Zeppelin Blitz

by Neil Storey

  L-11, under Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze, made landfall near Bacton shortly after 12.30 a.m. and went over Honing Hall, and shortly after emptied what was probably her entire cargo of bombs – nineteen HE and twenty-six incendiaries over Honing and Dilham. Only one of the HE did not explode, and the blasts from the others stripped many tiles from farm premises at Dairy House Farm and four nearby cottages, while another four cottages had numerous panes of glass broken. Mrs Fanny Gaze, a 79-year-old widow, who was living with her son at the farmhouse of Hall Farm near to where the bombs fell, died of shock.

  L-11 then turned east, passed Stalham at 1.05 a.m. and was sighted at Palling, heading out to sea at 1.18 a.m. where she turned north-west and skirted the coast as far as Bacton. At 1.25 a.m. she was fired on by the 3-pdr guns of the Eastern Mobile Section of The Royal Naval Air Service Anti-Aircraft Corps.

  L-11 then turned out across the sea and flew back to base, but not without injury. Independent observations claimed that the Zeppelin appeared to have been hit by one round, an achievement borne out in the statement of the prisoners of L-7, captured in the North Sea on 4 May, who confirmed that L-11 went home with one gas balloon collapsed, after it had been pierced by a shell.

  Aftermath

  The inquest into the death of Mrs Fanny Gaze was held on Wednesday 26 April 1915, before the Norwich District Coroner, Mr H. Culley. Her son, William Bowyer Gaze, with whom she was living, confirmed that she had previously enjoyed fairly good health, though she had suffered with rheumatism ‘but was able to get about.’ She had retired to bed about 10 p.m.

  William Gaze stated that they had been awakened between 1 and 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning by ‘… terrific explosions. Four within the period of a minute.’ He went outside, and saw a Zeppelin. Not more than five minutes elapsed between the time he first heard the explosions and his seeing the aircraft. The bombs had dropped in a field about a quarter to half a mile from the house. On returning indoors, he went to check on his mother and found her in a state of collapse and unconscious. He called up their servants to help him, but Mrs Gaze did not revive. He then ran to get help. Seeing Robert Earle, the gamekeeper, he sent him to summon the district nurse but, by the time she arrived, Mrs Gaze was already dead.

  The findings of the inquest were recorded on her death certificate – ‘Heart Failure from shock endured by the terrifying effect of explosions produced by bombs unlawfully dropped from a Zeppelin aircraft.’

  A personal memoir of this Zeppelin raid was written by Edith Everitt Owen (1873–1946) who, at the time, was living with her sister, Alice, and their widowed father, the Reverend Canon John Smith Owen, at Witton Vicarage:

  April 24th 1916, Easter Bank Holiday

  The night was dark but starlit with a strongish westerly breeze which had been more evident during the day. Father retired as usual about 10 o’clock and Alice soon after but returned to tell me that the aerodrome was illuminated and the search lights were being used. On going into the garden I heard one of our biplanes but though I could trace his course by the whine of the engine I could not see the machine. I came indoors about 11 p.m. and went upstairs soon after. When I heard a shell explosion which I put down (rightly as we afterwards heard) to our airman letting off his red flare to show he was descending. The subsequent intermittent purring of his engine told me he was landing. I would have dropped off to sleep but was awakened at 11.45 by a deafening report, quickly followed by several others, all sounding very near.

