GERMANS LANDING AT HULL AND GOOLE
A special issue of the _Times_ in the evening of 3rd September contained
the following vivid account--the first published--of the happenings in
the town of Goole, in Yorkshire:--
“GOOLE, _September 3_.
“Shortly before five o’clock on Sunday morning the night operator of the
telephone call-office here discovered an interruption on the trunk-line,
and on trying the telegraphs was surprised to find that there was no
communication in any direction. The railway station, being rung up,
replied that their wires were also down.
“Almost immediately afterwards a well-known North Sea pilot rushed into
the post-office and breathlessly asked that he might telephone to
Lloyd’s. When told that all communication was cut off he wildly shouted
that a most extraordinary sight was to be seen in the river Ouse, up
which was approaching a continuous procession of tugs, towing flats, and
barges filled with German soldiers.
“This was proved to be an actual fact, and the inhabitants of Goole,
awakened from their Sunday morning slumbers by the shouts of alarm in
the streets, found to their abject amazement foreign soldiers swarming
everywhere. On the quay they found activity everywhere, German being
spoken on all hands. They watched a body of cavalry consisting of the
1st Westphalian Hussars and the Westphalian Cuirassiers land with order
and ease at the Victoria Pier, whence, after being formed up on the
quay, they advanced at a sharp trot up Victoria Street, Ouse Street, and
North Street to the railway stations, where, as is generally known,
there are large sidings of the North-East Lancashire and Yorkshire lines
in direct communication both with London and the great cities of the
north. The enemy here found great quantities of engines and rolling
stock, all of which was at once seized, together with huge stacks of
coal at the new sidings.
“Before long the first of the infantry of the 13th Division, which was
commanded by Lieutenant-General Doppschutz, marched up to the stations.
They consisted of the 13th and 56th Westphalian Regiments, and the
cavalry on being relieved advanced out of the town, crossing the Dutch
River by the railway bridge, and pushed on as far as Thorne and Hensall,
near which they at once strongly held the several important railway
junctions.
“Meanwhile cavalry of the 14th Brigade, consisting of Westphalian
Hussars and Uhlans, were rapidly disembarking at Old Goole, and,
advancing southwards over the open country of Goole Moors and Thorne
Waste, occupied Crowle. Both cavalry brigades were acting independently
of the main body, and by their vigorous action both south and west they
were entirely screening what was happening in the port of Goole.
“Infantry continued to pour into the town from flats and barges,
arriving in endless procession. Doppschutz’s Division landed at Aldan
Dock, Railway Dock, and Ship Dock; the 14th Division at the Jetty and
Basin, also in the Barge Dock and at the mouth of the Dutch River; while
some, following the cavalry brigade, landed at Old Goole and Swinefleet.
“As far as can be ascertained, the whole of the VIIth German Army Corps
have landed, at any rate as far as the men are concerned. The troops,
who are under the supreme command of General Baron von Bistram, appear
to consist almost entirely of Westphalians, and include Prince Frederick
of the Netherlands’ 2nd Westphalians; Count Bulow von Dennewitz’s 6th
Westphalians; but one infantry brigade, the 79th, consisted of men from
Lorraine.
“Through the whole day the disembarkation proceeded, the townsmen
standing there helpless to lift a finger and watching the enemy’s
arrival. The Victoria Pleasure Grounds were occupied by parked
artillery, which towards afternoon began to rumble through the streets.
The German gunners, with folded arms, sat unconcernedly upon the
ammunition boxes as the guns were drawn up to their positions. Horses
were seized wherever found, the proclamation of Von Kronhelm was nailed
upon the church doors, and the terrified populace read the grim threat
of the German field-marshal.
“The wagons, of which there were hundreds, were put ashore mostly at
Goole, but others up the river at Hook and Swinefleet. When the cavalry
advance was complete, as it was soon after midday, and when reports had
come in to Von Bistram that the country was clear of the British, the
German infantry advance began. By nightfall they had pushed forward,
some by road, some by rail, and others in the numerous motor-wagons that
had accompanied the force, until march-outposts were established south
of Thorne, Askern, and Crowle, straddling the main road to Bawtry. These
places, including Fishlake and the country between them, were at once
strongly held, while ammunition and stores were pushed up by railway to
both Thorne and Askern.
