Zeppelin Blitz

by Neil Storey

  One 100kg, which failed to explode, and one 50kg bomb then fell at Mucklow Hill, north-east of Halesowen, followed by five incendiaries which fell between The Leasowes and Frankley, and four, which did not ignite, at Bartley Green. None of these bombs did any damage.

  Seven HE bombs fell at Longbridge, five of them (two 100kg and three 50kg) near the Austin Motor Works, which were fully lit up as they had not received warning of the raid until the moment at which the bombs were dropped. Of the five bombs, one 100kg and two 50kg did not explode. The two others did slight damage (estimated at £500) to the boiler house, aeroplane shop and engine shelter. One man was slightly injured. The bombs at Longbridge were of 50kg weight and fell on a farm, doing no damage.

  Finally, a 50kg bomb fell at 11 p.m. at Rednal, Cofton Hackett, to no effect. The Zeppelin then went over Redditch, which had received warning of the raid at 10.58 p.m. After leaving Redditch, the Zeppelin disappeared and was not observed again in the district south of Northampton. She reappeared near Towcester at Field Burcote, where at 11.50 p.m. she dropped two 100kg bombs, neither of which exploded.

  At midnight she passed Easton Thorpe near Wolverton, and at 12.21 a.m. was south of Hitchin, passing Standon at 12.35 a.m., Rochford at 1.05 a.m. and heading out over the estuary at Shoeburyness five minutes later. At 1.25 a.m. she came over the Kentish coast at Whitstable, at 1.35 a.m. was at Betteshanger, west of Deal, and went out to sea at Kingsdown at 1.40 a.m.

  L-44, under Kapitänleutnant Franz Stabbert, entered the Wash and turned north over Frampton Marshes at 7.30 p.m. At 7.45 p.m. she turned west near Old Leake, and then went south-west passing west of Boston, and at 7.53 p.m. was heard at Kirton, south of Boston. She then followed the Great Northern Railway line southward, passed Spalding at 8 p.m. and, after hesitating for some time, was immediately west of Peterborough at 8.30 p.m.

  She headed directly southwards to Bedford and, at 9.08 p.m. dropped ten 50kg bombs in a line between Elstow and Kempston, passing over the crossing of the Midland main line and the Cambridge branch of the London & North Western Railway, narrowly missing a large ammunition dump placed between the two lines.

  The Zeppelin was right over the ammunition dump, and bombs fell within 150 yards on either side of it. Two of them failed to explode. The glass roof of an engineering works close by was smashed by concussion, and two men were injured. The works were fully lit up, and so was a military training school close by, no warning having been given of the raid. The warning was not received until 9.15 p.m. when the Zeppelin had dropped her bombs and was already at Newport Pagnell.

  Near Wolverton at 9.20 p.m., she turned south-east along the London & North-Western Railway main line and, at 9.40 p.m. dropped one 300kg, four 100kg and four 50kg HE bombs, besides one incendiary at Heath and Reach, near Leighton Buzzard. No damage was done, beyond the breaking of glass in some cottages, and there were no casualties.

  At 10.40 p.m. she was north of Maidstone and then, attracted by the flares of Detling Aerodrome, she turned south to bomb it. At 10.42 p.m. she dropped one 100kg and one 50kg bomb at Milgate Park, Bearsted, breaking the windows and doors of Milgate House and two cottages, and killing a sheep. Then, at 10.45 p.m. a second 300kg bomb was dropped at Leeds, doing ten shillings worth of damage to crops. The aerodrome was entirely missed.

  Ten minutes later, L-44 was north of Ashford and at 11 p.m., west of Canterbury. Passing Elham at 11.20 p.m., she went out to sea between Folkestone and Dover at 11.30 p.m. under fire from the guns at Lympne, Cheriton and Cauldham. Her height here was estimated at 12,000ft.

  Twenty minutes later, she passed Boulogne under fire from AA guns and was carried inland on a south-south-east course. L-44 was brought down by French AA fire near Lunéville, when three tracers were fired at 19,000ft, one of which pierced the envelope of the Zeppelin aft. She immediately caught fire, the flames spreading in a few seconds from one end to the other, and fell to the ground close to Chenevières. One of the cars became detached and dropped to the ground 100ft away from the main body which had been reduced to a mass of half-calcined aluminium girders. There were no survivors.