  The household was active by this time, the maids in the kitchen and Alden, Alice and myself in hastily dressed clothes in father’s room. Bombs fell at greater intervals and apparently at a greater distance and finally ceased altogether the last one sounding a long way off. Of us all Father took it all in, I think, with the greatest composure but the noise of the explosion of the bombs was ear splitting and the whole place shook and the windows rattled so that we expected every moment to hear the crack of shattered glass. Going out into the garden I saw the beam of the search light still lighting the sky but the raider had apparently made off and presently the search light went out and we agreed to go to bed again though some determined to keep some of their clothes on. Personally I undressed and consequently had the trouble of searching for raiment in the dark again when a second Zeppelin began dropping bombs about a quarter of an hour afterwards. Three fell in quick succession, the flashes of the explosions lighting up the entrance of the hall through the skylight and roar of the exploding bombs telling of their proximity. This time father, somewhat reluctantly, consented to get up and dress and we all retired to the cellars where we drank hot coffee and sat on uncomfortable chairs. All the time bombs were dropping at frequent intervals but seemingly further away. After a lull we decided that the dining room was preferable to the cellars and we accordingly adjourned thither and the maids going into the kitchen. Someone remarked that the wind was rising and we listened, I going to the front door. It was no rising of the wind but a third Zeppelin for as I stepped out there was a flash and a fearful bang. I turned to go indoors and as I did so flash after flash lit the garden tree tops and several bombs (five in reality) dropped a distance of 200 to 300 yards away their reports succeeding one another so rapidly as to merge into one stupefying roar. The mighty ‘swish’ that the five made, falling in such rapid succession, was distinctly audible, we sat up in the dining room until 2.45 when everything being quiet we all turned in, the sun having risen by that time.

  I must have slept for over an hour when the shaking of the windows awoke me again. It was daylight, the sun was rising – a glorious morning. I lay and listened. A distant deep throated growl followed at an interval of a few seconds, by a rattling crash that made the house quiver awakened father’s inquiry, from the next room, as to whether the Zeppelin had returned, but eventually suggested a naval bombardment, probably Yarmouth. For about 20 minutes we lay listening to the reports of the guns and the crash of the exploding shells as they fell (as we afterwards learnt) on Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

  The sun was nearly above the horizon and between the distant muttering of the guns and the succeeding explosions I more than once (and father also) heard the cry of an imperturbable cuckoo for the first time this year. The firing gradually lessened, grew more distant, faded to mutterings and ceased. We went to sleep.

  To describe one’s feelings during the actual bomb dropping is almost impossible. Fear was there without a doubt but no unreasoning panic. Anger at our utter helplessness coupled with the desire to keep a ‘stiff upper lip’ as a help to each other predominated I think. It was perhaps curious but easily to be understood that we gave little thought to anyone outside our immediate neighbourhood where we afterwards found that people living some little distance from us outside the range of the bombs were almost, if not quite, as disturbed as we were and told us that they thought the bombs dropped were surely meant for them. But some of them have heard them really close. Let’s hope they weren’t.

  The damage done was mercifully small. One bomb dropped in Mrs Cozen’s garden, breaking the palings and glass in her house and the adjoining one (Mrs Baine’s). The five bombs above referred to dropped in Brady’s field between us and Bacton making holes 10–12ft across and 5–6ft deep. Mrs Randall Cubitt’s house had all windows broken and doors wrenched off. She, bare footed as she was, carried her baby to Ridlington vicarage. The bomb that wrecked her house dropped within 20 yards of her door, close by the wall of a barn, carrying away a large piece of the wall but injuring none of the 6 horses in it. The south windows of Ridlington Church were all broken and the lock at the south door freed. One old lady in Honing died of shock. Mrs Cubitt of the Grange, Bacton, aged 93, slept soundly though it all. Forty-three bombs dropped within a radius of 4 miles from us some of them fell on the shore but failed to explode.

  25/26 April 1916

  Five army airships set out to raid England on 25 April 1916; one of them turned back before it reached the coast.

  LZ-87, probably commanded by Oberleutna
nt zur See Barth, was reported off the Downs at 9.50 p.m. At 9.55 p.m. she dropped eight HE bombs round the steamer Argus in Deal harbour, without doing any damage. She was next sighted from Walmer, and on being fired at by AA guns there, turned seawards. She afterwards passed north along the coastline and was off Ramsgate at 10.24 p.m. She then appears to have turned eastward and to have returned to Belgium.

  The second airship, most probably to be identified as LZ-97, commanded by Hauptmann Linnarz, reached the coast near West Mersea at 10 p.m. and flew across Essex, following the course of the River Roding and dropping forty-seven incendiary bombs in a line between Fyfield and Ongar at about 10.50 p.m. The only damage caused was a partially destroyed shed in Ongar.

  She continued to follow the course of the River Roding, past Stapleford Abbots, and went on south-west over the gun at Dog Kennel Hill, which opened fire at 11.08 p.m., and on to Barkingside. There, between 11.10 p.m. and 11.15 p.m. the airship dropped twelve HE bombs along a line curving from south-west to south-east between Forest Farm and Aldborough, west of Hainault Farm Aerodrome.

