LOWESTOFT FIGHT. POOR MARKSMANSHIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11684, 28 April 1916, Page 1

LOWESTOFT FIGHT.

POOR MARKSMANSHIP.

BRITISH TACEE GERMAN MONSTERS. IMPRESSIVE SPECTACLE i DESCRIBED. Pr«M AMoci&tioa.—Copyright. (Heoeived April 28, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, April 27. Several houses destroyed at Lowestoft were untenanted. A shell crashed Into a large empty residence and carved oat the interior. Two other houses ■were reduced to a pile of rubble. The skipper of a fishing smack just after dawn noticed fonr higgish ships and a lot of smaller craft steaming southward, parallel with the coast. He' took them for Britishers. HAIL OF SHELLS. Eye-witnesses state that a vessel opened fire about six miles off, and soon a- hail of shells were whooping over { " the town, the missiles landing being . dx to twe\>inch shells. \ i Some missefc the town altogether, and* were picked up as far inland as s Oulton Broads and Carlton Colville. The German markmanship was poor, stnd one broadsidß of four guns did the Dtost damage. V" " BRITISH COME UP. ! i The bombardment ended with dra«j rustic suddenness, when the British j ; I4ght Cruiser Squadron was seen ap-: preaching from- the south at wonderful j Bpeed. | Though outmatched in point of size j j and outnumbered, they tackled the Germans tenaciously, and the reverberating cannonade was more terrific than ihat of the bombardmonfc. j One of our destroyers was hit. and! , gmoks end flames were visible, but she j wwrMnued biasing away with her guns. IMPRESSIVE SIGHT. j •The fight was conducted in bright; sunshine, and the cascades of water thrown up by the shells made an impressive spectacle. German shells fell around the Bri-

tish 3 -who reserved' their fire until well within range. Time and again they hit the German monsters! and once a volume of flam© leapt from tho funnel of one of the big warships. A LAKE! OP FOAM. Another suddenly staggered, but righted" itself, although steam and smoke came from unusual places. The sea tos so churned up by shells that it looked like a, lake of foam. GERMANS TURN TAIL. Suddenly a 6eaplane from the north, flying at a terrific rate, signalled a. message to the Germans, who turned tail at high speed. I One of the giants appeared' to be in I trouble. (Oulton Broads lie directly west of Lowestoft, and Carlton Colvillo is four or five miles to the south.)