Zeppelin Blitz

by Neil Storey

  LZ-90 flew over the Farm Hill gun at 11.57 p.m. and suddenly disappeared, having risen sharply after dropping her load of bombs, and so escaping the searchlight beams. Making off at high speed, she was seen passing between Nazing and Epping Upland at 12.05 a.m., High Laver at 12.10 a.m., Barnston, south of Dunmow, at 12.20 a.m., Braintree at 12.25 a.m., Coggeshall at 12.30 a.m., Colchester at 12.40, Brightlingsea at 12.48 and finally out to sea north of Clacton at 1 a.m.

  LZ-88 and her commander, Hauptmann Falck, reached the coast of Suffolk in the neighbourhood of Orfordness soon after 11.30 p.m. She appears to have been uncertain of her bearings, but it may be more than a coincidence that she followed much the same track as that supposed to have been taken by the military airship in the district on the night of 31 March/1 April.

  Proceeding inland, she appeared over Wickham Market at 11.47 p.m. She then made a circle, and steered in the direction of Woodbridge, where she was reported at 12.07 a.m. The airship was next engaged at Rushmere Heath by four machine guns of the RNAS Anti-Aircraft Corps, and by a Lewis gun of the 58th Division.

  At 12.20 a.m. she was over Ipswich, and made a complete circle south-west of the town without dropping any bombs, proceeding south-west to Copdock and then south-east round to Wherstead at 12.30 a.m. Turning north towards Ipswich, she went off due east to the coast, and was engaged by RNAS AA Corps guns at Levington Heath. After crossing the River Deben, the airship unloaded the bulk of her bombs, namely ten HE and fifty-three incendiary bombs, in the vicinity of Ramsholt and Alderton, where she hovered from 1 a.m. to 1.08 a.m. One HE bomb was also dropped at 1.15 a.m. near Hollesley, and the airship then passed out to sea at Orfordness at about 1.20 a.m. The bombs were harmless apart from a few windows broken at Ramsholt.

  The airships that raided East Anglia were carrying an unusual number of incendiary bombs – at least sixty-five. This suggests that this was the method proposed for the attack of explosive factories in particular, since the incendiary bomb would be a poor weapon against guns or personnel.

  3/4 April 1916

  Zeppelins L-11 and L-17 set off from their north German sheds with London as their objective, but ran into strong winds on their way over. Although L-17 got near the coast off Haisborough, she made such little headway that her commander abandoned the raid and returned home.

  L-11, with Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze, was heard 2 miles off the coast of Weybourne, Norfolk, at 1.30 a.m. on 4 April, going east. Visibility was poor, but she seems to have crossed the coast at Sheringham and was heard at Gunton at 2 a.m., having dropped an incendiary bomb 300 yards from Hanworth Hall.

  She was later heard between North Walsham and Aylsham, and afterwards drifted slowly southwards, probably with her engines cut off, for 25 minutes. At 2.30 a.m. she was heard from Drayton and the Norwich observation post and, at the time, dropped two incendiary bombs at Buxton Lamas. She then flew direct along the line of the River Bure to Salhouse, where one incendiary bomb was dropped in a field at 2.45 a.m.

  The Zeppelin was next heard 2–3 miles north of Acle at 2.50 a.m., and south of Winterton at 2.55 a.m., having followed the lines of the Rivers Bure and Thurne. She went to sea at Caister at about 3.05 a.m. and, 1 mile out, dropped nine HE bombs into the sea (probably at a ship) at 3.15 a.m. She appears to have done no damage whatever.

  Owing to the peculiar atmospheric conditions of the night, the noise of the Zeppelin seems to have been deadened, and at many places such as Cromer, Wroxham, Mousehold and Martham, it was not heard at all. The local opinion, that the Zeppelin possessed an efficient silencer, is probably not justified by the facts. The mist, perhaps, and the fact that the Zeppelin was probably travelling very high and very slowly may account for its comparative silence. The late hour at which it arrived may also have contributed to the fact that it was not generally heard. The raid was probably intended for Norwich which, as usual, eluded observation.

  5/6 April 1916

  L-11, again commanded by Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze, made the coast at Hornsea Mere at 9.10 p.m. on 5 April. She then steered straight in the direction of Hull, following the railway. Arriving over Sutton at 9.17 p.m., she dropped one HE bomb, which fell in a field. The concussion slightly damaged a farmhouse nearby. At the same moment, AA guns came into action around Hull, and the raider sheared off south-east to East Park where she dropped three more HE bombs. Some windows were broken in Holderness Road and the side streets. Jesse Matthews of 11 Cotton Terrace, Barnsley Street, died of shock.

