History of Madeira the ships, the Germans proceeded to bombard Funchal for two hours from a range of about . Batteries on Madeira returned fire and eventually forced the Germans to withdraw. In 1917 on December 12, two German U-boats, and (captained by Max Valentiner) again bombarded Funchal, Madeira. This time the attack lasted around 30 minutes. Forty, 4.7 inch and 5.9 inch shells were fired. There were 3 fatalities and 17 wounded, In addition, a number of houses and Santa Clara church were hit. A priest, José Marques Jardim, promised in 1917 to build a monument should peace ever return to Madeira.
Madeira gathered outside the Church of Our Lady of Monte in Monte, to celebrate the Roman Catholic Feast of the Assumption, which takes place on Tuesday and is a public holiday. The Lady of the Mount festival is the island's biggest. In 2019 Madeira island will celebrate six centuries since its formal discovery by the Portuguese. The archipelago of Madeira is located from the African coast and from the European continent (approximately a one-and-a-half hour flight from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon). Madeira is on the same parallel as Bermuda a few time zones farther west in the Atlantic. The two