An article from the 30th December, 1914 entitled "SCAROROUGH HARBOUR AN IMPORTANT HARBOUR - WHEAT AS AN EXPORT - WHAT THE GERMANS SAY."
While most the German papers profess to regard the raid on the east Coast of England as a naval operation of high importance, which in some mysterious way, will considerably affect the whole course of the war at sea, the naval expert of the Berliner Lokal-Anzieger," Rear Admiral Schlieper, is frank enough to confess that the butchery of defenceless civilians was, in a great measure, an act of revenge for the German defeat off the Falkland Islands. He writes as follows:
"The news of the successful attack by one of our cruisers on the two fortified English ports, Scarborough and Hartlepool, will have come as a blessing to all German readers after the tidings of the Falklands battle. Not that this success can be regarded as compensation for that great sacrifice - no; but there will be a feeling that the daring, the determination, and the will to win" which prevails on board our ships cannot be affected or diminished by a Falklands day. The word "reprisal" naturally implies a great incitement, and helps considerably to bring about a good result.
The Admiral is obviously voicing, says the "Daily Telegraph," the hope entertained in Germany as regards the "moral effect" of the East Coast butchery when he delivers himself of the following messages:
"The moral impression of this attack on English strategists will certainly not be small. There are the invisible fruits of such naval operations. They do not appear in the form of so-and-so many dead and wounded, but in the shape of other measures and omissions which are favourable to us.
No lest important - and this we must not underestimate - is the refreshing effect on such a success on the spirits of our boys in blue, who, although they are certainly on board modern ships, which are fitted with steam heating, and are much more comfortable than their comrades in the trenches, are still not altogether a bed of roses. We shall not exaggerate the importance of this fine cruiser raid, but we want to give our hero's a "Bravo!" and to wish them further success.
The prize of mendacity, or for stark ignorance, must be unhesitatingly awarded to Captain Persius, naval critic of the "Berliner Tageblatt," who commits himself to the following statement:
"Scarborough is the most important harbour town on the East Coast of England between the Thames and the Humber. It is defended by strong batteries. Its trade thrives in times of peace, and wheat is exported. We will hope that several such cargoes now rest at the bottom of the sea."
This illuminating paragraph is a fair sample of the mendacious rubbish which is regularly served up to German newspaper readers by the so called naval and military "experts."
