Bombardment of the Hartlepools

Bombardment of the Hartlepools. . , At 7pm on 14th December 1914 Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, was told that "a battle cruiser attack on the East Coast was probably imminent", although what the precise objectives were it was impossible to say. , The SMS Seydlitz, Moltke and Blucher guided by Ober Lieutenant Ahlefeld from U27 in the Seydlitz steamed towards the Hartlepools where the men of the 18th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (PALS) were on guard. A telegram had been received by the Fortress Commander and read "a special sharp look-out to be kept all along the East Coast at dawn tomorrow 16th December." , "Keep fact of special warning as secret as possible; only responsible officers making arrangements to know.'" Troopers London "In connection with above, the Fortress Commander wishes you to take post from 7-8.30 am. If all quiet at latter hour troops may return to billets." , By December 1914 the British were able to read the German Navy's radio codes and so knew the raid was on and that it would be carried out by battle cruisers. But the British were unaware that the entire German High Seas fleet would be at sea, hoping to trap a part of the British Grand Fleet and destroy it. The Germans almost succeeded. , Wednesday 16th December 1914 , On Wednesday 16th December 1914 German Battle Cruisers steamed their way along the North East Coast. Three of them, the 'SMS Seydlitz', ‘SMS Moltke' and 'SMS Blucher' appeared out of the mist and inflicted devastation, death and horrific injuries and damage to the innocent civilians. of the Hartlepools. , The German battle cruisers were spotted by patrol destroyers HMS Doon, Waveney, Test and Moy. A division of the 9th Destroyer Flotilla were already at sea about 5 miles North East of the port of Hartlepool. Scout patrol cruisers, Port and Forward and submarine C9 were unable to leave harbour because of the low state of the tide. , The patrol destroyers, HMS Doon, Waveney, Test and Moy, came under 11 inch shell fire at about 0800, three of them being hit by shell fragments, casualties on HMS Doon were one rating killed and eleven wounded. HMS Patrol put to sea under German shell fire and just as she was clear of the harbour she was hit by two 8.2 shells fired from the SMS Blucher. HMS Patrol attempted to get back to port but ran aground near South Gare breakwater. Badly holed she was saved from further destruction by the shore batteries located in the area but the casualties were four ratings died and four were wounded. It is recorded that at approximately 8.10am the barrage of shells, which lasted for approximately 50 minutes, crashed around the towns causing people to run from their homes in panic. , The German warships encountered HMS Doon, Waveney, Test and Moy and opened fire. The British destroyers, led by HMS Doon, bravely advanced toward the German ships and HMS Doon attempted to press home a torpedo attack but they were overcome by superior fire power. HMS Doon broke off to starboard with one rating dead and eleven wounded two of which died later. HMS Waveney, Test and Moy broke off to port, all but the Waveney having been hit. , German Battle Cruisers , German 1st SG battle cruisers and 2nd SG light cruisers escorted by destroyers sailed to attack the North East coast. The 'Whittlebach' class battle cruisers Seydlitz, Moltke and armoured cruiser Blücher were to bombard the Hartlepools. Both the German and British battle fleets were out in support of their forces. , The commander of the operations against Hartlepool was Admiral Franz Von Hipper on board 'SMS Seydlitz' during the raid. Von Hipper raised his flag in the 'SMS Seydlitz' on 23 June 1914 and the ship served as his flagship until 26 October 1917. , SMS Seydlitz , The captain of 'SMS Seydlitz' during the raid on Hartlepool was Moritz von Egidy. The battle cruiser was hit three times; the first caused a leak under the fo'c'sle which was soon repaired. The next blew a hole in the forward funnel and the third damaged the superstructure aft. There were no casualties. On the 21st June 1919 she was scuttled at Scapa Flow. , SMS Blucher , Captain Erdman was in charge of the 'SMS Blucher’ on the Hartlepool raid. The battle cruiser was hit six times by shell fire from the Coastal Batteries at the beginning of the engagement which killed nine men and put two guns out of action. On the 24th January 1915 SMS Blucher sank after an engagement in the battle of Dogger Bank. , SMS Moltke , The captain of .SMS Moltke' during the raid on Hartlepool was Magnus Von Levetzaw. A shell destroyed several officer's cabins. Later SMS Moltke was engaged in the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland. She was interned at Scapa Flow in 1918.