Zeppelin Blitz

by Neil Storey

  The following list is based on information kindly supplied by The Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

  Cleethorpes Cemetery:

  Private Wilfred Ernest Ball, 30358, 1 April 1916.

  Private Joseph Beardsley, 32238, Died of Wounds 3 April 1916.

  Private Louis Archie Beaumont, 34637, 1 April 1916. Age 34. Son of Harry B. Beaumont. Born at Oldham.

  Private Samuel Bell, 9779, 1 April 1916. Age 28. Son of Joseph and Hannah Bell of Street Bridge, Chadderton; husband of Sarah Jane Bell of 45 Park Avenue, Broad Way, Chadderton, Oldham.

  Private William Robert Bodsworth, 2425, Died of Wounds 4 April 1916.

  Private William Henry Brown, 34621, 1 April 1916. Age 19. Son of Emily Schofield (formerly Brown) of 20 Elder Grove, Northfield Road, New Moston, Failsworth, Manchester, and the late William Milner Brown.

  Private Ernest Budding, 34619, 1 April 1916. Age 19. Son of the late William and Mary Ann Budding, born at Hollinwood, Oldham.

  Private Jospeh Chandler, 32997, 1 April 1916.

  Private Job Clowes, 34618, 1 April 1916. Age 19.

  Private Harry Cuthbert, 34633, 1 April 1916.

  Private Frederick Dimelow, 30241, 1 April 1916.

  Private Thomas Diviney, 30401, 1 April 1916. Age 37. Son of Patrick and Catherine Diveney.

  Private Albert Edward Downs, 32215, 1 April 1916. Age 20. Son of the late Albert Edward and Hannah Maria Downs of Haughton Green, Denton, Manchester.

  Private Robert Fox, 34620, 1 April 1916.

  Private William Francis, 32034, 1 April 1916. Age 19. Son of Joseph and Mary Ellen Francis of 35, Worsley Street, Hulme, Manchester.

  Private Thomas Hannon, 32263, 1 April 1916.

  Lance Corporal Alfred Haynes, 32323, 1 April 1916.

  Private William Hetherington, 30126, 1 April 1916.

  Private Tom Pierce, 322781 April 1916. Age 35. Son of Mr and Mrs Hartley Pierce of 31 Mawson Street, Ardwick, Manchester; husband of Mary Ann Pierce of 22 Durham Place, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester.

  Private Henry Ramsden, 27902, 1 April 1916.

  Private James Russell, 30179, 1 April 1916. Age 21. Son of John and Maria Russell of 13 Keats Street, Collyhurst Road, Manchester.

  Private Thomas, Tomkinson, 32275, 1 April 1916.

  Private John Wheeler, 27591, 1 April 1916.

  Private William Wild, 34639, 1 April 1916. Son of Mrs. Mary Hannah Wild of 38 Burnley Lane, Oldham.

  Private Robert Wood, 27537, 1 April 1916. Age 32. Son of John Wood of Royton, Oldham; husband of Mary Elizabeth Wood, of Devon Street, Oldham.

  A large stone memorial with three panels of York Stone bearing the names of all thirty-one men who died in the zeppelin raid was erected in Cleethorpes Cemetery and unveiled on 9 March 1918.

  Six casualties were also buried, by family request, at:

  Oldham (Greenacres) Cemetery, Lancashire:

  Private Thomas Brierley, 30117, 1 April 1916. Age 24. Son of the late John James and Elizabeth Brierley; husband of Annie Power (formerly Brierley) of 35 Middleton Road, Oldham. Grave Ref. L9. CE. 169.

  Tonge (St Michael) Churchyard, Lancashire:

  Private Frank Chandler, 2914, 1 April 1916. Grave Ref. Lower ground. M. 381.

  Oldham (Hollinwood) Cemetery, Lancashire:

  Private John Henry Corfield, 34625, 1 April 1916. Age 19. Son of Edward and Elizabeth Corfield of 73 Hawksley Street, Hollinwood, Oldham.

  Ashton-Under-Lyne (Hurst) Cemetery, Lancashire:

  Private Percy Harrison, 33107, 1 April 1916. Age 21. Son of William and Mary Ann Harrison of Hurst. Grave Ref. M. 324.

  Stalybridge (St Paul) Churchyard, Cheshire:

  Private Joseph Radford, 27724, 1 April 1916. Age 19. Son of George and Matilda Radford of Manor House, Grosvenor Street, Stalybridge. Grave Ref. Spec. Memorial.

  Ashton-Under-Lyne (St Michael) Churchyard Extension, Lancashire:

  Lance Corporal Jack Swift, 33055, 1 April 1916. He was cremated and is commemorated on the Screen Wall.

