Zeppelin Blitz

by Neil Storey

  Opposite the St Peter’s Villas were the premises of J.E. Pestell, builder and undertaker, which received the full force of the explosion and suffered such extensive damage that they had to be demolished. Pestell also lived on the premises with his young family, and by some miracle they were all unhurt.

  The third bomb dropped by L-3, at the back of 78 Crown Road, Great Yarmouth. Taken on the morning after the raid, shortly after it had been dug out of the small crater it had made in the pavement by soldiers of the Norfolk National Reserve.

  Injured but undaunted, Mr E. Ellis stands in front of the wrecked frontage of his home, St Peter’s Villa, Great Yarmouth.

  The bomb damage to St Peter’s Plain viewed from Lancaster Road, Great Yarmouth. Miss Martha Taylor was killed by Pestell’s corner office window, near where the policeman and soldiers are standing to the right of the photograph.

  However, the first casualties from the first Zeppelin air raid were struck down close by. Martha Taylor, a 72-year-old spinster who lived at 2 Drakes Buildings with her twin sister, Jane Eliza, was returning from a trip to the grocer’s shop on Victoria Road when the bomb landed on St Peter’s Plain. Her body was discovered by Private Alexander Brown of the National Reserve who was on his way back from the Hippodrome when, turning the corner of St Peter’s Plain, he stumbled over a ‘bundle’ outside Mr Pestell’s corner office window. On closer examination he discovered it was the body of Miss Taylor, whose clothes had been blown to rags. He ran to the Drill Hall, informed Corporal Henry Hickling and they took a stretcher to where she lay. It was only when she was moved that it was revealed she had been badly injured in the lower part of her body, and part of her arm had been blown clean off and lay nearby.

  Dr R.H. Shaw examined Miss Taylor’s body at the hospital, and explained the extent of the injuries she had suffered at her inquest: ‘The left side of the body was torn open from the hip to the shoulder and the organs dislodged. The right shoulder joint and bone and the right knee joint were broken. The ankle was also injured and the greater part of the left arm missing. Death was instantaneous.’

  A second body, that of shoemaker Samuel Alfred Smith (53) was next reported. He had evidently been standing at the end of the passage in which the door of his shop was situated, to watch the passing raider. The passage, located opposite St Peter’s Villas, had a large double gate at the end, one half open and the other half closed. The bomb fell 30ft away from Mr Smith. Several fragments of the bomb blast had been hurled in his direction, the gate was badly peppered, and tragically Mr Smith was caught by some of the shrapnel, part of his head was torn away and his left thigh badly lacerated. Found lying in a pool of blood, it was clear he had stood no chance.

  Miss Martha Taylor, killed in the Zeppelin raid on Great Yarmouth, 19 January 1915.

  Other people close by were knocked off their feet by the blast, among them Mr W.J. Sayers and his 11-year-old son, Louis. They were just yards away from St Peter’s Villa when the bomb went off. Mr Sayers got a ‘rather nasty shaking’, but his little boy received a flying fragment of glass in the shoulder. Mr Sayers said: ‘We went down like a pair of shot rabbits … I feel I must thank God that we are still alive. Less than thirty seconds before the bomb fell we had hurried over the very pavement it pulverised. There would not have been even enough of us for an inquest had we been slower.’

  William Storey and his family had recently occupied and furnished 17 St Peter’s Plain; he had been in the kitchen with his wife and their two babies, one aged 2, the other 9 months, along with his sister and a female family friend. None of them heard anything until the explosion. Mr Storey explained: ‘The gas went out, glass and doors flew in every direction. The women screamed but when we got a light I was relieved to find no one was hurt but we were all unrecognisable because of soot and dust.’ They had a narrow escape; a large bomb fragment had ‘carried the front window away’, tore a hole through the stairway door and penetrated nearly 2ft into the solid bricks beyond.

  The Reverend J. McCarthy, Minister of St Peter’s Church, had just finished an intercession service and was talking with a parishioner when suddenly there was a crash, and the windows of the north side of the church fell into the aisle and the vestry door was blown open, bending a heavy lock back at right angles. He fled with his family to take refuge in the cellar. When they emerged they discovered that every window had been broken in the parsonage.

