The Attack on Orleans, World War I,The only enemy attack on American soil during World War I occurre

The Attack on Orleans, World War I,The only enemy attack on American soil during World War I occurred at the sleepy Cape Cod fishing town of Orleans, Massachusetts. On the morning of July 21st, 1918 the German submarine U-156 surfaced outside of the town and opened fire with its four deck guns.  First U-156 attacked the tugboat Perth Amboy, sinking it and the four barges it was towing.The submarine then fired upon the town, all of its shells landing harmlessly in a nearby swamp.  During the attack, a local citizens returned fire with rifles and shotguns, among them a ten year old boy named Jack Ainsley, who was armed with a .22 rifle.On board the tug and barges were 32 sailors, all of whom were rescued by the local US Life Saving Service, who bravely rowed out to the sinking boats despite attracting fire from U-156. U-156 finally submerged and retreated when HS-1L Flying Boats and R-9 Bombers dive bombed the submarine with payloads of TNT, one of the first naval aviation attacks in American history.The attack resulted in the sinking of one tugboat and four barges, but there were no casualties and no damaged occurred to the town itself. For the remainder of the war rumors spread throughout the town that a German invasion or larger naval attack was imminent. The locals of the town would call the incident “The Battle of Orleans”. The submarine U-156 was also unharmed, and traveled north, sinking fishing boats and merchant ships off the coast of Maine and Newfoundland.  On 25th of November the submarine failed to report in to German High Command, and it or it’s 77 man crew was never heard from or seen again. -- source link

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