances. Although the attacks were promoted as a victory and propaganda coup by the British, in reality the ships were not sunk in the correct locations and the use of the ports by the Germans was only affected for a short period. Stereoscopic card detail.