  Mr Frank Burton, Clerk to the Guardians, had a very narrow escape from injury. He had been returning home from a meeting of the Guardians, and was passing Mays’ butcher’s shop on the corner of Victoria Road when the bomb burst on St Peter’s Plain. He was protected by the New Royal Standard pub which received the force of the blast, losing its windows and receiving several flying fragments that damaged the walls – any one of which could have proved fatal if they had hit someone in their path.

  One notable incident was the case of Private Poulter, a Territorial Army soldier from the Essex Regiment, who was leaving the lavatory near St Peter’s Church when the bomb went off and was wounded by shrapnel in the chest. It was Dr Leonard Ley who had the distinction of being the first doctor to operate on an air raid victim. After successfully removing the piece of shrapnel, he kept it and had it mounted as a tiepin, which he wore with great pride for years afterwards.

  The wrecked premises of J.E. Pestell, builder and undertaker, on St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth. Samuel Smith was killed at the end of the passage to his shops near the large double gates.

  Cobbler Mr Samuel Smith, killed in the Zeppelin raid on Great Yarmouth, 19 January 1915.

  Some of the damaged windows of St Peter’s Church, Great Yarmouth.

  Harry Tunbridge, the manager of Britannia Pier, was a section leader in the 1st Yarmouth Voluntary Aid Detachment, British Red Cross Society, and was drilling with the other members of the detachment in the basement of Boots’ stores on King Street when the caretaker rushed down and said, ‘Bombs are being dropped in the town!’ The detachment divided themselves into three sections, one going down The Drive, another direct to the hospital and the others scoured the area making enquiries as to anyone who had been injured.

  Mr Richards, the detachment’s pharmacist, accompanied Mr Tunbridge. They obtained a lamp and rapidly received a report of a man being injured on St Peter’s Plain. Rushing to the spot, they found the body of Samuel Smith in the opening next to his workshop. Pharmacist T. Richards saw that Smith was past any treatment and, when a group of soldiers with a stretcher arrived with Inspector Crisp soon after, they removed the body to the mortuary. Members of the detachment then accompanied the police in their search for any wounded or unconscious people, and remained on duty through the night at Lady Crossley’s Hospital, where Messrs Arnold’s large covered motor car was in readiness for emergencies. The detachment was finally dismissed at 6 a.m. on Wednesday.

  The sixth and seventh bombs fell almost simultaneously, the first crashing through the roof of a stable abutting Garden Lane, near South Quay, owned by butcher William Mays. Failing to detonate, the bomb was found resting on a truss of hay beside a pony the following morning – bomb and pony both intact! This bomb was also recovered by National Reservists, and was removed out to sea, sunk in 12 fathoms of water and exploded by a time fuse. This caused a great disturbance in the water and killed one fish – a 20lb cod – which showed its white belly on the surface and was brought ashore for a meal.

  The eighth bomb fell with a ‘huge, fiery flame’, and landed opposite Messrs Woodgers’ shop, near the First & Last Tavern on Southgate Road, near the Fish Wharf. There were no more casualties here, but a number had narrow escapes. The damage was confined to a number of broken windows, lots of spattering of ‘some grey substance on the walls of the houses’ (probably the accelerant from the incendiary), and a granite paving stone was fractured by the impact. Fragments from this bomb were soon on display in the pub.

  The Zeppelin then appears to have passed along the edge of the river, dropping its ninth
bomb which fell between two vessels, the drifter Mishe Nahma, undergoing repairs, and the pilot boat Patrol. It struck the river side of the dock gates of Beeching’s South Dock, where it smashed through two planks causing it to flood on the tide. The bomb failed to detonate, and bounced off the stone quay of Trinity Wharf, narrowly missed a sentry from the National Reserve and the base of a crane turntable, before it fell harmlessly into the river.

  The Zeppelin bomb that crashed through the roof of butcher William May’s stable, which abutted Garden Lane, near South Quay, Great Yarmouth. Failing to detonate, the bomb was found resting on the hay beside the pony the following morning.

