31 Jan/1 Feb 1916                 

Bombed:

The Midlands



This first airship raid of 1916 was the largest to date and had as its principal target, Liverpool. In all, nine naval Zeppelins took part, but bad weather over the North Sea and much fog and mist over Britain meant that all found it extremely difficult to plot their positions. Zeppelin commanders reported striking against Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Goole, Immingham and Great Yarmouth; in reality none of these places were bombed.

The first two to come inland were L 21 (Max Dietrich) and L 13 (Heinrich Mathy), crossing the coast north of Mundesley, Norfolk at 4.50pm. L 21 passed Nottingham and Derby (which Dietrich took to be Manchester) then turned towards Wolverhampton, which he mistook for Liverpool. He dropped his first bombs on Tipton at about 8.00pm. Three high-explosive (HE) bombs fell on Waterloo Street (one person killed) and Union Street (13 killed, 10 injured), followed by three incendiaries which landed in Bloomfield and Barnfield Roads. Over Lower Bradley, near Bilston, five HE bombs landed on the canal towpath killing one person and mortally injuring another, and at Bloomfield three incendiaries fell on a brickworks but two failed to ignite. More bombs fell on Wednesbury at about 8.15pm. In King Street, three houses were destroyed and others damaged; 13 people were killed. In the same road another person was killed at the Crown Tube Works. And a bomb at the Mesty Croft Goods Yard killed one person and damaged railway trucks. At about 8.25pm, L 21 appeared over Walsall and flew across the northern part of the town from west to east, dropping seven HE and four incendiary. The incendiary bombs did no damage but the HE bombs badly damaged the Congregational Church in Wednesbury Road, killing a passer-by, Thomas Merrylees. The last of these HE bombs fell in Bradford Place. The blast shattered windows, injuring a man in the Science and Art Institute and killed two men in the street. Shrapnel from the bomb also mortally wounded a passenger in a passing tram; she was Mary Slater, mayoress of Walsall. L 21 then set course back to the coast, but dropped six final incendiary bombs on the Islip furnaces at Thrapston in Northamptonshire at about 9.15pm. All six fell harmlessly in fields. L 21 passed out over the coast south of Lowestoft at about 11.35pm.

Mathy came inland in L 13 close to L 21 but the two separated near Foulsham, Norfolk. L 13 crossed Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, and south of Stoke-on-Trent she dropped six HE bombs on Fenton Colliery at about 8.15pm, causing only minor damage. Mathy then appears to have found it difficult to plot his position due to fog and, after circling around Stoke, set a course towards the east coast. A little before 11.00pm Mathy sighted an operational blast furnace which he attacked; it was the Frodingham Iron and Steel Works at Scunthorpe. Some 16 HE and 48 incendiary bombs were later recovered, all missed their target but struck the Redbourne Iron Works nearby which, ironically, was in darkness. The bombs killed two men and caused slight damage to the engine and boiler house. Four workmen’s houses in Scunthorpe were demolished, killing a man and injuring seven people. L 13 passed out to sea at about 11.15pm.

The third Zeppelin to come inland, L 5 (Joachim Breithaupt), did so at about 5.50pm, in the same area as the previous raiders. At Swaffham she headed west. At the time British intelligence believed L 15 circled around Norfolk and Lincolnshire, but later interpretations suggest she flew on westwards and bombed Burton-on-Trent at about 8.45pm, attracted by fires caused by incendiary bombs dropped by L 20. Official reports suggest L 15 dropped 15 HE bombs on the town, at about 9.15pm. It is difficult to determine which Zeppelin dropped which bombs on Burton, but it seems likely that L 15 was responsible for those that struck the engine house at Bass’s Brewery, the sawmill at Allsopp’s Brewery and the malthouse at Worthington’s Brewery. Charrington’s and Robinson’s Breweries were also hit, but without causing damage. The bombs wrecked nine houses and damaged others in Wellington (two killed) and Shobnall Streets (three killed) and many others injured. At the Christ Church Mission Room at the junction of Moor Street and Uxbridge Street a congregation was present when a bomb exploded outside, killing six of those in the building. L 15 then turned for home and may have dropped an incendiary at Holland Fen, near Boston, at about 10.30pm before crossing the Wash to King’s Lynn, then to Swaffham, Wymondham and out to sea at Corton, north of Lowestoft at 12.35am.

The fourth Zeppelin, L 16 (Werner Peterson), came inland near Hunstanton, Norfolk, at about 6.10pm. She suffered engine problems during her crossing and did no attempt to follow orders. Instead she headed south towards Swaffham, dropping two HE bombs at 6.20pm: one failed to explode and the other caused no damage. It appears she continued southwards and dropped three HE and 15 incendiary bombs near Mildenhall, which fell on West Row Fen. All but three of the incendiaries failed to ignite. L 16 then circled around, passing Soham, before dropping 22 HE bombs at 7.35pm, which landed on Isleham Fen. Seven of the bombs failed to explode, the others destroyed a chicken house killing 16 chickens. L 16 then headed east, passed Pulham at 8.30pm and headed out to sea just north of Lowestoft at 9.05pm.

