A new documentary telling the story of the 1914 bombardment of Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough is to have its gala premiere at the Tees Valley International Film Festival.
The Baby Killers, which will be screened at the festival on November 6, is a co-production between Malton-based modern history museum Eden Camp, TVIFF and Hartlepool’s Heugh Battery Museum.
The film is directed by Mick Child, of Forge Photography and Film, and presented by Summer O’Brien, collections and engagement manager at Eden Camp.
Summer said: “Presenting and helping to create this documentary has been one of the most exhilarating and heartwarming experiences I’ve had.
“I am beyond excited and extremely proud to share this journey, knowing it will inspire and educate future generations. It’s a story which showcases the social impact of this catastrophic event and how I came to become the historian I am today.”
On the morning of December 16, 1914, the towns of Hartlepool, Whitby, and Scarborough were bombed by German battleships from the North Sea.
The bombardments caused hundreds of civilian casualties and resulted in public outrage in Britain against the German Navy for the raid and the Royal Navy for failing to prevent it. It was the first attack of the First World War on British soil.
At Scarborough alone, two German battleships, Derfflinger and Von der Tann, bombarded the undefended seaside town for about half an hour. During that short period more than 500 shells rained down, killing 18 people and injuring many more.
The hour-long documentary explores what happened on that fateful morning, and explains why Winston Churchill referred to the Germans as “the baby killers of Scarborough”, seemingly overlooking Hartlepool and Whitby, and it shows what the government did to save face and benefit from the atrocity.
