The
major excitement of
1917 was the brief bombardment
of the town by German
naval vessels, including
a submarine. Two star
shells lit up buildings
and 68 shells were fired.
Many fell on the marshes
but three hit buildings:
the Police Station,
Iona Cottage on Constitution
Hill (which was badly
damaged) and Balmore.
Another highlight of
the year was the shooting
down of the Zeppelin
pictured above, which
eventually crashed in
flames at Theberton.
Diaries
kept at the time show
clearly the people of
Southwold had something
to complain about during
the war – and
not just the Zeppelin
raids and occasional
coastal bombardments.
They were unhappy at
the price of food and
its scarcity, the behaviour
of troops billeted on
the town, and of course
the weather.
The
real war was elsewhere
– in another world
– although on
still nights Southwold
residents could hear
the dull boom of the
guns in Flanders.
Eventually
the holidaymakers came
back. In August 1918
the town was full of
visitors, the best season
since 1914.
At
the end there was a
tragic irony. The town
that for four years
had lived in dread of
air raids, bombardments
and invasion and which
still bristled with
pillboxes, barbed wire
and gun emplacements,
was defenceless, in
the last weeks of the
war, against a virulent
germ.
Britain
was gripped by Spanish
flu which killed some
200,000 people. Several
died in Southwold, including
the landlord of the
Red Lion.
On
11th November, 1918,
the guns fell silent.
The Mayor, Mr Edgar
Pipe, ordered the church
bells to ring and read
the official telegram
from the balcony of
the Swan. Some soldiers
tied an effigy of the
Kaiser to the Town pump
and set fire to it.
There was a short thanksgiving
service in St Edmund’s
Church.
The
war memorial near the
church gate on St Bartholomew
Green was dedicated
in July 1921. It has
the names of 51 men
and one woman killed
during the war.
Explore
Southwold’s other
war stories below.
The
Battle of Sole Bay
The
Second World War |