  The Zeppelin then went on to Marfleet. The shooting was now becoming more accurate, and she accordingly retreated northward. After an interval during which she circled round over Swine and Burton Constable, she then returned towards Hedon and Hull at about 9.35 p.m. She turned east again without hesitation and passed over Burstwick at 9.46 p.m. and moved out to sea south of Aldbrough at 9.50 p.m.

  Unluckily, a house in Park Avenue, Hull, was hit by gunfire and two men and two children were wounded by shrapnel. The AA gunners at Sutton and Marfleet both claimed to have made hits, and numerous observers confirmed their opinion, which is borne out by the fact that the Zeppelin spent a number of hours off the Yorkshire coast, probably engaged in repairs (indeed, she was reported as being 10 miles north of Flamborough Head at about 11.30 p.m.). Soon after, she was reported 8 miles east of Scarborough.

  Three hours later, at 2.29 a.m. on 6 April, L-11 came back inland over Skinningrove. It is reported that the local ironworks attracted the raider by tipping slag. After circling the ironworks at a height of less than 3,000ft and dropping nine HE and fourteen incendiary bombs on them, she ran south-east along the coast and passed out to sea over Hinderwell at about 2.50 a.m. The laboratory at the ironworks was wrecked, but otherwise no damage was done there. The Council School, Co-operative Society shop and several dwellings were damaged at Carlin How. There were no casualties. The 6in gun at Skinningrove, not yet having received its searchlights, could not see the target and hence did not come into action.

  L-16, under Oberleutnant zur See Werner Peterson, passed Hartlepool coming up from the south, hovered for some time and then crossed the coast over the Black Hall Rocks at 11.30 p.m. Steering south-west, she passed over Sedgefield at 11.45 p.m. and then south of Bishop Auckland, going west at great speed. At midnight she passed Evenwood, and at 12.03 a.m. she suddenly turned in her tracks when over Railey Fell Colliery, probably attracted by the fiery waste heaps. She returned at slower speed, dropped thirteen HE and ten incendiary bombs at Evenwood and Randolph Colliery. Fifteen miners’ cottages were seriously damaged and about seventy slightly affected. A man and a child were both injured.

  The Zeppelin carried on her way eastwards and appeared over the Auckland Park Collieries at Close House, Eldon, south-east of Bishop Auckland at 12.15 a.m. A single HE bomb was dropped on Coronation Colliery, followed by sixteen more and ten incendiaries at Close House and Eldon. Two miners’ cottages were destroyed and eleven seriously damaged. Windows were broken in twenty-eight cottages and eighteen shops. A child was killed, and one woman and two children injured. No damage was done to the colliery works and eleven of the HE bombs fell on a cycle track and waste heaps, to no effect. The glow from the fiery heaps no doubt attracted the Zeppelin, as at Evenwood.

  Proceeding east L-16 passed again near Sedgefield, and at 12.45 a.m. she was sighted over West Hartlepool. Turning north-east, she travelled back over Black Halls Rocks. Running parallel to the coast, she was next sighted over Seaham at 1.15 a.m. after which she went off north-east, passing Sunderland at 1.35 a.m. She was over the mouth of the Tyne at 1.50 a.m. and from there, steered for home.

  A number of RFC aeroplanes went up from Beverley and Scarborough, but failed to locate the Zeppelin. Unfortunately, the aircraft from Beverley crashed due to engine trouble. Aircraft also went up from Cramlington, and one of them was damaged after colliding with a hedge, while another was completely wrecked against a house and the pilot, Lieutenant J. Nichol RFC, was killed.

  Action of Anti-Aircraf
t Guns

  Place

  Gun

  Range

  Rounds

  Time in

  (ft)

  Action

  (minutes)

  Sutton

  12-pdr

  4,500

  8S

  11

  Dairycoates Crossing

  6-pdr

  5,400

  3 NT

  2

  Hornsea

  12-pdr

  4,500

  8S and NT

  5

  Hull Cricket Ground

  12-pdr

  4,500

  7S

  6

  Cottingham

  13-pdr (mobile)

  7,500

  19 HE

  2¼

  Marfleet

  13-pdr (mobile)

  3,000

  13S

  7

  Immingham Halt

  12-pdr

  8,000

  6S

  6

  24/25 April 1916

  The raid of 24/25 April 1916 was closely bound up with the bombardment of Lowestoft and Yarmouth by a German cruiser squadron early on 25 April. British Intelligence suggested:

  In view of the climatic conditions prevailing on that day the raiding airships would not in all probability have attempted to raid if the naval operations had not demanded an accompanying aerial demonstration. The naval attack was in turn connected with the political crisis in Ireland. The raid is unlike earlier attacks in that it had no definite objective on land.

