Richie Rich Posted 14 June , 2021 Share Posted 14 June , 2021 On a recent trip to the Warriors Gate M.O.T.H Museum in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, I found an interesting piece of militaria marked as being a shell splinter from a German Naval gun that bombarded Hartlepool in 1914. The two things that 'grabbed me', was firstly the date being the 16th Of December, which certainly resonates in this country's military journals. The 16th December reflects on the "Battle of Blood River" which took place on 16th December 1838 between the Voortrekkers and Zulus as well as the "Battle of El Wak" which took place on 16th December 1940 between the 1st S.A. Brigade and the Italian forces holding the town. The second thing that caught my eye was the fact that Hartlepool in England was bombarded during 1914. As a novice military enthusiast I was aware of the huge bombardments that ravaged the countrysides of France and Belgium, but I was very curious to learn more about this bombardment in England. Turning to google, I now know that the coastal town of Hartlepool was bombarded on 16th December 1914 for over 40 minutes by two German warships which hurled over 1000 shells at this town which resulted in serious damages and 130 lost lives. I was surprised and I interpreted this as being the indiscriminate bombing of civilians especially given this era of warfare which would generally have kept the local population out of the war. How sadly history would repeat itself years later during the "Blitz". I have attached a pic for the forums information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KizmeRD Posted 14 June , 2021 Share Posted 14 June , 2021 Not just Hartlepool, but Scarborough and Whitby also! - the Imperial German navy were simply seeking opportunities to provoke British naval intervention, hoping to isolate and destroy small sections of the Grand Fleet in order to whittle away the British numerical advantage in ships, prior to the great battle that both sides believed would be an inevitable eventuality. MB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Rich Posted 14 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 14 June , 2021 Unbelievable. Thank you for your input. Appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbem Posted 14 June , 2021 Share Posted 14 June , 2021 (edited) Have a read on Wikipedia, although other sites also have details https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Scarborough,_Hartlepool_and_Whitby if you google 1914 east coast german shelling you get plenty Edited 14 June , 2021 by jonbem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Rich Posted 14 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 14 June , 2021 Brilliant will do. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aim Posted 14 June , 2021 Share Posted 14 June , 2021 You might like to tell the Museum that Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough are in eastern (or even north-eastern) England, rather than southern England, so they can correct their label. aim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthw Posted 14 June , 2021 Share Posted 14 June , 2021 4 hours ago, aim said: You might like to tell the Museum that Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough are in eastern (or even north-eastern) England, rather than southern England, so they can correct their label. aim I wonder if that is a misplaced comma, There was two separate towns then, Hartlepool & West Hartlepool. They were known collectively as "Hartlepools". At least Hartlepool managed to return fire! http://www.heughbattery.co.uk/ Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianjonesncl Posted 14 June , 2021 Share Posted 14 June , 2021 (edited) This may be of interest; Northumbrian Gunner: Bombardment of Hartlepool Edited 14 June , 2021 by ianjonesncl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Rich Posted 15 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 15 June , 2021 Noted on the incorrect part of England...thank you. I did see that when I googled ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 15 June , 2021 Share Posted 15 June , 2021 2 hours ago, Richie Rich said: Noted on the incorrect part of England...thank you. I did see that when I googled ...... No. What anthw wrote is correct. The engraved plaque correctly states the fragment was from 'German Bombardment Hartlepools'. There is no mention of 'England'. Whoever wrote the handwritten card has tried to be helpful, interpreting it as 'Hartlepool, S' , inserted a superfluous 'England' and getting it all wrong, making it appear that Hartlepool lies in 'S. England'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbem Posted 15 June , 2021 Share Posted 15 June , 2021 4 minutes ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said: Whoever wrote the handwritten card has tried to be helpful, interpreting it as 'Hartlepool, S' , inserted a superfluous 'England' and getting it all wrong, making it appear that Hartlepool lies in 'S. England'. If they hadn't sorted the earlier issue with the monkey they might have ended up in France! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 15 June , 2021 Share Posted 15 June , 2021 1 minute ago, jonbem said: If they hadn't sorted the earlier issue with the monkey they might have ended up in France! 'There but for the grace of God...' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyle3 Posted 9 September , 2021 Share Posted 9 September , 2021 my interests are mainly the 1916 Easter Rising bombardments in Dublin (and the related bombardment of Lowestoft) but I'm also collecting the souvenir photo albums (and later books) from the bombardment of Scarborough, Whitby and the Hartlepools. The Dublin and Hartlepools booklets are replica prints at the moment. On 26th January 2022, there is an online session re "Civil Defence in the FWW" run by the Royal Armouries that may be of interest. I believe this will touch on the bombardments of Scarborough etc as well air raids on the UK https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lecture-civil-defence-in-the-first-world-war-tickets-168622162427 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Rich Posted 14 September , 2021 Author Share Posted 14 September , 2021 Thank you for that contribution. Awesome !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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