“The independent cavalry advance continued through Doncaster until dusk,
when Rotherham was reached, during which advance scattered bodies of
British Imperial Yeomanry were met and compelled to retreat, a dozen or
so lives being lost. It appears that late in the afternoon of Sunday
news was brought into Sheffield of what was in progress, and a squadron
of Yeomanry donned their uniforms and rode forward to reconnoitre, with
the disastrous results already mentioned.
“The sensation caused in Sheffield when it became known that German
cavalry were so close as Rotherham was enormous, and the scenes in the
streets soon approached a panic; for it was wildly declared that that
night the enemy intended to occupy the town. The Mayor telegraphed to
the War Office appealing for additional defensive force, but no response
was received to the telegram. The small force of military in the town,
which consisted of the 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Light Infantry, some
Royal Artillery, and the local Volunteers, were soon assembled, and
going out occupied the strong position above Sheffield between Catcliffe
and Tinsley, overlooking the valley of the Rother to the east.
[Illustration: Position of the German Forces Twenty-Four Hours after
Landing at Goole.
GEORGE PHILIP & SON L^{TD}.]
“The expectation that the Germans intended an immediate descent on
Sheffield was not realised because the German tactics were merely to
reconnoitre and report on the defences of Sheffield if any existed. This
they did by remaining to the eastward of the river Rother, whence the
high ground rising before Sheffield could be easily observed.
“Before dusk one or two squadrons of Cuirassiers were seen to be
examining the river to find fords and ascertain the capacity of the
bridges, while others appeared to be comparing the natural features of
the ground with the maps with which they all appeared to be provided.
“As night fell, however, the cavalry retired towards Doncaster, which
town was occupied, the Angel being the cavalry headquarters. The reason
the Germans could not advance at once upon Sheffield was that the
cavalry was not strongly enough supported by infantry from their base,
the distance from Goole being too great to be covered in a single day.
That the arrangements for landing were in every detail perfect could not
be doubted, but owing to the narrow channel of the Ouse time was
necessary, and it is considered probable that fully three days must
elapse from Sunday before the Germans are absolutely established.
“An attempt has been made by the Yorkshire Light Infantry and the York
and Lancaster Regiment, with three battalions of Volunteers stationed at
Pontefract, to discover the enemy’s strength and position between Askern
and Snaith, but so far without avail, the cavalry screen across the
whole country being impenetrable.
“The people of the West Riding, and especially the inhabitants of
Sheffield, are stupefied that they have received no assistance--not even
a reply to the Mayor’s telegram. This fact has leaked out, and has
caused the greatest dissatisfaction. An enemy is upon us, yet we are in
ignorance of what steps, if any, the authorities are taking for our
protection.
“There are wild rumours here that the enemy have burned Grimsby, but
these are generally discredited, for telegraphic and telephonic
communication has been cut off, and at present we are completely
isolated. It has been gathered from the invaders that the VIIIth Army
Corps of the Germans have landed and seized Hull, but at present this is
not confirmed. There is, alas! no communication with the place,
therefore the report may possibly be true.
“Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Wakefield, and Selby are all intensely excited
over the sudden appearance of German soldiers, and were at first
inclined to unite to stem their progress. But the German proclamation
showing the individual peril of any citizen taking arms against the
invaders having been posted everywhere, has held everyone scared and in
silent inactivity.
“‘Where is our Army?’ everyone is asking. The whole country has run riot
in a single hour, now that the Germans are upon us. On every hand it is
asked: ‘What will London do?’”
* * * * *
The following account, written by a reporter of the _Hull Daily Mail_,
appeared in the _London Evening News_ on Wednesday evening, and was the
first authentic news of what had happened on the Humber on Sunday:--
“HULL, _Monday Night_.
“A great disaster has occurred here, and the town is in the hands of the
Germans. The totally unexpected appearance in the river at dawn on
Sunday of an extraordinary flotilla of all kinds of craft, filled with
troops and being towed towards Goole, created the greatest alarm. Loud
shouting in the street just before five o’clock awakened me, and I
opened my window. Shouting to a seaman running past, I asked what was
the matter, when the man’s astounding reply was: ‘The whole river is
swarming with Germans!’ Dressing hastily, I mounted my bicycle and ran
along the Beverley road through Prospect Street to the dock office,
where around the Wilberforce monument the excited crowd now already
collected was impassable, and I was compelled to dismount.