  Intelligence was correct only in parts. The German government had sought to support the Easter Rising in Ireland, and had taken the Irish nationalist leader, Roger Casement, from his exile in Germany by submarine to Banna Strand in Tralee Bay. The bombardment of Lowestoft had been planned by Admiral Scheer as a diversion, and the Zeppelin raid was independent to the naval operation. Eight Zeppelins had set out to ‘attack England south, London if possible.’ Their mission, however, was badly hampered by the wind over the central North Sea (40–50mph at 1,500ft), and the mist and cloud that hung over much of the coastline.

  L-16, under Oberleutnant zur See Werner Peterson, crossed the Norfolk coast at Trimingham at 10.15 p.m. and pursued a winding course in a south-westerly direction, by way of Hanworth, Colby, Aylsham, Cawston, Ringland and Kimberley, where a small parachute was dropped with a bundle of German illustrated newspapers attached to it. Then, on it droned to Hardingham, Attleborough and west of East Harling to the neighbourhood of Thetford, which it reached about 11.30 p.m. It circled north of the town for about twenty minutes, then passed over Brandon at 11.55 p.m., and Mildenhall at 12.10 a.m.

  She then circled to the west, south of Cheveley, and turned back north-east passing over Newmarket Heath at 12.30 p.m. where she was fired upon by two machine guns She retaliated at about 12.35 a.m. by dropping eighteen HE bombs, which landed along a line across the middle of the town of Newmarket, from the Heath to Warren Hill Station on the Bury road. One incendiary bomb was also thrown at the junction of the Bury and Norwich roads, beyond Warren Hill Station. Several houses, especially on St Mary’s Square in the centre of the town, were damaged, and a racing stable on the Bury road was badly affected. It was here that the racehorse Coup-de-Main was killed. The only human casualty was inflicted by the last HE bomb, which damaged a house close to Warren Hill Station and seriously injured the owner.

  Outside the limits of Newmarket, beyond the junction of the two roads, one HE and one incendiary bomb were dropped on the training ground known as ‘The Limekilns’ in the parish of Snailwell. No appreciable damage was caused and there were no casualties.

  L-16 then made off at high speed north-east, passing Bury St Edmunds at 12.45 a.m. and west of Thetford at 12.55 a.m. She dropped five incendiary bombs at Honingham at about 1.15 a.m. and they landed in fields of wheat near the hall, with no real effect, but the fifth fell within yards of a large oat straw stack; the flames were fanned by a good breeze and the stack soon caught fire and damaged farm sheds, known as ‘Read’s Sheds’, owned by farmer Walter Bartram. It was reported that the occupants of a cottage adjoining these buildings were unaware of anything untoward happening until they were roused by the police. The only other damage done in this neighbourhood was the destruction of an old straw stack ladder that had also caught fire and a hen turkey was roasted alive on her nest.

  L-16 made for the coast via Ringland and North Walsham, where she was spotted at 1.30 a.m., and went back out to sea near Mundesley at 1.35 a.m.

  As the German Admiralty reported that Cambridge had been bombed, it is probable that Peterson, judging by the position he had obtained at 11.35 p.m., when north of Thetford, was pleased to imagine that Newmarket was Cambridge!

  L-21, under the command of Kapitänleutnant der Reserve Max Dietrich, struck the coast of Kessingland, south of Lowestoft, at about 11.10 p.m., after having dropped two HE bombs in the sea. She pursued a straight course for Stowmarket, passing over Halesworth at 11.30 p.m. and Eye at 11.50 p.m. On approaching Stowmarket she was once again engaged by AA guns of the RGA at Badley Park and Stowupland (Thorney Green). Eleven rounds were fired, one of which is claimed to have been a direct hit. This claim was, however, hardly substantiated by the subsequent movements of the airship. The fixed guns (two 6-pdrs) at Stowmarket also fired eleven rounds at her.

