Shortly thereafter, at He fired three drums of incendiaries and succeeded in starting a fire which quickly spread.
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The entire crew was killed, with some, including the commander Oberleutnant-zur-See Werner Peterson, choosing to jump rather than burn to death. Dropping bombs now to shed weight, a large number fell on homes in Botolph Road and Bow Road. As the airship headed towards Chelmsford it continued to lose height, coming under fire at Kelvedon Hatch and briefly exchanging fire with a B. The airship was set alight and the crew headed south before being arrested at Peldon by the police.
Inspection of the wreckage provided the British with much information about the construction of Zeppelins, which was used in the design of the British Rclass airships. The next raid came on 1 October Eleven Zeppelins were launched at targets in the Midlands and at London. As the airship neared Cheshunt at about Three aircraft of No. His body was found near the wreckage, embedded some four inches in the ground. Tempest had had to dive out of the way of the stricken airship and, possibly suffering from anoxia, crashed without injury on landing.
A raid on 27—28 November avoided London, instead targeting the Midlands and Tyneside. Nine Navy airships took part. Two airships were shot down by the defending aircraft: Ian Pyott flying a B. There were no further raids in although the Navy lost three more craft, all on 28 December: The losses during caused the Germans to increase the ceiling of their airships. This was first achieved by lightening the existing craft, principally by removing one of the engines.
Meanwhile, new types with a lightened hull framework were developed. In anticipation of the campaign, Kampfgeschwader der Obersten Heeresleitung 3 Kagohl 3 , nicknamed the "England Geschwader", was formed, consisting of six Kampfstaffel Kastas under the command of Hauptmann Ernst Brandenburg. The first raid of took place on 16—17 March: The lack of success was repeated on 23—24 May, when six Zeppelins set out to bomb London but were frustrated by a combination of high winds and thick cloud.
Two were forced to turn back over the North Sea due to mechanical difficulties and cloud over London caused the remaining bombers to divert to secondary targets at the Channel port of Folkestone and the nearby Shorncliffe Army Camp. The raid resulted in 95 deaths and injuries, mostly in Folkestone. In Shorncliffe, 18 soldiers 16 Canadian and two British were killed and 90 were wounded.
Air-raid casualties in the First World War
A second attack on 5 June was diverted to Sheerness in Kent but a third raid on 13 June, was the first daylight raid on London, causing deaths and injuries. Among the dead were 18 children, killed by a bomb falling on the Upper North Street School primary school in Poplar. In , Air Commodore Lionel Charlton described the raid as "the beginning of a new epoch in the history of warfare". On taking off for the return journey, the engine of his aircraft failed, Brandenburg was severely injured and his pilot, Oberleutnant Freiherr von Trotha, was killed.
The reason for the relatively large numbers of casualties seems to have been ignorance as to the threat posed by aerial bombardment of a city in daylight.
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Raids hadn't become a very serious thing and everybody crowded out into the street to watch. They didn't take cover or dodge". As there had been little planning, early attempts to intercept the Gothas were ineffective. Large numbers of British aircraft were put into the air but were unable to climb high enough to engage the bombers.
Captain James McCudden was part of the engaging force of 92 aircraft but due to the limited performance of his machine, had no success in intercepting the bombers. On 16—17 June, an attempted raid by six Zeppelins was met with some success; two airships were unable to leave their shed due to high winds and two more turned back with engine problems. Holder and Sgt S. Ashby, and a B. The Zeppelin came down in flames near Theberton in Suffolk: Watkins was officially credited with the victory.
A further Gotha raid of 22 aircraft was made on 7 July, resulting in 57 deaths and injuries on the ground. Felixstowe and Harwich were bombed on 22 July and Southend and Shoeburyness on 12 August, with the loss of one Gotha, four others crashing on landing. Twenty-eight aircraft took off and soon encountered the predicted high winds, after nearly two hours in the air they had made so little progress that Zeebrugge was still in sight.
With barely enough fuel left to return to Belgium, the flight commander called off the attack. The high wind caused two aircraft to come down in the North Sea and others ran out of fuel and were lost making forced landings, two coming down in neutral Holland. On 22 August, 15 aircraft set out to attack Margate and Dover. Five turned back over the North Sea and the rest were met by heavy anti-aircraft fire and fighter aircraft over the Isle of Thanet.
Two Gothas were shot down almost immediately and a third was shot down over Dover. The improved British air defences forced Kagohl 3 to abandon daylight raids. While night raids provided a measure of protection from interceptors and anti-aircraft fire, they greatly complicated navigation and landing.
Many damaged aircraft limped back to their airfields only to be lost in landing accidents. The first night raid by the Gothas took place on 3 September against Chatham, as an experiment by five aircraft. The deaths included naval recruits whose dormitory was hit, the worst bombing incident of the war.
Of the eleven aircraft which set out, nine reached England and five got as far as London; 18 defensive sorties were flown but none made contact. The defensive flights were significant in that the aircraft used included Sopwith Camels , proving that it was practical to fly the type at night. One Gotha failed to return, probably shot down by anti-aircraft fire from Fort Borstal near Rochester.
Battle of Britain The First Heavy Bomber Raids on England by Jonathan Sutherland
Six raids followed at the end of September. These included the first raids on England by the enormous Zeppelin-Staaken Riesenflugzeug of Riesenflugzeug-Abteilung On 24 September 16 Gothas set off and 13 reached England, most bombing Dover and other targets in Kent, with only five reaching London.