  1/2 April 1916

  At noon on 1 April, Zeppelins L-11 and L-17 set out under orders to raid London. On the way, the winds proved so unfavourable that Zeppelin commanders received instructions by wireless to bomb the Midlands or north of England instead. On the evening of Saturday 1 April 1916, two ‘hostiles’ were reported heading for the Yorkshire coast.

  L-11, commanded by Korvettenkapitän Victor Schütze, arrived over Seaham at 11.05 p.m. At 11.10 p.m. she passed over Eppleton Colliery, where the first of two HE bombs were dropped on colliery refuse heaps, to no effect. At 11.12 p.m. the Zeppelin was over Hetton Downs, where two more HE bombs were dropped, breaking the windows of three houses and destroying several wooden outhouses.

  She now turned due north, passing over Houghton-le-Spring, and when she arrived over Philadelphia at 11.15 p.m. she dropped two HE bombs, the blast from which smashed the glass in thirty-five houses but caused no other disruption. Still keeping on her course due north, she reached the River Wear and followed it to Sunderland where, at 11.20 p.m., she dropped fourteen HE and seven incendiary bombs. Considerable damage was caused. Four shops and fifteen dwelling houses were entirely destroyed and many partially destroyed. A workman’s hall was partly demolished, and three stables destroyed. A railway goods yard was damaged, a tramcar was wrecked in a shed and one small fire broke out. The casualties amounted to twenty-two people killed, twenty-five seriously injured (including two soldiers) and 103 very slightly injured.

  The Zeppelin was picked up by the Hylton searchlight, and engaged by a 6in AA gun at Fulwell Quarry, Sunderland, which fired one round of common shell. The Zeppelin then evaded the light and the gun did not fire again.

  Leaving Sunderland, L-11 went out to sea, following the coast southwards, and passed over the mouth of the River Tees near Grantham at 12.05 a.m. She then went over Port Clarence five minutes later, where she dropped an HE Bomb which fell on a heap of steel billets at Messrs Sell’s works, doing no damage. Crossing the river, she dropped two HE bombs in the mud. At Middlesbrough, three minutes later, two HE bombs were dropped on vacant land adjoining the Cargo Fleet Steelworks. Windows were broken in a large number of houses in the vicinity and a hotel in Middlesbrough had all its windows blown in. Two men were injured.

  L-11 followed the railway to Eston Nab, departing for Saltburn at 12.25 a.m. and circling there. Flying low again she followed the railway line past Brotton, and on to Skinningrove, dropping two HE bombs on a grass field at Cattesty Farm, 250 yards from the Skinningrove slag tips. No damage was done. At 12.30 a.m. the Zeppelin passed out to sea over Skinningrove.

  L-17, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Herbert Ehrlich, was east of Flamborough Head at about 9 p.m. but did not come inland. Instead, she wandered along the coast for about an hour, emptying her bombs into the sea and finally turning back. Seventeen explosions were heard at about 9.23 p.m. from Tunstall, East Riding, and the last ‘sounds of aircraft’ reported at 10.20 p.m. off Hornsea.

  2/3 April 1916

  Four Zeppelins rose under orders to bomb the Firth of Forth on 2 April, most especially the naval base at Rosyth and the Forth Bridge, while two military airships set off with the objective of bombing London.

  L-13, under Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy, developed engine trouble shortly after departure and had to turn back.

  British propaganda poster produced in 1916 in the wake of mounting casualties suffered during Zeppelin air raids.

  L-22, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Martin Dietrich, was claimed to have been heard off Bamburgh at 8 p.m. but only crossed the coast just north of Berwick-upon-Tweed at about 9 p.m. Nine HE and five incendiary bombs were dropped near Lamberton Farm, nearly 3 miles north of Berwick. The Zeppelin then proceeded some 6 miles inland as far as Chirnside, where two HE and four incendiary bombs were dropped at about 9.15 p.m. Three more HE and five incendiary bombs were also dropped in an open field at East Blanerne Farm. No harm was done by any of the bombs.

  The Zeppelin then turned east, fo
llowing the River Whiteadder, dropped a flare over Clarabad Mill and passed out to sea south of Lamberton at about 9.45 p.m. She dropped five more HE bombs in the sea, presumably at a ship. She next steered northwards past St Abb’s Head, and came inland again over North Berwick at about 10.30 p.m. She then went north-west along the coast, past Dirleton where an incendiary bomb was dropped on the links near Archerfield House, and on to Gullane and Aberlady.