  L-45, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Waldemar Kölle, left Tondern at 11.25 a.m. on 19 October carrying sufficient petrol for a flight of twenty-two hours. Apart from this load, every precaution had been taken to lighten the ship. Thus, in place of her full cargo of bombs, equivalent to 2½ tons, she took less than 1¾ tons. Her load was claimed to have been two 300kg bombs, fourteen 50kg and ten incendiaries. It would appear that, at the last moment, two 100kg and two 50kg bombs were added to that load. The crew was also reduced.

  Although it was usual for raiders to cross the North Sea at a fairly low altitude, L-45’s commander seems to have made a considerable height shortly after leaving the German coast. It was suggested that visibility was poor even at the start, and that he was anxious not to run any risks either from British aircraft or from surface craft. As a result of these tactics, many of the crew were already suffering from strain due to the rarefied atmosphere as soon as the English coast was reached at 8 p.m.

  Before reaching England, the navigation of L-45 seems already to have suffered from the storminess of the weather. A strong northerly wind was encountered, increasing in strength (60–75ft per second) as the ship rose to greater altitudes. The cold was also intense, and is given as 7°F over the North Sea and as low as 15°F when the Zeppelin was flying at a height of 19,000ft.

  After she crossed the coast between 8 and 9 p.m., several searchlights were seen and crew state that the ship was fired upon – this was not the case. After hesitation for some time out to sea, the Zeppelin came in over the Yorkshire coast near Withernsea at 8.20 p.m. Her course appears to have been considerably interfered with at first, by the presence of a number of British aeroplanes, which had gone up about an hour earlier in pursuit of L-41 and the other Zeppelins. She was, however, able to avoid them by rising to a great height, probably 19,000ft, at which she stayed for most of the time she was over England.

  At 8.40 p.m. she was going down the Humber, past Grimsby and then turned up river again. At 9.04 p.m. she was near Immingham, and at 9.10 p.m. back again south of Grimsby. During these movements she was apparently being chased and fired at by aeroplanes. She now went off southward, passed Louth at 9.15 p.m., then bore S.S. and at about 9.30 p.m. dropped a petrol tank at Bracebridge, south of Lincoln.

  Half an hour later she was in the neighbourhood of Leicester, where she was picked up by an aeroplane piloted by Lieutenant G.H. Harrison, 38 Squadron RFC, who was flying at about 14,000ft, L-45 being 1,000ft above him. He got directly under her tail, fired three bursts and saw the shots hit the raider. After his first burst of fire, L-45 made a sharp turn and apparently fired her forward machine gun. Lieutenant Harrison’s gun then jammed and while trying to clear it he followed the Zeppelin, which was going off north-east. He was unable to put his gun to rights, and at 10.25 p.m. left L-45 in the neighbourhood of Melton Mowbray and returned to Stamford aerodrome.

  After his disappearance, the raider attempted to resume her south-west course, but was carried by the wind directly southward and at 10.50 p.m. reached Northampton, where she dropped her first bombs. There is no doubt, from the statements of her crew captured next morning in France, that all on board thought that the Zeppelin had penetrated much further west than was actually the case. They had been fighting the whole time to get westward against the north-west wind, and when they bombed Northampton they thought they had reached Oxford and damaged ‘factories’ there.

  They state that they were fired upon, which was untrue. The statement was probably an invention intended to justify the dropping of bombs. The damage done at Northampton was confined to a few cottages, and no factories or military objectives were touched. Two bombs, probably 50kg, were dropped in a stream at Kingsthorpe doing no damage, then three 50kg bombs were dropped at Dallington, immediately north of the town, followed by nine incendiary bombs on Northampton itself. These fell along the line of the London & Nort
h-Western Railway, in close proximity to Castle Station. Two fell on the line itself north of the station, and two in Parkwood Street, immediately west of it, wrecking a cottage (No. 46) killing Mrs Eliza Gammons (51) and her twin daughters Gladys and Elsie (13), who died in hospital from shock caused by the severe burns they had suffered. Glass was also broken in a number of other cottages.

  Six 50kg bombs fell at the northern end of the railway tunnel under Hunsbury Hill, doing no damage. One 100kg bomb landed at Wootton Hill Farm, breaking glass to the value of £5, and one 50kg bomb, which did not explode, at Brainhill Farm. A 50kg bomb followed at Preston Deanery and one at Piddington, on the border of Salcey Forest. No damage whatever was caused by these last bombs and one of the bombs at Hunsbury failed to explode.