“On eager inquiry I learnt that half an hour before men at work in the
Alexandra Dock were amazed to discern through the grey mists still
hanging across the Humber an extraordinary sight. Scores of ocean-going
tugs, each laboriously towing great Dutch barges and lighters, came into
sight, and telescopes being quickly borrowed revealed every boat in
question to be literally crammed with grey-coated men, evidently
soldiers. At first it was believed that they were about to enter Hull,
but they kept out in the channel, on the New Holland side, and were
accompanied, it was seen, by a quantity of tramp steamers of small
tonnage, evidently of such capacity as might get up to the port of
Goole. It was at once patent that Goole was their objective.
“The alarm was at once raised in the town. The police ran down to the
quays and the Victoria Pier, while the townspeople hastily dressed and
joined them to witness the amazing spectacle.
“Somebody at the pier who had a powerful glass recognised the grey
uniforms and declared them to be Germans, and then like wildfire the
alarming news spread into every quarter of the town that the Germans
were upon us.
“The police ran to the telegraph office in order to give the alarm, but
it was at once discovered that both telegraph and telephone systems had
suddenly been interrupted. Repeated calls elicited no reply, for the
wires running out of Hull in every direction had been cut.
“In endless procession the strange medley of queer-looking craft came up
out of the morning mist only to be quickly lost again in the westward,
while the onlookers, including myself--for I had cycled to the Victoria
Pier--gazed at them in utter bewilderment.
“At the first moment of alarm the East Yorkshire Volunteers hurried on
their uniforms and assembled at their regimental headquarters for
orders. There were, of course, no regular troops in the town, but the
Volunteers soon obtained their arms and ammunition, and after being
formed, marched down Heddon road to the Alexandra Dock.
“On every side was the greatest commotion, already bordering upon panic.
Along Spring Bank, the Hessle road, the Anlaby road, and all the
thoroughfares converging into Queen Victoria Square, came crowds of all
classes eager to see for themselves and learn the truth of the startling
rumour. The whole riverside was soon black with the excited populace,
but to the astonishment of everyone the motley craft sailed on, taking
no notice of us and becoming fewer and fewer, until ships appeared
through the grey bank of fog only at intervals.
“One thing was entirely clear. The enemy, whoever they might be, had
destroyed all our means of appealing for help, for we could not
telephone to the military at York, Pontefract, Richmond, or even to the
regimental district headquarters at Beverley. They had gone on to Goole,
but would they turn back and attack us?
“The cry was that if they meant to seize Goole they would also seize
Hull! Then the terrified crowd commenced to collect timber and iron from
the yards, furniture from neighbouring houses, tramway-cars, omnibuses,
cabs; in fact, anything they could lay their hands upon to form
barricades in the streets for their own protection.
“I witnessed the frantic efforts of the people as they built one huge
obstacle at the corner of Queen Street, facing the pier. Houses were
ruthlessly entered, great pieces of heavy furniture--wardrobes, pianos,
and sideboards--were piled anyhow upon each other. Men got coils of
barbed wire, and lashed the various objects together with seamanlike
alacrity. Even paving-stones were prised up with pickaxes and crowbars,
and placed in position. The women, in deadly terror of the Germans,
helped the men in this hastily improvised barrier, which even as I
watched grew higher across the street until it reached the height of the
first-storey windows in one great heterogeneous mass of every article
conceivable--almost like a huge rubbish heap.
“This was only one of many similar barricades. There were others in the
narrow Pier Street, in Wellington Street, Castle Street, south of
Prince’s Dock, in St. John’s Street, between Queen’s Dock and Prince’s
Dock, while the bridges over the river Hull were all defended by
hastily improvised obstructions. In Jennings Street, on Sculcoates
Bridge, and also the two railway bridges of the Hull and Barnsley and
North-Eastern Railways were similarly treated. Thus the whole of the
town west of the river Hull was at any rate temporarily protected from
any landing eastward.
“The whole town now seemed in a perfect ferment. Wildest rumours were
afloat everywhere, and the streets by six o’clock that morning were so
crowded that it was almost impossible to move.
