THE NORTH SEA RAID.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 304, 22 December 1914, Page 5

THE NORTH SEA RAID.

ON THE RAIDERS' TRACK

ENEMY'S POOR GUNNERY.

United Press AssooiATrQN. (Received 9.20 a.m.) London, December 21

Naval men who chased the raiders state that the escape was due to mist. Directly the flotilla got on the track of the enemy, they scuttled a small cruiser and saved the situation. The pursuers were no match for their weightier opponents. The fact that that they came so well out of the encounter was due to the Germans' poor gunnery. The three Germans rained shells on the flotilla but did little damage.

CHURCHILL'S MESSAGE.

"THE BABY-KILLERS OF SCAR-

BOROUGH."

[Unihd Pbxm Amooiation.l London, December 21

Mr Churchill sent a message of sympathy to the Mayor of Scarborough as follows:—"Personally and also on behalf of the Navy, I share your disappointment that the miscreants escaped unpunished, and await with patience the opportunity that will surely come. Viewed in its larger aspect, the incident is one of the most instructive and encouraging in the war. Nothing proves more plainly the effectiveness of the British naval pressure than the frenzy and hatred aroused against us, a hatred that has already passed the frontiers of reason, clouds their vision, darkens their counsels, and convulses their movements. We see a nation ot military calculators throwing calculation to the winds, and strategists who have lost the sense of proportion in their schemes, and ceased to balance loss and gain. Practically the whole fast cruiser force of the German navy, including great ships vital to their fleet, and utterly irreplaceable, were risked for the passing pleasure of killing as many English people a* possible, irrespective of sex or age. The conditions which impelled this act of military and political folly, and the violence of feeling which could find no other, vent, very satisfactorily confirm our courses. Their hates are measured by, their fears. Whatever feats of arms the German navy hereafter performs, the stigma of 'the baby-killers of Scarborough' will brand officers and men while sailors sail the seas."

MOB VENGEANCE ON GERMAN SHOPS.

London, December 21

A mob of two..hundred at Sunderland, incensed by the bombardment, and by Ahlers' acquittal, wrecked a number of German shops.