The men who were the first to die when war became terrifyingly real

Today, the Headland at Hartlepool juts defiantly into the North Sea, but there is nothing more threatening to be seen than the flotilla of turbines off South Gare and a squadron of seagulls battling with the biting crosswind to land on the green beside the Heugh lighthouse.

The Heugh Battery museum, Hartlepool. Picture: English Heritage

But a few minutes after 8am on December 16, 1914, three German battleships appeared out of the mist and opened fire.

The first shell from the flagship battlecruiser Seydlitz, landed beside the battery and killed four Durham Pals outright.

They were from the 18th (Service) Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, volunteers who had responded to the call by Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, to form "pals" regiments – groups of friends who all joined up together.

In alphabetical order, they were Privates Charles Clark and Theophilis Jones, both of West Hartlepool; Corporal Alix Liddle, of Darlington, and Private Leslie Turner, of Newcastle.

The Ministry of War, fighting on the propaganda front, decided that Pte Jones, 29, was officially the first soldier to die, probably because he was an assistant headteacher in West Hartlepool and was so beloved of his pupils that he died with a bible they had given him in his pocket – the propaganda message was that only a callous enemy would wipe out such a valuable and honourable man on his own soil.

Lance Corporal Alix Oliffe Liddle, of Sylvan Grove, had only been married seven months to Clara when he was killed by the first shell to land on Hartlepool. The colliery clerk is buried in Darlington's West Cemetery

READ THE FULL STORY OF ALIX LIDDLE, DARLINGTON'S FIRST CASUALTY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The more likely truth is that all four, including the colliery clerk from Darlington, died simultaneously. They were the first people to die on the mainland in this terrible war, and the first British soldiers to be killed in action on British soil since the Battle of Culloden in 1745 – not even Napoleon Bonaparte had shed British blood on the homeland, although a French monkey had terrified the life out of the people of Hartlepool when it swam onto the beaches that the Germans bludgeoned that December day.

James Clark's dramatic painting of the first Durham Pals coming under bombardment at the Heugh Battery

As soon as the first shell fell, more Durham Pals went rushing to help their fallen comrades. Private Walter Rogers, 25, from Bishop Auckland, was covering up the lacerated body of Cpl Liddle when Seydlitz fired a second shell at the same spot. He was struck in the chest and died three hours later.

In reply, the Heugh battery fired 123 shells at three ships, doing only minor damage but showing enough fighting spirit to deter the vessels from lingering any longer.

After 52 minutes, the ships slipped back into the mist, leaving 123 people dead – 37 were children on their way to school; 23 were people in the safety of their own homes. More than 400 were wounded, and seven churches, five hotels and 300 seafront houses were destroyed or damaged.

It is impossible not to stand on the battery today and not think back to those terrifying events. The noise of the bombardment roared as far inland as Middleton-in-Teesdale, and in Bishop Auckland, they thought it was a colliery explosion – until about 10am when cartloads of Hartlepudlians arrived, fleeing a feared invasion.

Thousands of people in Darlington and Bishop Auckland attended the funerals of Cpl Liddle and Pte Rogers as the country was blasted out of the cosy conjecture that the war would be over by Christmas.

For all these reasons, English Heritage regard the Heugh Battery as one of the most important historic military sites in the country, but it is again under attack, this time from concrete decay, metalwork corrosion, poor ventilation and flooding.

The grant of £38,530 will fund specialist surveys to assess the extent of the damage and pay for the development of a repair and maintenance plan so that more funding can be sought to secure the long-term future of this unique and fascinating site.

READ MORE: THE FULL STORY OF THE BOMBARDMENT

Commemorating the centenary of the bombardment at the Heugh Battery museum in 2014