  From Northampton, the raider followed the main line of the London & North-Western Railway right into London. At 11.05 p.m. she passed Leighton Buzzard, at 11.15 p.m. Watford and by 11.25 p.m. she had reached the north-western suburbs of London. Here she dropped two 50kg bombs at Hendon, one in Colindeep Lane and the other in the grounds of the new Grahame White Aerodrome, doing slight damage to several houses and cottages.

  She dropped one 100kg and one 50kg bomb on the Midland Railway sidings immediately south of Cricklewood Station. The railway track, telephone wires and some rolling stock were damaged and the glass in the Haberdasher’s School, Westbere Road, and a large number of houses was broken. One man was injured.

  L-45 then passed over London unheard and unseen, and when over the centre of the metropolis at 11.30 p.m. releasing a 100kg bomb that fell in Piccadilly, opposite Messrs Swan & Edgars. It made a large hole in the roadway, affecting a gas main, and broke a large amount of glass, besides damaging a few shop fronts. The glass roof of the Geological Museum in Jermyn Street was wrecked by the concussion. Five men (three of them soldiers) and two women were killed, and ten men (including two soldiers, a sailor and a police constable) and eight women were injured.

  The casualties would probably not have been so large, had not a number of people who had originally taken cover come back out into the streets. The long period that had elapsed since the air raid warning, without anything subsequently happening, caused a great many people to suppose that the raid was over.

  The raider went south-east and next dropped a 300kg bomb in Camberwell. It fell in the rear of a premises in Albany Road near the junction of Calmington Road. Three shops – substantial buildings – were demolished, and a large number of shops and houses were more or less seriously damaged. A sailor and a mechanic of the RNAS were killed, as were four women and four children; nine men, five women and nine children were injured.

  Finally, another 300kg bomb fell at Hither Green, Lewisham, destroying three houses and damaging many others. Five women and nine children were killed, and two men, three women and two children injured.

  Although some of the crew must have known that the ‘huge city’ (as they described it) over which they passed was London, the majority do not seem to have realised the fact until they had landed in France and exchanged notes with one another. Some of the men then boasted to their French captors that they had bombed the British metropolis, and were very proud of the fact.

  L-45 had actually not been under orders to attack London, and only passed over the city as the result of circumstances which could not be controlled. The senior warrant officer, who was responsible for the navigation, seems to have had no clear idea as to his whereabouts at the time, and he pointed out afterwards that, owing to the haze, not even the Thames was visible. Incidentally, not one of the crew was aware that their Zeppelin had succeeded in dropping a bomb in the heart of the West End of London, and had flown over the Admiralty and the War Office.

  L-45 went on eastward, passing Sidcup at 11.40 p.m., and shortly after midnight, when just south of the mouth of the Medway, she was attacked by an aeroplane of 39 Squadron, piloted by Second Lieutenant T.B. Pritchard RFC. She was flying at a height of 13,000ft and estimated to be 2,000ft above him and about 150 yards in front. He opened fire, which the Zeppelin did not return. As she ascended rapidly and changed her course from east-south-east to west-south-west, going at a speed of about 55mph, Pritchard attempted to keep her in fire but could not do this on account of her height.

  He followed her, however, for thirty-five minutes on her course to the coast. She passed out to sea near Hastings shortly before 1 a.m., with the British aviator still in pursuit and climbing steadily. When out to sea, however, the Zeppelin outdistanced him and became lost to view. He decided to return to base as his petrol was getting low, and steered north-north-west for the coast. At 1.15 a.m. he crashed in a field at Hooe, near Bexhill, and was severely injured.

  The maximum height attained by L-45 after her encounter with Pritchard certainly exceeded 19,000ft. She touched 20,000ft sometime later. Owing to this great height the engine revolutions fell off from a normal working maximum of 1,200rpm to 1,000–1,100rpm. It was, however, emphatically denied by the prisoners that the motors were stopped and that the ship was allowed to drift with the wind, as reported in some quarters. Such tactics would inevitably have resulted in the radiators freezing, and in the ship becoming helpless. In point of fact, one engine – that in the portside car – failed after bombs had been dropped and while the ship was still over England. There was also trouble with the spark plugs, owing to their ‘sooting’ – probably as a result of a new kind of oil that was being used – and after stopping, the engine very quickly ‘froze up’.

