Zeppelin Blitz

by Neil Storey

  In this raid the new mobile AA guns, firing from freshly selected positions well clear of London, came into action for the first time, with the result that L-13 was attacked by gunfire near Hatfield and similarly L-15 near Broxbourne. Newly installed mobile guns also came into action north-east of London at Loughton, Romford, Hainault and Sutton’s Farm and on the river at the Royal Albert Dock and Plumstead causing considerable trouble to L-13 and L-14 on their departure from London. At Hatfield and Broxbourne the airships resorted to the use of bombs to reply to the attacking guns. The Zeppelin’s aim on this day was perhaps better than it has ever been when replying to gunfire. On this occasion the accuracy of the aim was no doubt due to the fact that the airships were flying at the comparatively low altitude which up until this time had been habitual for them. They were surprised by the unexpected position of the guns they encountered and by their increased range. Had the range been estimated the result might have been serious for the raiders. Thenceforward raiding airships tended to maintain a higher altitude when flying over England. The Zeppelin commanders also realised that the danger of being hit by gunfire was greater when acting in such close concert.

  TWO

  The German Naval Air Service developed plans to bomb the whole of England, and had divided the country into three areas for the purpose of issuing simple attack orders:

  England North – Edinburgh and secondarily the Tyne

  England Middle – Liverpool and secondarily the Humber

  England South – London and secondarily Great Yarmouth and Eastern Counties

  31 January/1 February 1916

  This raid had been planned as an attack against Midland towns. During its course, the German airships penetrated to the furthest westerly point yet reached by these raiders. It was the most ambitious effort by the German Naval Airship Division to date, as the entire available squadron of their new standardised naval Zeppelins were employed.

  The action was prefaced by attacks on the city of Paris by single military airships on 29/30 January and 30/31 January. German airships again crossed the trenches on the three following nights. After the first raid on Paris, the military airship LZ-79 was wrecked in Belgium on her way back.

  The events of 31 January/1 February 1916 provide an excellent lesson as to the difficulties of aerial navigation over England by night. There can be little doubt that each of the airships had definite instructions to find a particular target, and it seems equally certain that only three or four ever reached the vicinity of their prescribed objectives.

  Nine airships crossed the North Sea that day: L-11, L-13, L-14, L-15, L-16, L-17, L-19, L-20 and L-21. They left the north German sheds on the morning of 31 January, and appeared off our coast in successive groups, the first group of two ships (L-13 and L-21) arriving shortly before 4.50 p.m. off the Norfolk coast. All of the raiders were hampered in their navigation by the mist and fog that were prevalent along the East Anglian coast, where seven of them made landfall on that night, and subsequently they were often wildly inaccurate in identifying in their reports exactly where they had bombed.

  L-21, under Max Dietrich, and L-13 came in together north of Mundesley in Norfolk and passed over Hanworth shortly after 4.50 p.m., but thereafter L-21 showed a greater turn of speed than her consort which lagged behind. Traversing Norfolk, L-21 was over Narborough at 5.20 p.m. and King’s Lynn at 5.25 p.m. Passing over Sutton Bridge into Lincolnshire, L-21 proceeded past Nottingham to Derby and approached Wolverhampton at 7.45 p.m. She hovered over Netherton for three minutes and then went northwards to Dudley and Tipton where she dropped her first bombs at 8 p.m. An estimated three HE bombs were dropped on Waterloo Street and Union Street, some outbuildings in the rear of the houses were destroyed and one person was killed. In Union Street, two houses were demolished and others damaged, together with the gas main, while thirteen people were killed and ten injured. The canal bank was also damaged. The incendiary bombs fell in gardens and yards and failed to ignite.

  Going on from Tipton, the Zeppelin next dropped five HE bombs on the towpath of the canal at Lower Bradley, near Bilston, killing William Fellows and mortally wounded his partner Maud Fellows (they were a courting couple, not related); she died just over a week later at the Wolverhampton & Staffordshire General Hospital. Damage was also caused to a canal bank and the wall of a drainage pumping station. At Bloomfield three incendiary bombs were dropped on some brickworks; two failed to ignite and no harm was done.

