ISSUE 91 : Nov/Dec - 1991 - Australian Defence Force Journal

THE FIRST BATTLE OF BRITAIN 39
Two earlier model Zeppelins. The L12 (top picture), commissioned in June 1915, had a ceiling of only 3,000
metres. It was damaged by gunfire over England and was forced down in the sea off Ostend two months later.
The L30 (lower picture), commissioned in May 1916 had a ceiling of 5,400 metres. It survived the war after
carrying out a total of 37 operational sorties.
Although it did little material damage, it forced the
fleet to move further up the Kiel Canal out of range
of further attacks.
Finally, on 9th January 1915 permission was
given for limited airship raids on Great Britain.
However, the Kaiser laid down personally that such
raids were to be: "Expressly restricted to military
shipyards, arsenals, docks, and in general military
establishments; and that I ondon itselt was not to be
bombed."The first raid against England was mounted
ten days later.
Early Airship Raids
On I9th January. 1915 three Zeppelins set out to
raid East Anglia, but one (E6) was forced back with
engine trouble. The other two (L3 and L4) attacked
Yarmouth and other coastal towns. They dropped
sixteen H.E. bombs and seven incendiaries, resulting
in casualties of four killed and sixteen injured, with
some damage to several houses. There was no
response from the defences, and the two airships
returned home safely. This raid, as with all subsequent
/eppelin raids, took place at night.
A shortage of airships, combined with extremely
bad weather, kept the raiders away for a further
three months. Several sorties were mounted but all
were driven back either by the weather or mechanical
failures. Indeed several were lost from both causes.
It was not until 14th April that the next Zeppelin raid
took place. This was made by a single airship (L9)
against the Tyneside, where 31 bombs were dropped,
but casualties were light. There were no deaths, and
only two injured. Two aircraft from the defences
managed to take off. but did not make contact.
The very next night three Zeppelins carried out a
raid against some further targets in East Anglia.
This time, approaching at about 1500 metres, the
raiders were met by concentrated and accurate small
arms fire from mobile army units on the ground,
which had been specially established for this
purpose. One of the raiders was forced to retire as a
result. The others dropped all their bombs, but there
was no damage and only one person was injured.
Raids continued during April and May, but were
still confined to the coastal areas.
Originally, the airship sheds and bases were, of
course, confined to Germany. However, with the fall
of Belgium the Germans began to concentrate all
airships in that area, and airship sheds began to
spring up right across the country. This shortened