Publicity Dept., Central Recruiting Depot. Restored by Adam Cuerden. (Wikimedia Commons)
Zeppelins were important to the German army during World War I.
They used them as a terror weapon against civilians.
They also used them, some, to actually fight, but not much. Mostly, they were aimed at innocent civilians.
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was the inventor circa 1874 in Germany, making a “rigid” airship. With the idea patented in 1895, Zeppelins began flying passengers–up to 10,000 of them safely by the start of World War I.
Then, military leaders figured out how to use them as bomb delivery systems, sort-of.
At the start of the war, only 10 years after the development of manned flight by the Wright brothers, they were difficult to knock out of the sky, despite their gas-filled bladders keeping them aloft.
They traveled by night, but think how horrifying it would have been to see a shadow like this in the early 20th century. Photo by Oskar Barnack. (Wikipedia Commons)
Early in the war, the German army and navy (both had zeppelins) learned the ships were vulnerable to ground fire if flown near the ground, so they flew at high altitudes.
Nevertheless, the German military lost many ships in 1914 and began 1915 with only four Zeppelins available to the army.
Kaiser Wilhelm did not allow the military to bomb the home city of his cousin, King George V, because it was not “gentlemanly conduct,” until 1915.
Even then, zeppelins could not drop bombs on palaces, churches or historic buildings.
Zeppelins attack
The first zeppelin attack came at King’s Lynn. This is how I described the incident in my as yet-unpublished WWI novel:
Raw described the scene in the market town of King’s Lynn. Rubble littered the flooded streets as the rain poured. Stunned survivors in black mackintoshes staggered amid the debris, picking through homes now slumped into piles of broken brick and sodden possessions.
When Claire poked her head into a crumbling house, she smelled clean rain, stinking mud and a tang of sulfur and petroleum. She pulled her cloak closer against the chill and tugged her hat down to her eyebrows. The weather made the appalling destruction worse.
The effect on those on the ground?
“We heard the slow rumble, high above, like thunder only not so sharp or loud. Most did not know what it could be, and then a long gray-white cylinder appeared in the sky, dropping flashes of light. The bombs hit the ground and the noise, ach, the noise; it filled your ears and your mind and threw you to the ground.”
He gulped. “Then the screaming. The air choked with dust and propellant smell. It was a miracle only two died, but that’s little comfort to the families.”
How had the zeppelin found the market town?
“The lights,” an elderly woman said. “Constable Jones said the enormous balloon followed the train tracks along the coast until they came to the lighted city and dropped the bombs. I’ll live in the dark from now on rather than be a target in the electric light.”
Descriptions by the zeppelin pilots detailed how the entire country was lit up, making it easy to find targets.
King’s Lynn the day after (Wikipedia Commons)
The only thing slowing the terror down was foul weather making it difficult for the dirigibles to cross the Channel.
By 1916, the British had developed airplanes that could fly high enough to combat the zeppelins, and they also had invented incendiary bullets.
By September 2, 1916, the British had learned how to effectively war against the ships.
Sixteen zeppelins headed to London that night; one of the flight captains, Ernst Lehmann, described what he saw
“The entire city lay under a luminous mist dotted everywhere with incessant flickering and flashes of bursting projectiles.”
But enemy searchlights seemed more powerful and the ground guns bigger than when the zeppelins bombed during the spring.
“We could see many explosions on the ground, evidently from other ships, but they were hidden from view by the haze, bursting shells and searchlight beams. It was like hanging above a lighted stage in a theater with the rest of the house darkened.”
As Lehmann watched, a single engine biplane flew high above another zeppelin and emptied a drum of ammunition into a small area in the hull.
First Zeppelin raid on London
“It immediately began to glow pink. The glow quickly spread forward until the entire interior was lit–resembling a Chinese lantern. Then, suddenly, the tail section burst into flames and the airborne whale began a slow death dive. The falling inferno lit up the countryside for sixty miles around.”
No one survived from the zeppelin–they didn’t carry parachutes to conserve on weight.
Flying so high and in such frigid temperatures as a result, zeppelin operators and bombers were not able to precisely bomb selected targets. Most went astray.
Still, the low slow growl of their engines terrified the populace, particularly in London. They did not win the war, but they served an important purpose: reminding civilians that war could always come to them.
The lesson was applied in a much more dangerous way during World War II’s Battle of Britain.
I grew up seeing the Goodyear blimp flying by almost noiselessly. Moored not far from home, it was friendly and gentle.
Not so for Londoners during WWI.
Tweetables
Zeppelins over London during WWI. Click to Tweet
Effective or merely weapons of WWI terror? Click to Tweet
Longer than a football field, zeppelins were terrifying during WWI. Click to Tweet
Thank you, Michelle, for sharing this information. As a student of history, I am always glad to learn about another aspect of the Wars especially from first hand documentation.
Thank you. Primary resources shed such interesting light on historical facts, don’t they?
Fascinating information, Michelle. Thanks.