  The Zeppelin then turned eastward to Wednesbury where, at 8.15 p.m., twenty-three HE bombs and eight incendiary bombs were dropped. In King Street, near the Crown Tube Works, three houses were destroyed and others damaged; thirteen people were killed. Three incendiary bombs landing on the roof of the Crown Tube Works killed one person, damaged the roof and shattered windows. The stable and outbuildings behind Hickman & Pullen’s Brewery were damaged. At Mesty Croft Goods Yard slight damage was done to railway wagons and buildings and one person was killed. Slight injury was also caused to the colliery at Old Park.

  Walsall was next to be visited. At 8.25 p.m. L-21 flew over the northern part of the town, from west to east, dropping seven HE and four incendiary bombs as she passed. The Wednesbury Road Congregational Church was badly damaged and Thomas Merrylees was killed by a piece of flying rubble as he was walking by. A hole was also blown in the wall of Elijah Jefferies & Sons Ltd. Many windows were broken by concussion. The incendiary bombs dropped in the road and did no damage.

  The last of the seven HE bombs landed in Bradford Place outside the Science and Art Institute, shattering some of the windows and showering a chemistry class in glass. Mr A.K. Stephens, who was sitting near one of the windows, was badly cut. In Bradford Place itself the blast killed two men and wrecked the public toilets, and shrapnel struck the passing No.16 tramcar, inflicting severe wounds to the chest and abdomen of Mrs Mary Julia Slater (55), the Mayoress of Walsall. She was removed to hospital where she died from shock and septicaemia on 20 February. A total of seven men and two more women were also injured. The full extent of the damage to buildings in Bradford Place could only be seen in all its horror with the coming of the morning light. A piece of shrapnel can still be seen embedded in the wall of one of the buildings of Bradford Place, and a blue plaque commemorates the death of the Lady Mayoress. There is also a tablet to her memory in the Council House. Walsall’s Cenotaph now stands on the spot where the bomb exploded.

  Leaving Walsall, L-21 made off eastward at high speed, passing Sutton Coldfield at 8.35 p.m., Nuneaton at 8.45 p.m., travelling near to Market Harborough and Kettering, and dropping six incendiary bombs on the Islip furnaces at Thrapston at 9.15 p.m. The glow of the furnaces no doubt attracted the Zeppelin, which now had nothing but incendiary bombs to throw. Luckily, no damage was done and the bombs fell in fields.

  Passing on her way with a very definite direction, L-21 went north of Huntingdon, was over Ely at 10 p.m., Thetford at 10.35 p.m. and traversed south Norfolk to the Suffolk coast, where she went out to sea between Pakefield and Kessingland at 11.35 p.m.

  L-13, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy, left L-21 at Foulsham and headed south-west to East Dereham at 5.15 p.m. where she altered course north-west and moved up over to the Wash, north of King’s Lynn. She crossed Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to south of Stoke-on-Trent, where she dropped six HE bombs on Fenton Colliery, which landed within a radius of 70 yards, two falling in a field, three on shraff heaps and a sixth on an ammonia tank, the top being merely lifted off by the explosion. A few windows were broken by concussion, but there were no casualties.

  L-13 passed towards Newcastle-under-Lyme, dropped a flare or illuminating bomb at Madeley at about 8.20 p.m., circled northward towards Alsager and round to Wolstanton, Basford and Stoke again at 8.50 p.m. After leaving Stoke she apparently lost her way, abandoning the direct course which would have brought her into the neighbourhood of Chester, and instead heading south-west along the Trent Valley, following it to Burton. Here at ab
out 9.15 p.m. she joined in a bombardment of the town which had begun at 8.45 p.m. by L-20, dropping an estimated fifteen HE bombs on the town. The number of bombs dropped by L-13 could not be accurately stated, as three Zeppelins bombed Burton that evening and it was never definitely established how many bombs were dropped by each. After an abortive attempt to find Manchester or Sheffield, the Zeppelin disappeared back over Lincolnshire to its base.

  L-15, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Joachim Breithaupt, was the third Zeppelin to make landfall on this night, crossing the coast at Mundesley in Norfolk at 5.50 p.m. Passing north of North Walsham, she headed south to pass near Swaffham and reached Mildenhall at 7.10 p.m. The Zeppelin then went to West Row Fen, where three HE and fifteen incendiary bombs were dropped at 7.15 p.m. Only three of the incendiary bombs ignited and no harm was done.

