Great Britain -- Defenses; Imaginary wars and battles
Londoners, however, learnt late that night more authentic news from the
invaded zone, of which Beccles was the centre, and it was to the effect
that those who had landed at Lowestoft were the IXth German Army Corps,
with General von Kronhelm, the Generalissimo of the German Army. This
Army Corps, consisting of about 40,000 men, was divided into the 17th
Division, commanded by Lieutenant-General Hocker, and the 18th by
Lieutenant-General von Rauch. The cavalry was under the command of
Major-General von Heyden, and the motor-infantry under Colonel
Reichardt.
NOTICE.
TO ALL GERMAN SUBJECTS RESIDENT IN ENGLAND.
WILHELM.
To all OUR LOYAL SUBJECTS, GREETING.
We hereby COMMAND and enjoin that all persons born within the
German Empire, or being German subjects, whether liable to
military service or not, shall join our arms at any headquarters
of either of our Army Corps in England within 24 hours of the
date of this proclamation.
Any German subject failing to obey this our Command will be
treated as an enemy.
By the EMPEROR'S Command.
Given at Beccles, Sept. 3rd, 1910.
=VON KRONHELM=,
Commanding the Imperial German Army in England.
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A PROCLAMATION POSTED BY UNKNOWN
HANDS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.]
According to official information which had reached the War Office and
been given to the Press, the 17th Division was made up of the Bremen and
Hamburg Infantry Regiments, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg's Grenadiers,
the Grand Duke's Fusiliers, the Lübeck Regiment No. 162, the
Schleswig-Holstein Regiment No. 163, while the cavalry brigade consisted
of the 17th and 18th Grand Duke of Mecklenburg's Dragoons.
The 18th Division consisted of the Schleswig Regiment No. 84 and the
Schleswig Fusiliers No. 86, the Thuringen Regiment, and the Duke of
Holstein's Regiment, the two latter regiments being billeted in
Lowestoft, while the cavalry brigade forming the screen across from
Leiston by Wilby to Castle Hill were Queen Wilhelmina's Hanover Hussars
and the Emperor of Austria's Schleswig-Holstein Hussars No. 16. These,
with the smart motor infantry, held every communication in the direction
of London.
As far as could be gathered, the German commander had established his
headquarters in Beccles, and had not moved. It now became apparent that
the telegraph cables between the East coast and Holland and Germany,
already described in the first chapter, had never been cut at all. They
had simply been held by the enemy's advance agents until the landing had
been effected. And now Von Kronhelm had actually established direct
communication between Beccles and Emden, and on to Berlin.
Reports from the North Sea spoke of the enemy's transports returning to
the German coast, escorted by cruisers; therefore the plan was
undoubtedly not to move until a very much larger force had been landed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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