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The bombardment of Lowestoft left hundreds with nowhere to sleep, three people dead, twelve injured, more than 200 homes and two gun batteries damaged. The bombardment of 25 April 1916 caused 拢25,000 of damage and left people fearing for their safety.

Yarmouth had also been under threat, but fog meant the Germans couldn鈥檛 see the target and fired only a few shells.

The Germans had several aims; they wanted to signal their support for the Irish Nationalists鈥� Easter rebellion by drawing troops towards the East, to disrupt the harbour, and to try and draw the British Navy into open warfare in the North Sea.

Four German battle cruisers opened fire on the town at 04:10 hours and firing continued for 10-20 minutes. Sixty shells fell on Lowestoft from Yarmouth Road in the north to Carlton Road in the south. Seven shells did not explode including one which hit an end of terrace house in Kent Road and travelled through 13 houses, miraculously injuring no-one.

The bombardment caused a degree of panic locally; the rector of Carlton Colville, Reginald Augustus Bignold, writes in his diary entry for the day that as he went towards Lowestoft people poured along the road in the opposite direction: 鈥淭hey were so thick I had to get off my bicycle and walk鈥� It was a very piteous site鈥� it was most merciful none of them were killed as shells fell on both sides of the road.鈥�

A month later he records that: 鈥淗undreds of Lowestoft people still come out (to Carlton Colville) to sleep wherever they can, every shed and empty barn is full of these poor things.鈥�

Here is an account of the night from A. J. Turner who was living in London Road South at the time of the bombardment, read by an actor.

Location: Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft
Image shows devastation at number 11 Yarmouth Road
Photograph courtesy of Imperial War Museums

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