  She flew across Portobello Bay, passing Tranent at 10.50 p.m., to Leith, and appeared over Edinburgh while L-14 was bombing the city, but at a much greater height during this attack, in which she took no part. She finally passed slowly round the south of the city from west to east and dropped three HE bombs in succession, the first two falling in the parish of Colinton – one at 11.50 p.m. at Slateford, the second at 12.15 a.m. at Comiston – and the third at 12.20 a.m. at Bridgend, near Craigmillar, in the parish of Liberton. No harm was done by these bombs beyond broken windows. The Zeppelin was going very slowly in contrast with L-14, which was circling the city at higher speed.

  At around 12.30 a.m. L-14 was seen leaving Edinburgh eastward, and L-22 must have passed over her, probably north of Craigmillar Junction. At about 12.40 a.m., L-22 went out to sea near Portobello and flew away down the Firth of Forth.

  L-14 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant der Reserve Alois Böcker and was first sighted off St Abb’s Head at about 9.30 p.m. She appears to have followed the coast as far as Dunbar and then to have passed north across the Firth of Forth. She picked up her bearings by means of the Isle of May, where she was spotted turning west. After making Elie, on the north shore of the Forth, at about 11.05 p.m., she headed south-west and, after passing over Inchkeith, came in over Leith at 11.30 p.m.

  L-14 attacked the docks at once, dropping her first HE bomb in the Edinburgh Dock, sinking two small boats and breaking the skylights of a couple of Danish steamers. The second and third bombs were incendiaries and they fell on the Albert Dock warehouse, damaging it considerably. The fourth bomb was another HE, which fell on the roof of a grain warehouse, and the fifth, also HE, fell on the edge of the harbour quay breaking the quay wall. The sixth, another HE bomb, fell on Commercial Street, destroying a building and killing a man who was sleeping in it.

  The next four bombs were incendiaries landing on Commercial Street and Sandport Street. One fell through a roof into a room at 14 Commercial Street, which was occupied by an old woman. It fell through her floor into the room underneath, where it burst into flames. The old woman calmly got out of bed, poured water through the hole made by the bomb and extinguished the fire. The eleventh bomb was HE, and did serious damage after it fell on the roof of Messrs Innes & Grieve’s whisky bond warehouse, destroying it and with it the whole of the stock of whisky in bond, causing £44,000 worth of damage. The premises, like several others in Edinburgh at the time, were unfortunately not insured against damage from aircraft.

  The twelfth and thirteenth incendiary bombs fell through the roofs of two houses, the second being the manse of St Thomas’s Kirk. Both houses were set on fire and the manse practically destroyed. Those inside had a miraculous escape; eleven people were in the first house and three in the manse. The next three bombs were all incendiaries and the seventeenth, an HE, did no harm. The eighteenth, another HE, fell in a court off Bonnington Road and killed a child. The nineteenth HE bomb fell on the railway line close to Bonnington Tannery and did not explode. The twentieth, again HE, fell through the roof of the tannery and damaged it considerably.

  The course of the Zeppelin from the docks had accurately followed the course of the Water of Leith, which was evidently visible to her steersman, Jensen.

  L-14 came over Edinburgh and dropped her first HE bomb on the city at 11.50 p.m. It landed in a vacant piece of ground at Bellvue Terrace and windows were broken in the adjoining streets. The second bomb, an incendiary, landed on the roadway at the Mound. The third bomb, an HE, fell into the grounds of George Watson’s College, 150 yards due south of Lauriston Place. No damage was done, and there were no casualties.

  An incendiary bomb fell harmlessly in the meadows south of the college, and at 11.55 p.m. the sixth bomb, an HE, fell on tenement houses in Marchmont Crescent, going through one house to the basement but injuring nobody. The Zeppelin then circled to the east and dropped an HE bomb on a tenement on Causewayside, wrecking the building and injuring six people therein. At the same moment an incendiary bomb fell harmlessly in a garden at Blacket Place, followed by another that did no damage in a garden at Hatton Place. The Zeppelin had, by then, turned north-west and was making for the centre of the city again.

  The tenth bomb was an incendiary which fell on the grounds of the Royal Infirmary. It was followed by an HE, which fell on the pavement in the Grassmarket immediately in front of the White Hart Hotel, injuring four people, one of whom subsequently died. Another HE bomb fell on the south-west corner of the Castle Rock, followed by another, which badly damaged the County Hotel in Lothian Road and slightly damaged the Prince’s Street terminus of the Caledonian Railway, injuring one person.

  The Zeppelin then circled to the west, passed over Haymarket Station and dropped a group of three HE bombs as she was passing round north-eastward over the Water of Leith, near the Mill Lade and Donaldson’s Hospital School. They did no damage, beyond breaking glass and damaging the embankment, but the next group of bombs proved more destructive.