  L-15 seemed very uncertain of her whereabouts, circling for some time near Soham, then dropping a flare and, at about 7.35 p.m., she dropped twenty-two HE bombs on the open fen near Isleham. Only fifteen exploded, and resulted in a wrecked fowl house and sixteen dead chickens.

  Having fruitlessly ditched most of her bomb load, L-15 hung around the Norfolk and Lincolnshire border, and was seen south of Skegness about 10 p.m. She then turned south-west along the coast to Holland Fen, where an incendiary bomb was dropped at 10.30 p.m. She passed back over Norfolk, by Swaffham and Wymondham, turned east-north-east south of Norwich and reached the Yare valley at midnight. She finally went out to sea at Corton at 12.35 a.m.

  L-16, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Werner Peterson, had not enjoyed a good crossing having developed engine problems. She was left with just two reliable motors and was heavily loaded with snow and ice. Crossing the coast at 6.10 p.m. near Hunstanton, Peterson gave up on his attack on Liverpool as a target too far, and decided to bomb Great Yarmouth.

  Believing he was over the coastal town, Peterson reported that he had dropped his 2 tons of bombs from 7,000ft on ‘such factories as could be made out.’ He had, in fact, been flying over Norfolk and had dropped two HE bombs (one of which did not explode) near Swaffham, causing no damage. Wandering over south Norfolk for about two hours, L-16 found the River Waveney near Pulham and followed it to arrive in the vicinity of Bungay at 8.40 p.m. and went out to sea at Lowestoft at 9.05 p.m.

  L-14 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant der Reserve Alois Böcker and came in north of Holkham, Norfolk, about 6.15 p.m. She was over Downham Market at 6.20 p.m., followed by Sandringham at 6.35 p.m. and then pursued a direct south-west course to Wisbech at 7 p.m., where it dropped an incendiary bomb.

  Turning north-west at Thorney as far as Knipton, 8 miles south-west of Grantham, it dropped a single HE bomb to no effect.

  Travelling over Nottingham and Derby, she appeared at Shrewsbury at 10.05 p.m. This was the extreme western limit of the course of L-14. She then turned, passed south of Wrekin to Ironbridge, circled westward round Wellington, turned east to Oakengates and circled northwards by Gosnall, going directly eastward, south of Cannock, Lichfield and Tamworth. Around 11.35 p.m. she turned north and at 11.50 p.m., attracted by the light of some pipe furnaces at Ashby Woulds, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, dropped one HE and one incendiary bomb on a cinder heap near the furnaces, which did no damage.

  Postcard of an incendiary bomb recovered after the Zeppelin raid on Staffordshire, 31 January 1916, the proceeds of which were given to those who suffered as a result.

  Turning slightly westward at midnight she dropped four HE bombs at Overseal, three of which fell in a field and one in a canal causing no damage, then three further HE bombs were dropped on Swadlincote a few minutes later which broke a few windows.

  Ten minutes later, going due north, L-14 reached Derby and dropped twenty-one HE and four incendiary bombs on the town. Nine of these HE bombs were dropped on the Midland Railway Works damaging the engine shed, killing three men and injuring two. Three HE bombs were dropped on the Metalite Lamp Works, doing considerable damage but causing no casualties. At the Rolls-Royce works, two HE bombs fell on the motor track causing no harm beyond some broken glass. Two other bombs were dropped, and three in the yard of a lace factory, without effect. Four incendiary bombs landed in the street, one house was set on fire but there were no casualties.

  The airship passed on east, went south and east of Nottingham shortly after 12.30 a.m. and moved north-eastward near Newark and south of Lincoln. She circled for some time over the Wolds, passed Alford at 2.10 a.m. and proceeded out to sea.

  The crew of L-33 (many of whom had served in L-14 on the night in question) who were captured at Little Wigborough on 24 September 1916, maintained, under examination, that their Zeppelin had bombed Liverpool on 31 January, as was claimed in the German communiqué published after the raid. The steersman, however, after a prolonged cross-examination abandoned this claim and confessed he knew that they had not been to Liverpool. He claimed however, to have seen the lights of Manchester and Sheffield. But this course lay too far to the south for him to have been able to do this. The crew persisted in refusing to disbelieve the statement made by their commanding officer and the steersman.

