Summary

  • Hartlepool Bombardment: 16 December 1914

  • First major attack on British soil of WW1

  • More than 1,000 shells fired over 40 minutes

  • Scarborough and Whitby also attacked

Live Reporting

Kristie Kinghorn

  1. Kristie Kinghorn
    BBC News Online

    On the morning of 16 December 1914 towns on the coast of north-east England were targeted by German ships. Scarborough and Hartlepool were the first hit with Whitby about an hour later.

    They were the first places on mainland Britain to be attacked during World War One.

    Heugh Gun Battery volunteer Gerry Rafell at the memorial in HartlepoolPA

    One hundred years later, BBC News revisits the events of the day in Hartlepool with pictures and through the words of those who were there. We also look at what effect the bombardment had on the town, what it means for those living there now and how the town will mark it.