  Four bombs fell at Forest Farm doing slight damage, one at Fairlop Station and one in the roadway at Fairlop, damaging several cottages. One then landed in a field at Monk’s Well, one at Barkingside Station Bridge and one in a field east of the station. No damage was done at Barkingside. Three fell near Aldborough, one in a well, which was blown to pieces, and two, one of which did not explode, in a field.

  At Aldborough the airship turned south, and dropped a thirteenth HE bomb at Newbury Park, which did no damage. The airship, which was then under heavy gunfire, next turned sharply south-west towards Ilford but, when over Seven Kings, finding the gunfire increasing in accuracy and being simultaneously attacked by aeroplanes, she turned about abruptly and made off to the north-east, dropping two HE bombs which fell between Goodmayes and Chadwell Heath. One, which dropped in a field, did no damage save the breaking of some windows, but the other fell on a house and destroyed it. The occupants were luckily absent and there were no casualties, either there or at Barkingside.

  The airship was then seen going off as fast as possible past Romford, along the parallel lines of road and railway, but soon had to twist about in her course in order to avoid the searchlights turned on her from the London defences, and the guns at Brentwood, Kelvedon Hatch and Billericay, of which the airship had to run the gauntlet on her retreat. Around 11.35 p.m. she passed near the Brentwood gun and approached Billericay about 11.45 p.m. Headed off by the searchlights and gunfire to the southward, she now finally made off north-east.

  A considerable amount of damage was caused by fragments of AA shell. Sixteen houses at Ilford, Seven Kings, Barking, East Ham and Wanstead were slightly damaged in this way, by the fire of friendly guns, and one man at Ilford was injured by a fall of debris caused by an unexploded shell which fell on the roof of his house. This was the only casualty, directly or indirectly, caused by the raid.

  A number of pilots also contributed to the departure of the airship. Eight pilots rose, three from Hounslow, three from Sutton’s Farm and two from Hainault Farm. Lieutenant Robinson, from Sutton’s Farm, engaged the airship with machine gun when she was over Seven Kings but Robinson, flying at 8,000ft, was still some 2,000ft below her and his fire did not prove effective. Captain Harris from Hounslow also got within 2,000ft of the airship, the height of which he estimated at well over 15,000ft, but his Lewis gun jammed and his own aircraft was hit by machine gun fire and shrapnel bullets. The airship then eluded the searchlights and disappeared eastwards.

  In her retreat she passed north of Chelmsford at 11.55 p.m., over Maldon at 12.04 a.m., Tollesbury at 12.15 a.m. and Brightlingsea at 12.25 a.m. She went out over Clacton at 12.34 a.m. and was last heard going along the coast off Harwich at about 12.45 a.m.

  LZ-93 was first reported at the mouth of the Orwell at 10.30 p.m., approaching from the direction of the Cork lightship. She passed over Landguard Fort, dropping two water flares in the sea before coming overland, one HE bomb landed on the common north of the Fort, to no effect, and three incendiary bombs fell in the mud on the other side of the spit.

  A Zeppelin caught in the searchlights, with anti-aircraft fire bursting around it.

  The airship went across to Harwich, where she dropped two HE bombs close to Government House, neither of which exploded. She then made for Shotley, where three HE and four incendiary bombs were dropped in and around the Royal Naval Training Barracks, none doing any damage beyond the breaking of a little glass, even though one of the incendiary bombs fell between two dormitories. A fifth incendiary bomb was dropped in the mud west of the barracks.

  The airship turned south over the River Stour, appearing over Parkstone Quay, where a single HE bomb was dropped on reclaimed land between the station and the village. It was probably a large and heavy bomb of the 240lb type and it sank through the soil to the mud beneath, where it could not be found, even at a depth of 20ft. The airship then passed again over Harwich and Landguard, dropping four water flares in the harbour west of the fort. The airship was fired at by the AA guns of the garrison, without effect.

  The airship went out to sea about 10.45 p.m., in the direction of the Sunk lightship, near which she dropped an uncertain number of HE bombs, before finally departing.

