Units of the 5th Green Howards (the Yorkshire Regiment), fresh recruits, were used as stretcher bearers and tended to the injured on the Scarborough railway station platform. The Yorkshire Hussars, without artillery, were expected to defend the town with only two machine guns, rifles and bayonets.

News of the attack slowly filtered back to the Admiralty, and the Leeds Rifles (8th West Yorkshires) were sent from York to Scarborough late in the afternoon. The official line was that they were sent to defend the town from a possible ‘invasion’. But the truth was that they had been sent to quell the local populace should the panic get out of hand.

Indeed, after the war it became clear that the three main German naval codes had been broken and that the British government and admiralty had known about the attacks, even to the extent of stationing troops along the north-east coast and putting them on alert. In the early hours of 16th December those troops had been told to stand to - though they had not been told why.

Further along the east coast, Hartlepool, considered by some to be a ‘legitimate’ war target because of its industry, coal and steel etc., was the only ‘defended’ town of the three attacked that morning, with two 6-inch guns manned by the Durham Garrison Artillery positioned at the Lighthouse and Heugh batteries. The Durham Pals (18th Durham Light Infantry) were stationed in the town and it also had a small flotilla comprising of four river class destroyers, two light cruisers and a submarine.

The Hartlepool flotilla engaged the enemy ships - Seydlitz, Moltke and Blücher - at 7.55am, but were forced to withdraw having sustained heavy damage, their small ships no match for the larger, more powerful German battleships. The submarine beached whilst trying to leave the harbour to engage the enemy and so took no part in the defence of Hartlepool.

The two 6-inch guns put up a valiant defence, but were equally no match for the battleships with their huge guns and massive shells - although they did do some damage, and succeeded in killing and wounding a number of German sailors.

The attack on Hartlepool began at 8.03am and finished at 8.52am, during which 1,150 shells had been fired into the town. In return, the two 6-inch guns had fired a total of 123 rounds.