Zeppelin L 14 (Alois Böcker) appeared over the coast at 6.15pm, five minutes after L 16. She passed near Sandringham at about 6.35pm and Wisbech at about 7.00pm where she dropped a single incendiary bomb. She then followed a north-west course in the direction of Grantham, dropping an HE bomb on Knipton at about 8.00pm, without damage. Following a westward course now, L 14 got as far as Shrewsbury at 10.05pm, the furthest west of any of the raiders that night, where Böcker encountered thick cloud. Unable to locate a target he turned back to the east where, attracted by light from a furnace at Ashby Woulds, he ordered the release of an HE bomb and an incendiary at 11.50pm; they landed on a cinder heap without causing damage. L 14 then dropped four HE bombs on Overseal, Derbyshire at about midnight – three fell in a field and one in the canal. A few minutes later three HE bombs fell on Swadlincote where the blast broke some windows. Then, about ten minutes later, L 14 appeared over Derby, dropping 21 HE bombs and four incendiaries. Nine of the HE bombs fell on the Midland Railway works damaging engine sheds and killed William Bancroft, James Hardy and Harry Hithersay, while injuring two others, one of who – Sidney Baines – died four days later. Three HE bombs hit the Metalite Lamp Works in Gresham Street causing considerable damage but no personal injury. Another two HE bombs fell on the Rolls-Royce Works but only smashed glass. Two more dropped harmlessly on vacant land next to the Works. Of the remaining five HE bombs, two fell on the Litchurch Gas Works and three in the yard of Fletcher’s Lace factory in Osmaston Road, all without causing damage. The four incendiary bombs landed in Horton Street, setting fire to one house. In addition to the fatalities at the Railway Works, a retired headmistress, Sarah Constantine, died of heart failure caused by the raid. With all bombs released L 14 headed east eventually going out to sea south-east of Alford, Lincolnshire, at about 2.10am.

Kapitänleutnant Odo Loewe brought Zeppelin L 19 inland at about 6.20pm near Sheringham, Norfolk prior to a troubled eleven hours over Britain during which time he experienced serious engine problems on three occasions. She passed south of Stamford at 8.10pm but then circled back before flying on erratically towards Loughborough; possibly the first instance of engine problems. From Loughborough it seems L 19 may have been attracted to Burton by the fires already burning there and headed in that direction, dropping one or two incendiary bombs at about 9.45pm. Loewe then passed to the west of Birmingham which was in darkness, before wandering for some time around the countryside between Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Bromsgrove, perhaps a second instance of engine trouble. Now attracted by the fires caused earlier by L 21, Loewe took a northerly course and dropped a single HE bomb over Wednesbury, which damaged the roof and machinery at the Monway Works of the Patent Shaft & Axletree Company. From there L 19 flew south east, towards Dudley, dropping five HE bombs on the way, which all fell on the Ocker Hill Colliery near Tipton, but these merely broke windows in the engine house and also those of an adjacent house. Over Dudley at about 12.15am, L 19 dropped 17 incendiary bombs. One fell in the grain shed at the railway station causing damage estimated at £5 while the rest all fell in fields or the grounds of Dudley Castle. Five minutes later L 19 was back over Tipton where she dropped another 11 HE bombs; these caused considerable damage over the western part of the town, wrecking the Bush Inn amongst other buildings but caused no causalities. Loewe dropped his last three bombs, all HE, on Walsall. One, landing in the Birchills district, damaged St. Andrews church and the vicarage, while another in the Pleck district landed on a stable, killing a horse, four pigs and about a hundred chickens.

L 19 then turned for home but took about five hours to reach the coast of Norfolk, during which time it seems likely she experienced her third incidence of engine problems. Sadly for the crew of L 19, her problems didn’t end there. On the afternoon of 1 February, as she struggled back, L 19 neared the coast of neutral Holland from where soldiers opened fire. The resultant loss of hydrogen caused L 19 to get heavier and three of the four troubled engines broke down completely. Then a southerly wind blew her back over the North Sea until she could finally remain airborne no longer. At about 7.30am the following morning a British trawler, the KIng Stephen, spotted the wreckage and crew but, afraid to take the marooned men on board fearing they would overwhelm him and his outnumbered men, the skipper sailed back to port about 95 miles away. By the time he reported what he had seen it was too late, Zeppelin L 19 had sunk with the loss of all her crew.