  In spite of the attempt to steer an easterly course from London onwards, the raider was steadily being driven south. No mention was made, during interrogation of the crew, of the attack by Pritchard that caused the Zeppelin commander to give up his attempt to beat eastward and drove him directly south to the Channel. They merely state that it was very cloudy, and that the Zeppelin continued to navigate at her maximum altitude in the hope of being able to regain Germany by passing over Belgium or the occupied parts of France.

  Shortly after dawn, L-45 came under fire, but the crew were satisfied that they were well out of range as they saw flashes on the ground but spotted no bursts in the air. This was probably at Vonges, in the Côte d’Or, where the anti-aircraft guns that were stationed at a munitions factory reported firing at a Zeppelin, with the result of it making her increase her height.

  At around 7.30 a.m. L-45 passed Mâcon, and at 8 a.m. flew over Lyon and Meyzieux where the Zeppelin was fired at by an anti-aircraft gun, at a height of 12–13,000ft. It was learned, after the examination of the prisoners that, while over France, L-45 was navigated at her maximum altitude in order that she might regain Germany without molestation, but the petrol supply for L-45 was becoming exhausted. The commander was hoping he could at least land in Switzerland, and he brought the Zeppelin down to about 2,000ft with a view to locating his whereabouts but the attempt was not successful. No maps were carried of southern France, Switzerland or Italy, and this added to the difficulties of the situation.

  Most of the crew were convinced that they were over Switzerland, because the mountains in the department Hautes-Alpes, over which L-45 was then flying, were covered with snow. In any case, the men were certain that they could not be over Germany as a large number of people came out of their houses to stare at the Zeppelin – in Germany, the passage of a Zeppelin in the early morning was taken more or less for granted.

  Strenuous attempts were made to get the engines, three of which failed, to work properly. The engines in the port car had failed while L-45 was still over England. At about 10 a.m., L-45 had reached Sisteron at the confluence of the Rivers Buëche and Durance, and Kapitänleutnant Kölle decided at this juncture that he must land. He circled slowly over the town to the intense excitement of the population and of the German officer prisoners of war held in Sisteron Castle. By a curious coincidence, amongst these prisoners there were the officers of the military airship LZ-85, which had been brought down at Salonika eighteen months before.

  The Zeppelin m
oved off north on sighting some Annamite labourers dressed in blue uniforms; the commander appears to have been alarmed. He then realised that he was still over France, but only had a few gallons of petrol left and so a landing was inevitable. He ordered the manoeuvring valves of the gas bags to be opened, and the two emergency landing flags to be displayed.

  The Zeppelin was over the wide stony bed of the River Buëche, which was almost dry, and it was a good spot for landing. As soon as L-45 touched the ground she was caught in an eddy of wind which heeled her over. This resulted in the port wing car being torn off and left on the ground with its two occupants. Two other men jumped out from the after car. Relieved of this weight, the Zeppelin rose and was again caught by the wind and swung through an arc of 180°. She was dashed against the eastern side of the valley with her bows pointing north, at a spot some 600 yards from the site of her intended landing. The remainder of the crew jumped to the ground having, in some cases, dropped 10–20ft. The front car seems to have been badly smashed at the second concussion, but its occupants were not injured. The four men who had been left on the ground with the portside car could not rejoin their comrades as there was an intervening stream, so they gave themselves up to some local peasants.

  As soon as the main party was clear of the ship, Kölle drew them up, collected all their papers and made a pile of them in the ship, which was then fired by the navigation warrant officer and, as she still held a good deal of gas and had 3–4kg of petrol in each tank, she burned readily and there were even some explosions. The crew of L-45 saluted their ship as she was burning and then marched off to the nearest farm. Here, they were advised to surrender by a German sergeant major of the infantry who happened to be there in charge of a working party of German prisoners, and the party were soon interned.

  L-46, under Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Hollender, came in over the coast at Bacton, Norfolk, at 10.30 p.m. and immediately dropped ten HE bombs at Walcot, one being of 100kg weight and the rest of 50kg. Two horses were killed, and the roof and glass of some farm buildings damaged. Five minutes later, ten more 50kg bombs were dropped at East Ruston, merely breaking a guinea’s worth of glass in a cottage.