  The tenth bomb fell into the ‘swill’ ground at the back of the Fish Wharf, blasted the water tower and made a large hole in the ground, fractured a water main and blew a nearby electric light standard to smithereens. Almost the entire glass roof of the wharf was smashed, and the fish sales offices badly damaged (it was estimated that £500–£600 of damage was caused to the Fish Wharf).

  Several enormous chunks of the building’s foundation had simply been blasted away and the refreshment rooms opposite had every window smashed – both front and back. Most of the family and staff were out, and it was miraculous that Miss Steel, who was in the building playing the piano, escaped injury but was severely shaken. Two small children also had a narrow escape; they were in bed and uninjured after the blast but their covers were smothered in broken glass fragments. Miraculously, the only casualty here was Captain Smith, the Fish Wharf master, who suffered a cut to his hand from flying glass.

  The eleventh bomb was another high explosive (HE) that fell by the river blowing a hole in the quarter, ‘started’ the timbers and blew the rigging wire ‘out like cotton’ of Mr Harry Eastick’s steam drifter Piscatorial. It was to be his second casualty of the war, after he had recently lost his drifter Copious, which had sunk taking nine lives with it when it struck a mine shortly after the bombardment in November 1914. Debris and bomb-casing from the blast also damaged the grain store of Messrs Combe and Co., maltsters on Malthouse Lane, where a chunk of ragged steel casing was recovered measuring 7½in by 1½in, and a number of windows were smashed on the south town side.

  The last bomb, the twelfth to fall during the ten-minute attack, landed at the back of the racecourse grandstand on South Denes, a short distance from the Auxiliary War Hospital. Leaving the largest crater of the attack, it blew down the paddock palisading, destroyed a number of fish baskets and killed a dog.

  L-3 left a trail of bombs behind her and droned back off across the sea, following the coast to Runton where she turned seaward and headed back to base at 10 p.m.

  Bomb damage to the swill ground at the back of the Fish Wharf, Great Yarmouth.

  Crew indicating the hole torn in the quarter of Mr Harry Eastick’s steam drifter, Piscatorial, by Zeppelin bomb shrapnel.

  L-4 followed the coast from Bacton to Cromer from the east, shortly before 8.30 p.m. The lights of the town had been shaded for a number of weeks, but when the Zeppelin arrived the local military had received warning of ‘hostile aircraft’ over Great Yarmouth and told all shopkeepers to turn out all their lights, so the town was in darkness.

  Local people, not considering the danger, ran onto the streets and looked up at the raider. Most folks who saw it over Cromer agreed that it was so low it almost caught on the pinnacles of the church tower. As the Zeppelin passed over the Great Eastern Railway (GER) station it appeared to lose its bearings, missed the main street and struck right across to the electric light station, where it appeared to encircle the tall chimney and then left in the direction of Sheringham. It was spotted circling round to the south-east, between Weybourne and Sheringham, at 8.35 p.m.

  Travelling in an easterly direction over Sheringham, von Platen brought L-4 down to 800ft and dropped a flare. Mr Stanley Simons, who lived on Augusta Street, was watching the Zeppelin and saw it drop the flare, which he described as ‘a small object which burst with a slight noise and a bright glare.’

  L-4 then dropped an incendiary bomb which fell on Whitehall Yard, Wyndham Street, where it entered the roof of one of the houses and passed through a bedroom down to the ground floor, dropping near the fireplace. The house was occupied by local bricklayer Robert Smith, his wife and daughter, May (14), who was fortunate to escape with only a few scratches. The Cromer and North Norfolk Post reported:

  The chair in which she was sitting was slightly damaged. The family were naturally terrified. Our representative who visited this house found the bedroom in great disorder. Hardly a pane of glass was left in the windows, a large hole was made in the roof and the boards were torn up. Considerable damage was also done downstairs to the floor and furniture. The scene was one of utter disorder. The landlord, Mr Jordan, is not insured.

  Another little girl, a companion of May Smith who was sitting in the same room, received an injury to her wrist and her hair was singed. ‘I never had such a fright in my life. I shall never forget it to my dying day,’ remarked Mrs Smith, ‘I never want to go through it again.’ The bomb was about 4½ inches in diameter. The shell itself must have weighed about twelve pounds. If it had exploded probably the whole square of houses would have been wrecked and lives lost. Mr Smith, the occupier of the house, said ‘It all came so suddenly. The bomb fell near the fireplace and it is a wonder how we escaped serious injury. My impression is that it was a fire-ball and that the object of the raiders was to burn the houses.’

