Postcard view of the county of Kent, England, bounded by the River Thames on the north and the English Channel and Dover Strait to the east. The city and White Cliffs of Dover are in Kent. In November 1914, British naval and military authorities feared Germany was preparing to invade England.

Kent: the Doorway of England.

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the County of Kent than dwell in the Tents of the Huns.

'Invicta' - undefeated, the motto of Kent

Cities and towns of Kent

On the door: No Germans Admitted



Reverse:

Postmarked Chatham (Kent) January 25, 1915

Designed and Printed in Faversham, Kent, at Voile & Robertson's Library (copyright)

Other views: Larger, Back

Sunday, August 12, 1917

"After Haig launched his Flanders offensive at the end of July 1917, Kleine was directed by OHL to bomb British ports. . . .

Kleine's first chance came on 12 August, when Georgii's forecast seemed to permit a flight. The surprised crews were not notified until early afternoon. Since it was a Sunday, many of the airmen had already left to spend the day in Ghent. Kleine could put up only thirteen bombers, but he had them in the air in less than an hour with Oberleutnant Richard Walter, the Führer of Staffel 15, flying in the lead. The objective, decided well in advance, was the British naval base at Chatham. Southend and Margate-Westgate were assigned as secondary targets."

Quotation Context

The Gotha bombers that set out to bomb Chatham on August 12, 1917, quickly ran into strong winds that drove them well north of their target. By the time they reached the Thames estuary, the Chatham naval base was still 15 miles away. Fearing British fighter planes, they turned and dropped their bombs on the the resort town of Southend, targeting the railway station where people were going to catch their trains home from a day by the shore. Thirty-two civilians were killed in the raid, another forty-three injured. General Douglas Haig, commander of British forces on the continent, had launched the Third Battle of Ypres on July 31. OHL, Oberste Heeresleitung, was German Supreme Army Command. Captain Rudolf Kleine commanded the German base at Gontrode, Belgium. Lieutenant Walter Georgii was his meteorologist. Ghent, Belgium, is home to van Eyck's Ghent altarpiece, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.

Source

The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, page 95, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991

Tags

1917-08-12, August, 1917, County of Kent