  Shell-scarred and gutted premises on London Road South, Lowestoft, after the bombardment of 25 April 1916.

  One of the houses destroyed by the naval bombardment on Lowestoft Esplanade, 25 April 1916.

  Some of the naval shells and bombs that had been dropped or fired at Lowestoft, 25 April 1916.

  It is alleged that she dived, stern-first, for 1,000–1,500ft in order to avoid the shells and then, emitting a cloud of smoke, beat a retreat. The statement that she dived stern first was improbable, and perhaps due to an optical illusion. The ‘cloud of smoke’, as on several other occasions, was likely to be a discharge of water ballast to enable the Zeppelin to rise quickly away from the fire. In any case, she was prevented by the guns from reaching her objective, the munitions works at Stowmarket. When fired upon, she dropped nine HE bombs at 12.16 a.m. on two farms at Old Newton, 2 miles north of Stowmarket before moving off. No damage was caused beyond a few holes in the fields and a broken window. There were no casualties.

  L-21 proceeded across Norfolk, passing over Diss at 12.25 a.m., New Buckenham at 12.40 a.m., Wymondham at 12.45 a.m., Horsford at 1.15 a.m. and Worstead at 1.25 a.m.. Five minutes later, she dropped an HE bomb at Witton, which did no damage, and then went out to sea near Bacton at 1.35 a.m. L-21 subsequently took part in the operations of the fleet.

  L-23, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto von Schubert, came in at Caister at 11.50 p.m. and immediately dropped three incendiary bombs, of which only one exploded. Next seen over Filby at midnight, L-23 seemed to follow the line of the Broads, north-west at low speed to Stalham, which she passed at 12.10 p.m. Arriving over Ridlington at 12.30 a.m., the Zeppelin dropped nine HE bombs, breaking windows and killing a bullock at Church Farm, and partially wrecking a cottage, but fortunately there were no human casualties. Windows were smashed and damage was also caused to the parish church of St Peter.

  The Zeppelin then dropped a further six HE bombs near the RNAS station at Bacton, damaging glass and woodwork of the windows in two houses known as ‘Beech Bough’ and ‘The Croft’. The blast also displaced the searchlight. L-23 then turned seaward and departed.

  L-17 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Herbert Ehrlich and came in to the Lincolnshire coast at Chapel St Leonards. She proceeded only a short distance inland, passing over Anderby at 1.40 a.m., to Alford where she dropped three HE bombs between 1.50 a.m. and 2 a.m. from a height of about 10,000ft. The only result was one broken window. The Zeppelin then immediately went out to sea again at Sutton-on-Sea at 2.05 a.m. The raid was represented in the German Admiralty communiqué as an attack near Lincoln.

  The activities of L-13, u
nder the command of Kapitänleutnant Eduard Prölss, remain a little uncertain. She was only overland for a short time, was not observed by the military and dropped no bombs. She seems to have made landfall at Cromer at 10.20 p.m., was at Hanworth in company with L-16 five minutes later, and then vanished into the night. At 11 p.m. she was at Weybourne and at 11.08 p.m. was heard at Bodham, near Holt, going south-east. She probably went out to sea near Sheringham shortly afterwards.

  L-9 and L-21 were active with the Imperial German Fleet. The squadron destined to attack the English coast on the early morning of 25 April was accompanied by L-9, commanded by Hauptmann Stelling. She was seen between 3.25 a.m. and 3.50 a.m. north-east of the Cross Sand, Newarp and Cockle lightships, going south-east. She was off the St Nicholas lightship at 4.10 a.m., about the time of the bombardment of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and then disappeared eastward. L-21, when well on her way homeward after her expedition to Stowmarket, turned at about 2 a.m. to join the fleet, and accompanied it westward towards the coast, where she was seen off the Haisborough lightship at 4.30 a.m.

  L-20, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Franz Stabbert, scouted for the fleet to the southward and did not approach the coast.

  L-6 and L-7, commanded by Hauptmann Manger and Kapitänleutnant Hempel respectively, went out with the rest, and reconnoitred to the north of the advancing naval squadron. They did not go west of 4° E long., and returned to Germany around 4 a.m. when the objective of the naval attack was attained. L-7, coming from her station in Schleswig, made for the sheds near Emden at about midnight. There she lay for some two hours whilst being refilled with gas, petrol and oil. She then resumed her patrol work and returned to her base next morning.