ONE of the most dramatic and tragic chapters in a town's history will be commemorated on Thursday.

December 16 is the 90th anniversary of the German bombardment of Hartlepool - the first place in Britain to be targeted by the Germans during the First World War.

More then 100 people died as more than 1,000 shells rained down on the town for about 40 minutes from the three heavy cruisers Blucher, Seydlitz and Moltke, which emerged from mist shortly after 8am.

Ninety years on, the event is being marked by a wreath-laying ceremony on the Headland, on Thursday, and by an ongoing exhibition in the Museum of Hartlepool, next to Hartlepool Historic Quay.

Organised by the Heugh Gun Battery Trust, Thursday's event begins at 7.30am when a procession will make its way from the Heugh Battery, on the Headland, to the memorial in Redheugh Gardens.

There, a ceremony will start at 8.10am, with a short speech by the Reverend Jonathan Goode, vicar of St Hilda's Church, on the Headland, followed by a gun salute to commemorate the start of the bombardment.

Another gun salute at 8.54am will commemorate the end of the bombardment, followed by the release of balloons, each bearing the name of a child who died in the bombardment.

The ceremony will end shortly before 9am with a reading of the Lord's Prayer and a blessing, followed by the playing of the National Anthem.

The Germans chose to attack Hartlepool because it was midway between Scapa Flow and Sheerness, where Britain's two battle fleets were at anchor.

It was thought the bombardment would lure both British fleets out to sea, where German submarines were waiting to torpedo them.

But the plan leaked out, and while only a privileged few in Britain were informed, among them were the Royal Garrison Artillery manning the three-gun Heugh battery on Hartlepool's Headland.

High Command did not want to cause mass hysteria, and so did not tell the people of Hartlepool the town was a German target.

Forty-four schoolchildren were among 120 killed in the onslaught. Among the victims were the first civilian and the first soldier to be killed on British soil.