Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea focuses on naval warfare.
During the war many thousands of men died at sea, either from the direct results of attacks on their ships or from drowning in the icy depths. For men caught on a burning, sinking ship it really was a choice between death from the devil of fire and explosions, or from the deep, blue and bitterly cold sea.
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The battle was fought at Heligoland Bight, a bay at the mouth of the river Elbe, in Germany. 35 British men were killed and no British ships were lost, whereas 712 German men were killed, 336 were captured and six German vessels were sunk
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729 people were killed or injured in the raid and many of them were civilians. The British public became angry at Germany for attacking civilians but also at the Royal Navy for allowing the Germans to get so close
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In the battle of Coronel, fought off the coast of Chile, Britain lost two ships and 1,570 men. It was the Royal Navy's first defeat since the Battle of Lake Champlain in 1812
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The British, Canadians and Australians brought 151 warships to battle. The Germans brought 99. Of these, the Allies lost 14 ships and 6,094 men, whilst the Germans lost 11 ships and 2,551 men. Both sides claimed to have been victorious!
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A German force of 23 small torpedo boats took on a British force of seven destroyers, and 30 other Royal Navy boats. They sank one destroyer and six boats and lost none of their own
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The British destroyer, HMS Broke, rammed a German torpedo boat. German sailors tried to board Broke and the two sets of crews fought hand to hand before the German boat finally sank
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Almost half the supply vessels heading for Great Britain were sunk, but despite this supplies were not cut off. 178 German U-boats were lost in the action and it is considered a victory for the Allies
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It was planned to sink old British ships in the port entrance to stop German ships from leaving. However, the ships were sunk in the wrong place and the German submarines were still able to leave the port at high tide
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In total 23 hospital ships were sunk during the war. Four were sunk by the Allies, 17 by the Germans and Austrians and two by accident
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On 21st June 1919, Admiral von Reuter gave his men the order to sink their ships so that the British would not get to use them
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