Zeppelin Raids on Britain (1915-1918): The First Blitz

The Zeppelin raids on Britain were a German bombing campaign carried out by airships between January 1915 and August 1918. Around 50 raids killed roughly 550 people in towns across England and in London, bringing the First World War to civilians at home for the first time. The raids are often called the “first Blitz”, and they forced Britain to build the foundations of modern air defence.

Background: the airship as a weapon

Rigid airships developed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, whose first craft flew in 1900, gave Germany a weapon that could reach Britain long before aeroplanes could. (See the first flight of the Zeppelin LZ 1.) Both the German Navy and Army operated airships; the naval airship division, led by Peter Strasser, carried out most raids on Britain.

At first Kaiser Wilhelm II forbade attacks on London, partly because of his family ties to the British royal family. He gradually relaxed the restrictions during 1915, first allowing raids east of the Tower of London and then on the whole city.

The raids of 1915

On the night of 19–20 January 1915 the naval airships L3 and L4 bombed Great Yarmouth, Sheringham and King’s Lynn, killing four people. On 31 May the army airship LZ 38 bombed London’s East End, killing seven.

The most destructive airship raid on London came on 8 September 1915, when Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy in L13 dropped bombs from Bloomsbury to the City, causing 22 deaths and fires worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Raids also struck the Midlands, Hull, Tyneside and other areas. Navigation was difficult, and bombs often fell far from intended targets.

Life under the raids

The government introduced blackout regulations, and searchlights and anti-aircraft guns were set up around London. Police and boy scouts gave warnings, and people sheltered in cellars and underground stations. Damage was limited compared with later wars, but the psychological effect was considerable, and some anti-German rioting followed raids.

The campaign also tied down large numbers of British guns, aircraft and personnel at home that could otherwise have been sent to the front, which was part of the German aim.

Turning the tide in 1916

Early defences had little success, because ordinary bullets passed through the airships’ gas bags without igniting the hydrogen. In 1916 British pilots began firing a mix of explosive and incendiary ammunition. On the night of 2–3 September 1916 Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson shot down the army airship SL 11 over Cuffley; crowds across London watched it fall in flames.

Within weeks L32 and L33 were brought down in Essex on 23–24 September, and on 1–2 October L31 was shot down at Potters Bar, killing Mathy and his crew. Germany responded with “height climbers” that flew above the defences at more than 5,000 metres, where crews suffered from cold and lack of oxygen and accuracy fell further.

The end of the campaign

From 1917 Germany shifted to aeroplane raids by Gotha and Zeppelin-Staaken “Giant” bombers. A daylight Gotha raid on London on 13 June 1917 killed 162 people, more than any single airship raid. The last airship raid came on 5 August 1918, when L70, carrying Strasser himself, was shot down off the Norfolk coast with no survivors.

Key people

• Peter Strasser (1876–1918), head of the German Navy’s airship division and the driving force behind the raids, who believed airships could weaken British morale.
• Heinrich Mathy (1883–1916), the most successful airship commander, who led the September 1915 raid on central London and died when L31 was shot down.
• Erich Linnarz, the army officer who commanded LZ 38 on the first raid on London.
• William Leefe Robinson (1895–1918), the pilot who brought down SL 11 and became a national hero; he died in the 1918 influenza pandemic.

By the numbers

Figures follow commonly cited official totals; individual sources differ slightly.

Timeline

• 1915, 19–20 January: First airship raid on Britain, in Norfolk.
• 1915, 31 May: First raid on London, by LZ 38.
• 1915, 8 September: L13 raid on central London kills 22.
• 1916, 2–3 September: SL 11 shot down at Cuffley by William Leefe Robinson.
• 1916, 23–24 September: L32 and L33 brought down in Essex.
• 1916, 1–2 October: L31 shot down at Potters Bar; Heinrich Mathy killed.
• 1917, 13 June: Gotha aeroplanes bomb London in daylight.
• 1918, 5 August: L70 shot down; Peter Strasser killed.

Legacy

The experience led to the London Air Defence Area, a coordinated system of observers, guns and fighters, and to the creation of the Royal Air Force in April 1918 as an independent service. These ideas shaped Britain’s preparations for the Blitz of 1940–1941 and the Battle of Britain.

Why it matters

The Zeppelin raids marked the beginning of strategic bombing against civilians. Though small in scale by later standards, they showed that the home front was no longer safe and changed how states thought about war in the air.