“Hundreds found themselves outside the barriers; indeed, the people in
the Southcoates, Drypool, and Alexandra Wards were in the threatened
zone, and promptly began to force their way into the town by escalading
the huge barricades and scrambling over their crests.
“Foreigners--sailors and others--had a rough time of it, many of them
being thrust back and threatened by the indignant townspeople. Each time
a foreigner was discovered there was a cry of ‘spy,’ and many innocent
men had fortunate escapes.
“The river seemed clear, when about seven o’clock there suddenly loomed
up from seaward a great, ugly, grey-hulled warship flying the German
flag. The fear was realised. Her sight caused absolute panic, for with a
sudden swerve she calmly moored opposite the Alexandra Dock.
“Eager-eyed seamen, some of them Naval Reservists, recognised that she
was cleared for action, and even while we were looking, two more similar
vessels anchored in positions from which their guns could completely
dominate the town.
“No sooner had these swung to their anchors than, from the now sunlit
horizon, there rose the distant smoke of many steamers, and as the
moments of terror dragged by, there came slowly into the offing a
perfect fleet of all sizes of steamers, escorted by cruisers and
destroyers.
“Standing behind the barricade in Queen Street I could overlook the
Victoria Pier, and the next half-hour was the most exciting one in my
whole life. Three dirty-looking steamers of, as far as I could judge,
about 2500 tons each, anchored in a line almost midstream. From my coign
of vantage I could hear the rattle of the cables in the hawse-pipes as
many other vessels of about the same size followed their example farther
down the river. No sooner had the anchors touched the bottom than boats
were hoisted out, lowered from all the davits, and brought alongside,
while into them poured hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers, all in a
uniform dusky grey. Steam pinnaces quickly took these in charge, towing
some of them to the Victoria Pier near where I stood, and others to the
various wharves.
“Armed and accoutred, the men sprang ashore, formed up, and were quickly
told off by their officers in guttural accents, when, from our
barricade, close beside me, a Volunteer officer gave the order to fire,
and a ragged volley rang sharply out.
“A young German infantry officer standing in Nelson Street, in the act
of drawing his revolver from its pouch, pitched heavily forward upon his
face with a British bullet through his heart. There were also several
gaps in the German ranks. Almost instantly the order for advance was
given. The defence was an ill-advised and injudicious one, having in
view the swarm of invaders. Hundreds of boats were now approaching every
possible landing-place right along the river front, and men were
swarming upon every wharf and quay.
“Shots sounded in every direction. Then, quite suddenly, some
unintelligible order was given in German, and the crowd of the enemy who
had landed at our pier extended, and, advancing at the double, came
straight for our barricade, endeavouring to take it by assault. It was
an exciting moment. Our Volunteers poured volleys into them, and for a
time were able to check them, although the Germans kept up a withering
fire, and I found myself, a non-combatant, with bullets whistling about
me everywhere, in unpleasant proximity.
“They were breathless moments. Men were continually falling on both
sides, and one fierce-faced, black-haired woman, evidently a sailor’s
wife, who had helped to build the barricade, fell dead at my side, shot
through the throat. From the very beginning our defence at this point
seemed utterly hopeless. The Volunteers--many of them friends of
mine--very gallantly endeavoured to do what they could in the
circumstances, but they themselves recognised the utter futility of
fighting against what seemed to be a veritable army. They did their
utmost, but the sudden rush of an enormous number of supports to
strengthen the enemy’s advanced parties proved too much for them, and
ten minutes later bearded Teutons came clambering over the barricades,
ruthlessly putting to death all men in uniform who did not at once throw
down their arms.
“As soon as I saw the great peril of the situation I confess that I
fled, when behind me I heard a loud crash as a breach was at last made
in the obstruction. I ran up Queen Street to Drypool Bridge, where at
the barricade there I found desperate fighting in progress. The scene
was terrible. The few Volunteers were bravely trying to defend us. Many
civilians, in their frantic efforts to guard their homes, were lying
upon the pavement dead and dying. Women, too, had been struck by the
hail of German bullets, and the enemy, bent upon taking the town, fought
with the utmost determination. From the ceaseless rattle of musketry
which stunned the ears on every side it was evident that the town was
being taken by assault.