  L-19, under Kapitänleutnant Odo Loewe, arrived at about 6.20 p.m. near Sheringham, Norfolk, and was observed at Holt at 6.25 p.m. going southwards. Sailing at a moderate rate, she was observed at Swaffham at 7.05 p.m. then up in the Midlands, passing Stamford in Lincolnshire at 8.10 p.m. and on to Exton. She traversed south near Stamford again, then westward once more past Oakham, on an uncertain course and with some circling, until she was in the neighbourhood of Loughborough shortly before 9.30 p.m.

  The commander of L-19 then seems to have made up his mind about his course, and made for Burton, attracted there no doubt by the fire caused by the two Zeppelins that had already bombed the town. At about 9.45 p.m. he seems to have added one or two incendiary bombs to the number already having been thrown on Burton since 8.30 p.m. He then turned south-west, passed near Wolverhampton and wandered over the district of Enville, Kinver, Wolverley, Bewdley, Bromsgrove, Redditch and Stourbridge, reaching Wythall at about 11 p.m.

  He appeared to be heading towards Birmingham but, as the city was in total blackout, he seems to have been attracted by the lights of Wednesbury. About midnight, a single HE bomb was dropped on the Monway Works at Wednesbury, doing slight damage to the roof and machinery of the axle department.

  L-19 then turned towards Dudley, dropping five HE bombs at Ocker Hill Colliery as it went, which broke the windows of the engine house and the dwelling house adjacent. Over Dudley, at about 12.15 a.m., seventeen incendiary bombs were released, all except one landing in fields and in the castle grounds. One fell into the grain shed at the railway station, causing about £5 worth of damage.

  Turning northward again, Tipton was bombed next at about 12.20 a.m., with eleven HE bombs landing in the western part of the town and the London & North-Western Railway station at Bloomfield. Either by this Zeppelin or L-21, which had raided four hours earlier, some damage was done to the permanent way of the railway, rails and sleepers being blown some distance away. A large number of windows were broken. L-19 then went on to Walsall where, at 12.25 a.m., three HE bombs were dropped. One landed in a church garden, while another killed a horse and several pigs.

  Her load of bombs being apparently expended, the Zeppelin made her way somewhat uncertainly back down towards the Norfolk coast, and was spotted a short distance from Martham at 5.25 a.m. It would appear that the flight of L-19 had been too protracted; the Zeppelin ran low on fuel and her engines were rendered partially useless. It was not until 3 p.m. that she reached the neighbourhood of Borkum, where she broke down entirely and drifted westward. At 7.30 a.m. on 2 February 1916, L-19 was sighted, waterlogged, in the North Sea, 95 miles north-east of Spurn. William Martin, skipper of the fishing trawler King Stephen, of Grimsby, was offered money by Kapitänleutnant Loewe to take him and his crew on board. He refused to do so, as he feared that the crew would overpower him and his crew and carry them off to Germany. He theref
ore returned to the Humber with his report of what he had encountered, but the Zeppelin sank with the loss of all hands before a Royal Navy vessel could get to them.

  The weather had been becoming worse, and the crew threw a bottle into the sea containing final messages from the aircrew to their families, and a final report by Loewe which clarifies what actually happened, rather than just the assumptions made in the intelligence report at the time. It translates as follows:

  Kapitänleutnant Odo Loewe, lost with his crew when L-19 sank in the North Sea, 2 February 1916.

  With fifteen men on the top platform and backbone girder of L-19, floating without gondolas in approximately 3 degrees east longitude, I am attempting to send a last report. Engine trouble three times repeated, a light wind on the return journey delayed our return and, in the mist, carried us over Holland where I was received with heavy rifle fire; the ship became heavy and simultaneously three engines broke down. 2 February 1916, towards one o’clock, will apparently be our last hour. – Loewe.

  The bottle and messages were only discovered six months later by Swedish fishermen at Marstrand.

  The L-19/King Stephen incident received international publicity. British opinion was divided: some, including the Bishop of London, publicly praised Martin for putting the safety of his crew first. Some newspapers promulgated ‘retribution’ for the ‘aerial baby killers.’ While, hardly surprisingly, in the German press Martin was vilified for leaving the airmen to die, as was the Bishop of London for his support for Martin’s actions.

  William Martin himself received many letters of both support and hate at his Grimsby home over the ensuing weeks and months. Being thrust into the media spotlight amid such international controversy undoubtedly took its toll upon him and, just over a year after the incident, he died of heart failure on 24 February 1917, aged 48.