The Story of the Great War, Volume III (of 12): The War Begins, Invasion of Belgium, Battle of the Marne
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume III (of 12): The War Begins, Invasion of Belgium, Battle of the Marne
World War, 1914-1918
In Scarborough most of the inhabitants were still in bed when the
bombardment started and for a few minutes did not become excited,
thinking the booming of the guns was the sound of thunder. But when
the shells began to drop on their houses they knew better. Many were
killed or wounded while they hastily got into their clothes. One
shell hit St. Martin's Church while communion was being held. Here,
too, the railway station was made the objective of many refugees,
and the police did what they could to send the women and children
out of range of fire by putting them on trains of extra length.
As in all such scenes there were humorous sides to it. One old
workman, while hurrying along a street was heard to say: "This is
what comes of having a Liberal Government." In all, about 6,000
people left the town immediately and did not return for some days.
Similar were the scenes enacted in Whitby when the turn of that
town came. Only two persons were killed in that town, while thirteen
casualties were reported from Scarborough.
The raid immediately became the subject for discussion in the newspapers
of every country on the globe. In England it was bitterly denounced,
and the term "baby killers" was applied to the men of the German
navy. In Germany it was justified on the ground that the German
admiralty had information and proof that the bombarded cities were
fortified, and therefore, under international law, subject to
bombardment. Nor did the German journalists lose the opportunity
to declare that Great Britain no longer ruled the waves nor to
show pride over the fact that their fleet had successfully left
the German coast and had successfully returned to its home port.
The war, they said--and truthfully--had been brought to England's
door.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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