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| Raid on Lowca and Parton | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofNaval warfare ofWorld War I | |||||||
.png) GermanU-24 submarine attackingHarrington Coke factory nearWhitehaven (illustration byWilly Moralt) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Germany |  United Kingdom | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Rudolf Schneider | None | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| SM U-24 U-boat submarine | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 1 dog killed | ||||||
TheRaid on Lowca and Parton on 16 August 1915 was an attack by theImperial German Navy submarineSM U-24 on theHarrington Coketoluene factory located nearLowca andParton villages,Cumbria on theBritish coast on theNorth Sea warfare ofWorld War I. Single German ship was able to fire 55 shells in total on her target and then left without any encounter of theBritish forces, causing minimal damage on the facility and death of local dog. The incident occurred as one of the few naval operations in theIrish Sea and probably the first time when the British land was ever shelled by a submarine vessel.
The event also played a significant part in an espionage affair of Hildegare Burnyeat, German-born wife theBritish ParliamentMPWilliam Burnyeat, shortly after that accused, convicted and finally pardoned, for an espionage for German Empire.
In response to the continuing Britishnaval blockade of Germany, the German government declared the waters around theBritish Isles a war zone on 4 February 1915.[1] In a short time German U-boat type submarines started to penetrate closer to the enemy coast attacking mainly cargo ships and sinking them without any warning. On 20 February two British ships were sunk in the Irish sea:WelshsteamerCambank and Irish steamerDownshire (bySM U-30)[2] and more were about to follow. Operational capabilities of the U-boats created a new thread for the western coast of Britain till then almost untouched by the direct military actions, especially compared to the south-eastern banks of England. This area experienced the first massive coastal bombardment, primarily targeting non-military sites, on 16 December 1914 during theraid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby with the result of 136 people killed and 443 wounded,[3] having a huge psychological impact on British public, following two another similar German operations until August 1915.
To target British strategical and military coastal facilities would be a new tactics for the German Imperial Navy, a newly opened warfare gave the opportunity to prove an original plan. U-24 submarine under the command of CapitainRudolf Schneider[4] was tasked to attack by the gunfire of its deck cannon theHarrington Coke factory owned byWorkington Iron and Steel Company, producing toluen out ofbenzene used in production ofTNT explosive. The factory was built in 1911 in a collaboration with the German companies, which was probably the reason why Harrington Coke should be targeted. Area was also expected to be unguarded by the British ships orcoastal artillery.
In the middle of August 1915 U-24 slipped into the Irish Sea. On the dawn of 16 August 1915 the ship intercepted the coast Cumbria and surfaced. At about 4:50 crew entered the deck and opened fire from their deck8.8 cm SK L/30 naval gun on theHarrington Coke factory near Lowca village. 55 shots had been fired,[5] about 13 of them hit the targeted site. Later the information spreaded that a quick thinking workers of the plant opened a relief valve which sent up an impressive plume of burning gas simulating an explosion fire, so the submariners thought they had damaged their target enough. About 20 shots were then fired on an inhabited coast side of Lowca and Parton villages. U-24 was spotted at sea by two men in an unarmed fishing boat watching.[6] Action lasted for about 25 minutes, then U-24 left the coast to continue in hunt for enemy vessels.
Shelling caused a few fires and damage of the cost about 800 pounds.[7] Nobody was killed during the accident, most of the people were already sleeping and apparently the only fatality of the incident was one of the local dogs.[8] After just four days functioning of the factory was restored.
Action of U-24 was widely used by Germanwar propaganda picturing the surprising and courageous attack "behind enemy lines", British press on the other hand called the German submarinerspirates andHuns. Nevertheless, the operation was still shadowed by the sinking of British steamerSS Arabic in the Irish Sea on 19 August 1915, causing 44 casualties.
Numerous witnesses from the area reported, that they'd seen pure white light coming from the coast presumably giving the signal to the German boat.[9] Suspicion felt on Mrs Hildegarde Burnyeat, wife of a local coal industry entrepreneur and member of the British Parliament William Burnyeat. She was born in 1875 as Hildegard Hedwig Augusta Anna Retzlaff inCulm,Eastern Prussia,[10] later lived inBerlin and then moved to Britain after marrying her husband in 1908, living in a house nearWhitehaven port.
Possible relation between Mrs Burnyeat origin, place of residence and the U-boat attack were put together by theBritish intelligence which led to her arrest and charge of an espionage for the German Empire. In an atmosphere of the executions of a British nurseEdith Cavell inGerman-occupiedBelgium[11] for being a British spy or some similar cases occurred in Britain affair was followed by the British press in a large scale. At first Hildegarde Burnyeat was sentenced to death penalty, soon after changed forlife imprisonment. Her case was later reviewed and after a year, shortly after her husband William died on 8 May 1916 aged 42, she was set free of all charges and released. Suspicion could be based on truth: she was a daughter of a Prussian officer, her brother served in the German navy and after the war started she was defending German positions for war.[12]
Some of the relicts of the shells and other artifacts and materials about the raid are kept in the Beacon Museum in nearby town ofWhitehaven.[13]
