Source: File: scarborough-castle-walls.jpg,
Scarborough Bombardment 1914. English Heritage. [online] Available at: <http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/first-world-war-home-front/home-front-legacy/sea/scarborough-bombardment-1914/>
Accessed: 17 December 2014].
Source: File: air-raid-barracks-scarborough-castle.jpg.
Scarborough Bombardment 1914. English Heritage. [online] Available at: <http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/first-world-war-home-front/home-front-legacy/sea/scarborough-bombardment-1914/>
Accessed: 17 December 2014].
Source: File: merryweathers.jpg. Picturing
the Great War. 'Remember Scarborough' - War comes to Britain in December 1914 .
[online] (updated: Monday, December 08, 2014) Available at: < blog.maryevans.com/2014/12/remember-scarborough-war-comes-to-britain-in-december-1914.html
> Accessed: 17 December 2014].
i
Colour Sergeant Johnston,
Stationed at Sheerness,
With the King’s Royal Rifles -
Gave an account how he
Witnessed a bombardment
Of his home coastal town,
In well known Scarborough.
On 16 December the Sergeant
Was visiting parents home,
On Rothbury Street Scarborough -
After an early breakfast at 7.30
a.m.
He was leaving the house by 8 a.m.
He stepped out onto a dull haze
Of a morning - but not so dark
For a December day – walking
Only a few minutes away,
From Rothbury Street,
An explosion filled the stillness –
Sergeant Johnston thinking,
This had come from the sea,
Stopped and turned about.
The Sergeant rushed back
To the house, finding that
His parents were in a state
Of nervousness - unsure
Of the noise - they thought
Perhaps it was nothing, other
Than some loud thunder –
Their son knew otherwise.
Sergeant Johnston assured
Them, it was just fire practice,
At some point far out to sea.
He sat them down, to say
‘Sit tight’ – with his leave
Ended, the sergeant had to go.
Due back at Sheerness,
Within a few hours time,
He headed on to the station.
Progressing along a street,
He saw part of a shell hit
A chimney - the pot crashed
Down - devoid of any fear,
The Sergeant was fascinated,
As to what was happening.
Wanting to know what was going
On about the town, he listened.
To hear three successive bangs -
Then more – counting seventeen.
As a witness, he saw two houses
Being hit close by in West Square.
All the following shellfire,
Seemed to move out of range -
Possibly aimed at other suburbs.
Feeling tension in the dull air,
He felt on verge of a great thrill.
On the streets he saw people
Rush from all directions, seeking
Some place of safe protection.
They were mainly working class
People - children and women -
Who, in their urgency,
Were still half dressed – most
ran
Hurrying down to the railway station.
What occurred had brought to their
Doors, realities of callous war.
Around 8.30am the explosions
Suddenly ceased –
The cool headed Sergeant,
Having to leave Scarborough,
To return to his Regiment –
Was unsure of damage done.
ii
For a full half hour,
On that Wednesday morning,
The coastal town
Of Scarborough,
Fell under bombardment,
From German Warships.
The full amount of shells
That fell, were between
Sixty and a hundred -
To hit the area about
Castle Hill and Oliver’s
Mount - In winter the town
Sways to hibernation;
The people slow risers.
A reporter was sleeping
In his hotel room, when
At 8 a.m. the hotel shook -
Jumping to the window,
He looked out to see,
That a dense mist hung
Quietly upon the sea.
Nothing was visible - but then
Three blasts of flames
Cut through the fog.
Came three loud retorts,
Whose boom rolled into one -
Dying, as a roll of thunder.
The biggest shock was to realise,
That such large enemy
Warships had travelled,
So close into the coast -
Casually hitting a seaside town.
The sound, incredible to civilian
Ears, roared like a half-whistle,
Half shriek - the air cracked
Overhead and whined as a shell,
Flew above into the town –
Finally with a shortened shrill.
A dozen yards to the hotel’s
Left, a column of black smoke
Had plumed from the Café
Of the Grand Hotel -
A shell had hit the roof.
Drawn by curiosity, people
Had gathered at the front,
Only to run about in disarray,
As more and more shells rained
Down, seeking out random hits.
Now seemingly two enemy
Ships were aiming on the town.
Guns fired into seafront
Buildings – while others,
Hurtled overhead, away
Into other, unseen areas.
The reporter walked across
To the Grand Hotel, to peer
Out into the sea mist –
The fog slightly lifted,
There was a destroyer’s outline,
Just a mile and half from shore.
One ship was moving north
Of castle hill - letting off salvoes
From its bows, three at a time -
Crossing the bay to Filey Head,
Further out to sea was a bigger
Vessel, like a cruiser, letting fire.
In the hotel's porch the reporter
Saw a shell hit St Nicholas Square -
Fragments flew from its centre,
To thump near to his feet –
He saw two roofs of houses,
Smashed -brick and glass splintered.
Seconds later a spinning shell,
Cut neatly into a hotel window,
But failed to explode – its force
Piercing two walls - to settle on
floor
Of a room – each interior had been
Flung about, littering the floors.
Then the shells stopped for just
Three minutes - and commenced
Again, for ten more hellish minutes
-
During which the warships steamed
Along to the south, then out to sea.
A tour of the town would find, whole
Streets with roofs missing - churches
With battered steeples and hotels
With ragged holes in their walls –
And roads were covered with debri.
Nearly every house had shattered
Windows, from the guns concussion.
Amid all this, innocent lives were
Maimed or lost - by 10 a.m.
Eight bodies awaited identification
Two elderly ladies, two children,
Along with their mother.
Unaware of danger, in Avenue
Victoria
On South Cliff, a postman handed
Letters to a servant - Both stood
In a doorway, as a shell exploded
Between them - On Prospect Road
A Mrs Merryweather, who stood
In a grocers shop, was hit by a
shell
That crashed down through the roof.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Soldiers Story –
Seventeen Explosions – Fascinating Experience. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 17 Dec. p.7. Col.3. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11294724/Daily-Telegraph-December-17-1914.html
[Accessed: 17 December 2014].
Anon.,1914. Scarborough – Special
Account of Naval Attack – Women and Children Killed. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 17 Dec. p.9. Col.2-3. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11294724/Daily-Telegraph-December-17-1914.html
[Accessed: 17 December 2014].
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar
#WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
No comments:
Post a Comment