The English people
were much disturbed. They had read the accounts of the horrible
brutalities of the German troops in Belgium and eastern France, and they
imagined their feelings if a band of such ferocious brutes were to land
in England and pillage their peaceful homes. There was a humorous side
to the way in which the yeomanry and territorials entrenched themselves
along the eastern coast line, but the Germans, angry at the failure of
their fleets, determined to disturb the British peace by raids, slight
as the military advantage of such raids might be.
On November 2d a fleet of German warships sailed from the Elbe. They
were three battle cruisers, the Seydlitz, the Moltke, and the Von Der
Tann; two armored cruisers, the Blucher and the York, and three light
cruisers, the Kolberg, the Graudenz, and the Strasburg. They were mainly
fast vessels and the battle cruisers carried eleven-inch guns. Early in
the morning they ran through the nets of a British fishing fleet. Later
an old coast police boat, the Halcyon, was shot at a few times. About
eight o'clock they were opposite Yarmouth, and proceeded to bombard that
naval station from a distance of about ten miles. Their range was poor
and their shells did no damage. They then turned swiftly for home, but
on the road back the York struck a mine, and was sunk.
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