" These were the
words of Count Reventlow, when he heard the news of the defeat of
the German squadron commanded by Von Spee off the Falkland Islands.
As a result, and in revenge for this defeat, the German admiralty
planned a second raid on the coast towns of England. The towns chosen
for attack this time were Hartlepool, Scarborough, and Whitby. The
first of these was a city of 100,000 persons, and its principal
business was shipbuilding. Scarborough was nothing more than a
seaside resort, to which each summer and at Christmas were attracted
thousands of Englishmen who sought to spend their vacations near the
water. Whitby, though it had some attractions for holiday crowds,
such as a quaint cathedral, was at most nothing more than a home
port for a number of fishing boats.
It was claimed later by the Germans that these three towns, according
to the accepted definitions in international law, were fortified
ports, and consequently open to attack by hostile forces. In reply
the British claimed that there was nothing in any of the three
which could bring them into that category. This controversy is
still another which must remain undecided. There is, however, the
fact that the information which the German Government had obtained
about them, and which it made public, must necessarily have been
less comprehensive than that supplied to the world at large by
the British authorities.
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