Considerable activity has been shown on the Belgian coast during
the week. Berlin communiques of Monday and Tuesday announced that an enemy fleet of forty ships had shelled the German coastal defences at Zeebrugge on Monday morning, while denying that any material damage had been done. According to unofficial reports from Holland, the objectives of the attacking squadron were the Solvay factory, between Zeebrugge and Lisseweghe, and Zeebrugge Harbour, and the bombardment, which lasted five hours, was effective, while the German coast batteries replied weakly. French torpedo-boats sank a German destroyer off Ostend last Sunday night, and the loss is admitted by the Germans, who, however, describe the warship as an outpost vessel. We may also note a vigorous air raid by the Belgians on the same night, when several tons of explosives were dropped on German camps, and an attack on Wednesday by sixty-two Allied aeroplanes on the Dil]ingen shell-works, on which one hundred and fifty bombs were dropped.
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