Attack by the Imperial German Navy submarine on 16 August 1915
The Raid on Lowca and Parton on 16 August 1915 was an attack by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM U-24 on the "Harrington Coke" toluene factory located near Lowca and Parton villages, Cumbria on the British coast on the North Sea warfare of World War I. Single German ship was able to fire 55 shells in total on her target and then left without any encounter of the British forces, causing minimal damage on the facility and death of local dog. The incident occurred as one of the few naval operations in the Irish 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 the British Parliament MP William Burnyeat, shortly after that accused, convicted and finally pardoned, for an espionage for German Empire.
Background.
As a respose for the continuig British naval blocade of Germany, on 4 February 1915 German government declared the waters around the British Isles a war zone. In a short time Germat 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: Welsh steamer "Cambank" and Irish steamer "Downshire" (by SM U-30) 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 the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby with the resuilt of 136 people killed and 443 wounded, having a huge psychological impact on British public, following two another similar German operations until August 1915.
Action.
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 Capitain Rudolf Schneider was tasked to attack by the gunfire of its deck cannon the "Harrington Coke" factory owned by "Workington Iron and Steel Company", producing toluen out of benzene used in production of TNT 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 or coastal 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 deck 8.8 cm SK L/30 naval gun on the "Harrington Coke" factory near Lowca village. 55 shots had been fired, 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 simullating an explosion fire, so the submariners thought they had damaged their target enough. About 20 shots were then fired on an inhabitated coast side of Lowca and Parton villages. U-24 was spotted at sea by two men in an unarmed fishing boat watching. Action lasted for about 25 minutes, then U-24 left the coast to continue in hunt for enemy vessels.
Aftermath.
Shelling caused a few fires and damage pf the cost about 800 pounds. 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. After just four days functioning of the factory was restored.
Action of U-24 was widely used by German war propaganda picturing the surprising and courageous attack "behind enemy lines", British press on the other hand called the German submariners "pirates" and "Huns". Neverthanless, the operation was still shadowed by the sinking of British steamer SS Arabic in the Irish Sea on 19 August 1915, causing 44 casualties.
Espionage affair.
Numerous witnesses from the area reported, that they'd seen pure white light coming from the coast pressumably giving the signal to the German boat. 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 in Culm, Eastern Prussia, later lived in Berlin and then moved to Britain after marrying her husband in 1908, living in a house near Whitehaven port.
Possible relation between Mrs Burnyeat origin, place of residence and the U-boat attack were put together by the British intelligence which led to her arrest and charge of an espionage for the German Empire. In an atmosphere of the executions of a British nurse Edith Cavell in German-occupied Belgium 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 for life inprisonment. 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.
Memory.
Some of the relicts of the shells and other artefacts and materials about the raid are kept in the Beacon Museum in nearby town of Whitehaven.
Citations.
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