“For five minutes or so I remained in Salthouse Lane, but so thick came
the bullets that I managed to slip round to Whitefriargate, and into
Victoria Square.
“I was standing at the corner of King Edward Street when the air was of
a sudden rent by a crash that seemed to shake the town to its very
foundations, and one of the black cupolas of the dock office was carried
away, evidently by a high explosive shell.
“A second report, no doubt from one of the cruisers lying in the river,
was followed by a great jet of flame springing up from the base of one
of the new shops on the left side of King Edward Street--caused, as I
afterwards ascertained, by one of those new petrol shells, of which we
had heard so much in the newspapers, but the practicability of which our
unprogressive Government had so frequently refused to entertain.
“In a flash three shops were well alight, and even while I watched the
whole block from Tyler’s to the corner was furiously ablaze, the petrol
spreading fire and destruction on every hand.
“Surely there is no more deadly engine in modern warfare than the
terrible petrol bomb, as was now proved upon our unfortunate town.
Within ten minutes came a veritable rain of fire. In all directions the
houses began to flare and burn. The explosions were terrific, rapidly
succeeding one another, while helpless men stood frightened and aghast,
no man knowing that the next moment might not be his last.
“In those never-to-be-forgotten moments we realised for the first time
what the awful horror of War really meant.
“The scene was frightful. Hull had resisted, and in retaliation the
enemy were now spreading death and destruction everywhere among us.”
* * * * *
Reports now reached London that the VIIth German Army Corps had landed
at Hull and Goole, and taking possession of those towns, were moving
upon Sheffield in order to paralyse our trade in the Midlands. Hull had
been bombarded, and was in flames! Terrible scenes were taking place at
that port.
The disaster was, alas! of our own seeking.
Lord Roberts, who certainly could not be called an alarmist, had in 1905
resigned his place on the Committee of National Defence in order to be
free to speak his own mind. He had told us plainly in 1906 that we were
in no better position than we were five or six years previous. Behind
the Regular Army we had no practicable reserve, while military training
was more honoured in the breach than in the observance. The outlook was
alarming, and the reasons for reform absolutely imperative.
He had pointed out to the London Chamber of Commerce in December 1905
that it was most important that our present unpreparedness for war
should not be allowed to continue. We should use every endeavour to
prevent the feeling of anxiety as to our unpreparedness from cooling
down. England’s military hero, the man who had dragged us out of the
South African muddle, had urged most strongly that a committee of the
leading men of London should be formed to take the matter into their
earnest consideration. The voice of London upon a question of such vital
importance could not fail to carry great weight throughout the country.
A “citizen army,” he had declared, was needed as well as the Regular
Army. The only way by which a sufficient amount of training could be
given--short of adopting the Continental practice--was by giving boys
and youths such an amount of drill and practice in rifle shooting as was
possible while they were at school, and by some system of universal
training after they reached manhood. And that Lord Roberts had urged
most strongly.
Yet what had been done? Ay, what?
A deaf ear had been turned to every appeal. And now, alas! the long
prophesied blow had fallen.
On that memorable Sunday, when a descent had been made upon our shores,
there were in German ports on the North Sea nearly a million tons gross
of German shipping. Normally, in peace time, half a million tons is
always to be found there, the second half having been quietly collected
by ships putting in unobserved into such ports as Emden, Bremen,
Bremerhaven, and Geestemunde, where there are at least ten miles of
deep-sea wharves, with ample railway access. The arrival of these crafts
caused no particular comment, but they had already been secretly
prepared for the transport of men and horses while at sea.
Under the cover of the Frisian Islands, from every canal, river, and
creek had been assembled a huge multitude of flats and barges, ready to
be towed by tugs alongside the wharves and filled with troops. Of a
sudden, in a single hour it seemed, Hamburg, Altona, Cuxhaven, and
Wilhelmshaven were in excited activity, and almost before the
inhabitants themselves realised what was really in progress the
embarkation had well commenced.
At Emden, with its direct cables to the theatre of war in England, was
concentrated the brain of the whole movement. Beneath the lee of the
covering screen of Frisian Islands, Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Langebog,
and the others, the preparations for the descent upon England rapidly
matured.
