Zeppelins were important to the German army during World War I.
They used them as a terror weapon against civilians.
They also used some to fight, but not much. Mostly, they targeted innocent civilians.
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin invented a “rigid” airship in Germany around 1874. After the idea was patented in 1895, Zeppelins began carrying 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 Wright brothers flew, they were difficult to knock out of the sky, despite gas-filled bladders keeping them aloft.
How did they move?
Small engines drove them through the sky. 518 feet long (longer than a US football field), Zeppelins could travel up to 52 mph at the start of World War I. Gas volume was nearly 755,000 cubic feet.
Early in the war, the German army and navy (both had zeppelins) learned that 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 considered “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 A Poppy in Remembrance:
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.”
Zeppelin pilots described how the entire country was lit up, making targets easy to find.
The only thing slowing the terror was foul weather, which made it difficult for the dirigibles to cross the Channel.
By 1916, the British had developed airplanes capable of flying high enough to combat zeppelins, and they had also invented incendiary bullets.
German version
By September 2, 1916, the British had learned how to wage war effectively against 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.
“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 weight.
Zeppelin challenges and outcome
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 come to them at any time.
The lesson was applied in a far more dangerous way during the Battle of Britain during World War II.
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.
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.