  Many Sheringham residents ran out onto the streets to see what was going on, and a missionary meeting being held in the Church Room was stopped and abandoned as several members of the audience rushed out onto the street to watch the murderous machine make off.

  Special and emergency constables went on duty at once, and proceeded to give instructions as to lights and generally assist the police in dealing with the situation. The night, although a little hazy, was ‘decently fair’ and there was no wind. Mr R.C. West, a coal merchant who was on duty as a special constable with Mr Gooch at the Gas Works, near the Sheringham Hotel, saw a huge body floating in the air and apparently coming in the direction of the lifeboat sheds.

  L-4 then dropped a second incendiary on a building plot between the back of The Avenue (near Mr Lee’s house) and Priory Road, leaving a small crater. A man who was walking along Beeston Road said that the bomb nearly struck him. He had an anxious time, as for some yards he was endeavouring to get out of the way, but was firmly of the belief that the Zeppelin was so low down if he had had a gun he could have shot it.

  Inspector Carter was on duty on the Cromer Road; he witnessed the dropping of the bomb upon The Avenue and rushed to the police station to telephone Norwich and other places. Newspaper reports stated that the engine of the Zeppelin made ‘a terrific noise’ as it passed low over Sheringham, eyewitnesses believed that it nearly touched the Roman Catholic church in Cromer Road, and it also passed close to St Peter’s Church and the Grand Hotel. The airship, which had a tremendously long body, was described by locals as looking ‘like a gigantic sausage.’

  The first bomb dropped by Zeppelin L-4 on 19 January 1915 fell upon the home of Robert Smith and his family at Whitehall Yard off Windham Street, Sheringham. Fortunately it did not explode.

  With its first two bombs gone, L-4 then flew over the golf links, and was lost to sight, travelling in a north-west direction off the coast towards Blakeney and Wells.

  L-4 followed the coast and came overland again at Thornham at 9.50 p.m., dropping its third bomb on the green. It headed eastward to Brancaster Staithe, before returning to Brancaster village, where a fourth bomb, another incendiary, was dropped near the church, about 50 yards from Dormy House and approximately 150 yards from the local auxiliary war hospital.

  Then, after passing over Holme-next-the-Sea, the Zeppelin proceeded to Hunstanton where its fifth bomb landed at 10.15 p.m., but did not explode, near the centre of a field on the High Road leading from Old Hunstanton to New Hunstanton. It was suggested in the press a
t the time that the Zeppelin may well have been drawn by the beam of the lighthouse, whereas the Report of the Intelligence Section GHQ GB on the Airship Raids from Jan to Jun 1915 states: ‘at 10.15 an HE bomb aimed at the wireless station dropped in a field about 300 yards away. After circling the town, which was in total darkness, it went out to sea twice, but returned each time and then made off along the coast to Heacham …’

  L-4 droned over Heacham at about 10.40 p.m. and a number of residents came onto the roads or craned their heads out of bedroom windows to look at the Zeppelin as it passed overhead. Bombs six and seven were dropped here; one HE bomb fell near Mrs Pattrick’s cottage in Lord’s Lane. After clipping the edge of a windowsill and damaging some of the bricks in the wall, it smashed part of the roof of the adjoining wash house and fell into a rainwater tub, promptly blowing it to pieces – a narrow miss indeed. The second bomb did not explode, and was only discovered a couple of weeks later by a lad named Dix, who had been walking across Mr Brasnett’s field between the council school and the chalk pit.

  The 1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry, who were based in Heacham at the time, dug the bomb from the ground and removed it to the lawn of ‘Homemead’, where the officers were staying. A sentry was posted and, with the local policeman in attendance, the local populace soon gathered to look at the bomb. On the Sunday, an officer drove all the way up from Woolwich Arsenal to collect the bomb and remove it for further examination, but before leaving he did confirm it was a 100lb bomb, and that if it had gone off it would have damaged anything within a 100-yard radius.