[Illustration: Germany’s points of embarkation]
Troop-trains from every part of the Fatherland arrived with the
punctuality of clockwork. From Düsseldorf came the VIIth Army Corps, the
VIIIth from Coblenz, the IXth were already assembled at their
headquarters at Altona, while many of them being stationed at Bremen
embarked from there, the Xth came up from Hanover, the XIVth from
Magdeburg, and the Corps of German Guards, the pride and flower of the
Kaiser’s troops, arrived eagerly at Hamburg from Berlin and Potsdam,
among the first to embark.
Each army corps consisted of about 38,000 officers and men, 11,000
horses, 144 guns, and about 2000 motor-cars, wagons, and carts. But for
this campaign--which was more of the nature of a raid than of any
protracted campaign--the supply of wheeled transport, with the exception
of motor-cars, had been somewhat reduced.
Each cavalry brigade attached to an army corps consisted of 1400 horses
and men, with some thirty-five light machine-guns and wagons. The German
calculation--which proved pretty correct--was that each army corps could
come over to England in 100,000 tons gross of shipping, bringing with
them supplies for twenty-seven days in another 3000 tons gross.
Therefore about 618,000 tons gross conveyed the whole of the six corps,
leaving an ample margin still in German ports for any emergencies. Half
this tonnage consisted of about 100 steamers, averaging 3000 tons each,
the remainder being the boats, flats, lighters, barges, and tugs
previously alluded to.
The Saxons who, disregarding the neutrality of Belgium, had embarked at
Antwerp, had seized the whole of the flat-bottomed craft in the Scheldt
and the numerous canals, as well as the merchant ships in the port,
finding no difficulty in commandeering the amount of tonnage necessary
to convey them to the Blackwater and the Crouch.
As hour succeeded hour, the panic increased.
It was now also known that, in addition to the various corps who had
effected a landing, the German Guards had, by a sudden swoop into the
Wash, got ashore at King’s Lynn, seized the town, and united their
forces with Von Kleppen’s corps, who, having landed at Weybourne, were
now spread right across Norfolk. This picked corps of Guards was under
the command of that distinguished officer the Duke of Mannheim, while
the infantry divisions were under Lieutenant-Generals von Castein and
Von Der Decken.
The landing at King’s Lynn on Sunday morning had been quite a simple
affair. There was nothing whatever to repel them, and they disembarked
on the quays and in the docks, watched by the astonished populace. All
provisions were seized at shops, including the King’s Lynn and County
Stores, the Star Supply Stores, Ladyman’s and Lipton’s in the High
Street, while headquarters were established at the municipal buildings,
and the German flag hoisted upon the old church, the tower of which was
at once used as a signal station.
Old-fashioned people of Lynn peered out of their quiet, respectable
houses in King Street in utter amazement, but soon, when the German
proclamation was posted, the terrible truth was plain.
In half an hour, even before they could realise it, they had been
transferred from the protection of the British flag to the militarism of
the German.
The Tuesday Market Place, opposite the Globe Hotel, was one of the
points of assembly, and from there and from other open spaces troops of
cavalry were constantly riding out of town by the Downham Market and
Swaffham Roads. The intention of this commander was evidently to join
hands with Von Kleppen as soon as possible. Indeed, by that same evening
the Guards and IVth Corps had actually shaken hands at East Dereham.
A few cavalry, mostly Cuirassiers and troopers of the Gardes du Corps,
were pushed out across the flat, desolate country over Sutton Bridge to
Holbeach and Spalding, while others, moving south-easterly, came past
the old Abbey of Crowland, and even to within sight of the square
cathedral tower of Peterborough. Others went south to Ely.
Ere sundown on Sunday, stalwart, grey-coated sentries of the Guards
Fusiliers from Potsdam and the Grenadiers from Berlin were holding the
roads at Gayton, East Walton, Narborough, Markham, Fincham, Stradsett,
and Stow Bardolph. Therefore on Sunday night, from Spalding on the east,
Peterborough, Chatteris, Littleport, Thetford, Diss, and Halesworth were
faced by a huge cavalry screen protecting the landing and repose of the
great German Army behind it.
Slowly but carefully the enemy were maturing their plans for the defeat
of our defenders and the sack of London.