  LZ-88 approached from off Herne Bay at about 12.20 a.m. and came in near Whitstable about 12.30 a.m. From Whitstable, she went south-east to Sturry. She had stopped her engines at 12.45 a.m. and was drifting.

  At 1 a.m. she turned south-west, went over Canterbury at 1.05 a.m. and circled round to the south-east and north-east, passing over Bridge to Wingham, where she was spotted at 1.15 a.m. She then turned north and, at 1.20 a.m., dropped nine incendiary bombs in a straight line parallel to and 500ft west of the main road north and south of Preston. They merely burnt some turf.

  Further on, thirteen incendiary bombs, two of which did not ignite, were dropped at Sarre and Chislet Marshes at about 1.25 a.m. with no results, and then at 1.30 a.m. an HE bomb was dropped at St Nicholas-at-Wade, falling into the vicarage gardens, and uprooting two trees that fell against the house breaking several windows.

  The airship then proceeded to Birchington, and dropped four HE bombs in fields between St Nicholas and Shuart Farm and another north of the farm, followed by four more in the marshes, all doing no damage. Two incendiary bombs were thrown, one near the railway line and the other on the sea wall at Minnis Bay, also doing no damage. The airship then went out to sea at 1.35 a.m., going north-east, and dropped three HE bombs in the bay as she went. No casualties occurred during the raid.

  26/27 April 1916

  LZ-93 (or LZ-95) was sighted off Nieuport at 9.05 p.m., going along the coast towards Calais. She was fired at from La Panne, passed Dunkirk and was 5 miles north of Calais at 9.25 p.m. She then approached the Kent coast, and at about 10.30 p.m. came inland over Kingsdown after having dropped three HE bombs in the sea off Deal, where she was heavily fired on.

  The airship then passed north-east inland, at a distance of 2 miles from the coast, went over Sandwich at about 10.40 p.m. and then over Minster and Westgate, where she was bombarded by two AA guns about 10.48 p.m. and was reported to have been hit. The noise of traffic in Margate and passing trains at this point, is said to have made the locating of the airship difficult.

  The airship then turned east over Margate at 10.50 p.m. and went out to sea in the direction of the Tongue lightship, from which she was reported at 11.05 p.m. as going east with an unusual noise of engines as if damaged. No bombs were dropped on land, and no damage or casualties resulted.

  2/3 May 1916

  Eight Zeppelins left their sheds on 2 May 1916, with Rosyth and the Forth Bridge as their main objective. When they were approximately 100 miles off the Firth of Forth they encountered adverse winds and, with the exception of L-14 and L-20, they turned off to attack alternative objectives in the Midlands.

  LZ-98, an army airship under Kapitänleutnant Lehmann, seems to have hovered
off the coast of Lincolnshire for an hour and a half without ever coming over the land. She approached the Humber and passed Spurn at about 7.55 p.m., and was engaged by the gun as she passed, without result. On being fired at she turned south, passing near Donna Nook, and then headed south-east discharging water ballast freely in order to rise out of range. The gun was in action for ten minutes. After lingering off the Spurn from 7.50 p.m. to 8.15 p.m., and having verified her position, she made off direct across the North Sea back to her north German shed.

  L-23, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto von Schubert, appeared at Robin Hood’s Bay at about 9.15 p.m. She passed directly inland past Goathland and over the moors as far as Danby High Moor, where at about 9.40 p.m. she dropped a single incendiary bomb near Danbury Head, which set fire to a large expanse of heather.

  She then turned northward, and was heard shortly afterwards at Castleton, appearing over Skinningrove at 10.05 p.m. and dropping seven HE and four incendiary bombs there. A storehouse in the ironworks was partly wrecked and set on fire. No lights were shown at the works, and all outside work that would occasion lights had been suspended. When bombs began to drop, the searchlight on Huntcliffe located the airship, on which fire was at once opened by the 6in gun at Brotton. She was believed by some observers to have been hit.

  She passed on her course along the coast eastwards, dropping six incendiary bombs at Easington at 10.10 p.m., one of which damaged a dwelling house and injured a child. At about 10.25 p.m. she appeared at Whitby, where she looked to be damaged; the sound indicated that all her propellers were not working. She then left the coast, and was last seen dropping flares over the sea in the direction of Scarborough at 10.35 p.m.