  The Zeppelin again passed over the centre of the city, going from west to east and dropped her seventeenth bomb, an HE, on the pavement in Marshall Street, a working-class quarter. A house was destroyed, six people were killed and seven injured. The eighteenth bomb, also HE, now fell on a spirit store in Haddon’s Court, Nicholson Street, wrecking it and injuring three people. The nineteenth bomb fell on St Leonard’s Hill, wrecking a tenement, killing a child and injuring two people.

  It was now 12.15 a.m. and the Zeppelin was passing off eastward over the southern slopes of Arthur’s Seat, from which she was being fruitlessly fired at by machine guns. As she went, she dropped three bombs in answer, in the southern portion of the King’s Park, which were harmless, apart from breaking the glass in one building and throwing down part of a boundary wall. The last bomb, an incendiary, fell on the grounds of Prestonfield House, doing no damage.

  L-14 then flew eastwards, passing Tranent at 12.40 a.m., Haddington at 12.45 a.m., moving south of Dunbar, and then north-east of Innerwick at 12.55 a.m. and finally out to sea at Cockburnspath about 1 a.m.

  The steersman of L-14, captured with his commander when L-33 came down at Little Wigborough on 24 September 1916, admitted under examination that he had known perfectly well where he was, as the configuration of the Firth of Forth was unmistakable, and confessed that, since it was evident that Edinburgh was unprotected by guns he had purposely brought the Zeppelin down to a height of 700m (2,200ft) in order to make the bombardment effective and be certain of results. He said that he had tried to find Rosyth but, failing to make the dockyard, had steered for Edinburgh.

  It was impossible to acquit the commander and his steersman of having, on purpose, avoided the more dangerous task of bombing the military objective Rosyth, in order, as at Hull, to terrorise and damage an unfortified city with no possibility of danger to themselves or their ship. Kapitänleutnant Böcker, who in civilian life was an officer of the Hamburg–American line, had been to Edinburgh in peace time as a ship’s captain, and so knew the appearance of the coast and the position of Edinburgh in regard to Leith. The ordinary members of the crew seem to have been under the impression that they had attacked Rosyth.

  L-16, under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Werner Peterson, made the coast of Northumberland between Creswell and Druridge at 11 p.m. L-16 then steered south-west, crossing the River Wansbeck north-west of Guide Post. The North Eastern Railway main line was picked up south of Morpeth and followed very slowly in a south-east direction as far as Plessey Station. The Gosforth and Bedlington colliery searchlights from Newcastle were then turne
d on, which seemed to disconcert the raider for she turned south-west.

  The attention of the Zeppelin was attracted by the flares of the aircraft landing station at High West Houses, near Ponteland, which may have been mistaken for the lights of Newcastle (Elswick). Twelve HE and eleven incendiary bombs were then dropped in that area at 11.35 p.m., doing no damage.

  The Zeppelin circled and made for the north-west, directly onto the flares of the aerodrome at Cramlington where, at 11.50 p.m., five more HE and six incendiary bombs were dropped. The only damage was a little burnt woodwork. She then steered north-west along the railway to the vicinity of Morpeth, and afterwards north-east to the neighbourhood of Broomhill Colliery where, at 12.15 a.m., more HE bombs were dropped in the open fields, three on Hadston and four on Togston Barns Farm. L-16 passed out to sea at the mouth of the River Amble at 12.20 a.m.

  LZ-90, commanded by Oberleutnant Lehmann, was reported by the Kentish Knock light vessel as approaching east-north-east. The airship made the coast at the mouth of the River Colne at 10.40 p.m. and Tiptree at 11 p.m., striking the Great Eastern Railway at Witham a few minutes later and then steering south-west towards London.

  At Great Baddow she was fired on by an 18-pdr of the Kirkcudbrightshire Territorial Artillery and bore off to the north-west, before resuming her course towards London. Passing between Blackmore and Ingatestone at 11.30 p.m., and on approaching Kelvedon Hatch at about 11.35 p.m., she was engaged by a pom-pom. Seventy-five rounds were fired, and the bursts of three shells were said to have been observed. It is doubtful whether the airship was hit.

  She passed over Stanford Rivers at 11.40 p.m. holding course for the factories at Waltham and Enfield. She was now slowing down. At 11.50 p.m. she was passing Epping and Theydon Bois when she was picked up by the Chingford searchlight. Other lights now caught her, and at 11.54 p.m. she was heavily engaged by the guns of the Waltham Abbey Control. She immediately replied by dropping bombs as she approached the Woodridden Farm and Windmill Mill near Waltham Abbey. Four houses were slightly damaged.