This coincided with an unsuccessful Zeppelin attack on the Midlands. By this time the population of London was thoroughly alarmed, with up to , people seeking shelter in Underground stations and others leaving London to sleep in whatever accommodation was available, some in fields. The Government reallocated new 3 inch The barrage was also proving hazardous to those on the ground, in that week eight people had been killed and another 67 injured by falling fragments.
Denis-Westrem and Gontrode, forcing the squadrons to relocate to Mariakerke and Oostakker , with the staff headquarters moving to Ghent.
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The following night a big raid was mounted, the bomb load including large numbers of a newly developed 4. Bombs were dropped on the eastern suburbs of London but many of the incendiaries failed to ignite and five aircraft crashed when attempting to land. Poor weather prevented raids in November and the Gotha crews occupied themselves with training flights. To lessen the chance of a raid meeting adverse weather, in December the Germans began to send out a radio-equipped Rumpler C. IV to make weather observations off the English coast. Two Gothas were brought down by anti-aircraft fire and one with an engine disabled, attempted a landing at Rochford aerodrome, struck a tree on approach and crashed.
The second aircraft came down near Canterbury and in both cases all the crew survived but a third aircraft and crew was reported missing. On 28 January 13 Gothas and two Giants set off, six of the Gothas turning back because of poor visibility. Over a hundred defensive sorties were flown, resulting in one Gotha being shot down after being attacked by two Sopwith Camels from the 40 Squadron RFC, flown by Second Lieutenants Charles Banks and George Hackwill , the first victory for night fighters against a heavier-than-air bomber over Britain; both pilots were awarded the DFC.
The following night, the first raid undertaken by Giants unaccompanied by Gothas took place. Four aircraft from Rfa took off, one turning back before reaching England and casualties and damage were light. Eighty defensive sorties were flown and one Giant was attacked by five aircraft, one attack succeeding in disabling an engine. Pancras station ; 21 people were killed and 32 injured. On 12 March, five Zeppelins attempted a raid on the Midlands: Another raid was attempted the following night but only one of the three airships reached England, bombing Hartlepool.
By the middle of March, the Gotha squadron was once again ready to attack England but had to support the Spring Offensive which started on 21 March, being used to bomb Calais, Dunkirk, Boulogne and troop concentrations and railways. High winds caused them to be recalled when over the Channel, by which time fog had covered their base. One aircraft landed safely, the crew of a second survived a crash in which the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and the remaining two crashed with the loss of all but one member of each crew. The last and largest aeroplane raid of the war took place on the night of 19 May , when 38 Gothas and 3 Giants took off against London.
Six Gothas were shot down by interceptors and anti-aircraft fire and a seventh aircraft was forced to land after a protracted close quarters engagement with a Bristol fighter of Squadron from Biggin Hill, crewed by Lieutenants Edward Eric Turner and Henry Balfour Barwise. After this raid, both Kagohl 3 and Rfa were principally used for army support. The hope was that the two capitals would be destroyed in an inextinguishable blaze, causing the Allies to sue for peace. The last Zeppelin raid on Britain took place on 5 August , when four Zeppelins bombed targets in the Midlands and the North of England.
The Zeppelin was shot down in flames with no survivors.
The bodies of the crew members were buried at sea. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United Kingdom and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article , discuss the issue on the talk page , or create a new article , as appropriate.
May Learn how and when to remove this template message. Retrieved 30 September The Influence of Air Power on History. Flight Aircraft Engineer Magazine. Retrieved 12 August Retrieved 26 February Friday 25th May ". Retrieved 18 August The Air Defence of Britain. But when flying conditions were good, people living in populous, central London districts sought refuge in the Underground.
By autumn , 86 Tube stations had been made available as public shelters with a capacity of a quarter of a million. Rules to govern behaviour and control numbers were regulated by Special Constables. The scientist and statistician, J. Haldane, estimated that the number of civilians taking shelter in the Tube approached a peak of ,, whilst a further , were thought to be using basements and cellars for protection during raids.
The aerial campaign of was designed to break the morale of the British people. In this respect, it failed as there was no sustained public campaign to call the war to a halt. Nevertheless, the raids had a significant impact on behaviour. Not only did they cause outrage, the attacks also created fear in areas of London repeatedly subjected to bombing. Without a warning system that allowed civilians sufficient time to move to shelters and delays in setting up anti-aircraft batteries and fighter defences, it took time for people to work out the risks and ways to defend themselves.
After an initial period of trepidation, there is evidence that people adapted to the stress and worked out ways of coping. Lilian Clark, living in west London, wrote to her brother at the front in October I have got past the stage of being nervous. For most Londoners the chance of being killed or wounded was very small and those that lived in high-risk areas or types of housing that offered little protection from bombs took the precaution of sleeping in the Underground. The novelty of the raids, the use of new technology and the fact that civilians including young children had been brought directly into the firing line, heightened their effect.
Plans were laid for some 17, regular troops and 20, reserve constables to be drafted into London to control the expected mass exodus from the capital and to prevent panic at mainline stations and entrances to the tube. Today, with the enduring threat of terrorist attacks, government planners often repeat these arguments as they attempt to predict how the general public will behave in the event of a major incident. Evidence from both world wars is that people are in fact adaptable and often able to cope in times of crisis. Skip to main content.
Civilian casualties The worst raid in terms of casualties took place on 13 June when 20 Gotha GI. Civil defence policy Aware of the corrosive effect of the raids on civilian morale, in summer the government created a rudimentary civil defence organisation with improvised shelters and air-raid wardens issued with whistles to sound the alarm.