Imagine seeing them crossing the skies, majestic floating whales. Then imagine those whales
dropping bombs on you before floating serenely away. They’re not whales, of course, what
I’m talking about is a great German invention that pioneered the skyways, the zeppelin.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War Special episode about German zeppelins in
World War One.
Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin had been an observer with the Union Army during the American civil
war and had seen first hand the usefulness of the hydrogen filled observation balloons.
While these balloons were attached to a spot on the ground by cables, Graf Zeppelin reasoned
that if they could be steered and made to move under their own power their potential
as a mode of transportation could be unlocked.
Graf Zeppelin developed and launched his design for a steerable or “dirigible” balloon
in 1900. His efforts finally led to a viable passenger airship design and in 1910 the world’s
first airline, the German Airship Transportation Company or DELAG, which operated regularly
scheduled passenger flights between major German cities and there were plans for expanding
operations to all the major cities in Europe and beyond. War changed all that.
When war broke out in July 1914 there were 11 large airships in operation in Germany
and more being built at the Zeppelin manufacturing facilities in Friedrichshafen and Potsdam.
The entire fleet was immediately pressed into service by the German Army and Naval high commands.
The Army used the Zeppelins for reconnaissance to determine the number and disposition of
opposing ground forces and as tactical bombers. On the western front, Zeppelins participated
in the attack on Liege in August 1914 and bombarded the city of Antwerp during its siege
in September.
On the eastern front, from August to October 1914, Army Zeppelins were sent on bombing
raids against the Warsaw forts and key transportation areas around the city. Zeppelins also saw
action during the protracted battles around Przemysl, raids were conducted against the
fortresses of Grodno and Kovno, and plans were even laid for long range bombing raids
against St Petersburg, but while several attempts were made, the distance between the airship
base and their target was too great.
The Naval Zeppelins were used to patrol the North Sea area acting as the far ranging eyes
of the fleet. German airships would directly participate as advance scouts in the naval
battle of Jutland. A report published by the British on September 20th, 1917 said:
“…It is no small achievement for their Zeppelins to have saved the high seas fleet
at Jutland; to have saved their cruiser squadron on the Yarmouth raid, and to have been instrumental
in sinking the Nottingham and Falmouth.”
The Zeppelins in naval service were also highly successful in detecting and mapping minefields
and assisting minesweepers in clearing mines. During the war years the German Naval Airship
service flew a total of 971 flights on scouting and reconnaissance missions over the North
Sea in support of the surface Navy. Additionally, between the Army and Naval airships, a total
of 220 scouting flights were conducted in support of the Baltic operations. In total
on all fronts some 1,191 scouting and reconnaissance flights were made during the war.
During that same period, 46 bombing raids were conducted in the Baltic area of operations
and another 306 in the North Sea and British Isles area. Despite the fact that the raids
on England were barely a quarter of the total number of operations, that’s what we often
remember about German zeppelins from the Great War.
At 9:20 pm on January 19th, 1915 the first Zeppelin bombs fell on Britain. This was the
first instance of aerial attack on what had otherwise been a nation protected by the sea
and its fleet, and to say it came as a shock would be an understatement, both for the British
and the rest of the world. Nothing like this had ever been seen before, though it would
become commonplace in wars thereafter.
At first London was off limits. Kaiser Wilhelm would not approve operations that may damage
historical architecture and would not allow the King and the royals be targeted. By March
1915, the Kaiser had relented and London would be bombed, though initially with only limited targets.
The concrete objectives of the raids were to interfere with supply and distribution
and prevent equipment from reaching the front, to destroy military facilities, to destroy
the Bank of England, to force the British to defend at home and keep troops from the
front lines, and of course, to demoralize and terrorize the civilian population. The
last one totally backfired though; the raids were used as propaganda to increase recruitment
and actually stiffened British resolve.
The Bank of London was never hit and the raids continued until the end of the war, with the
final raid occurring on August 5th, 1918.
At first the Zeppelins operated with relative impunity. As a flying machine, they were years
ahead of airplanes. None of the British fighter-interceptor aircraft at the time could fly as high or
stay aloft as long as a Zeppelin and each technological advance in airplanes was countered
by a Zeppelin advance. Higher and higher the zeppelins could climb, ultimately reaching
ceilings of over 27,000 feet by the war’s end. When a Zeppelin did find itself attacked
by an airplane, the attacking pilots found that the Zeppelins were surprisingly hard
to shoot down.
Hydrogen IS highly flammable and burns readily, but only when mixed with oxygen. Putting several
rounds of machine gun ammunition through a zeppelin simply punched holes in one of the
many independent gas cells and allowed the lifting gas to leak out. Rarely was a zeppelin
disabled to the point of being shot down by this and could usually leave the combat area
and return to base. That was, of course, until the development of the incendiary bullet.
The “Buckingham” bullet was hollowed out and filled with phosphorus. When fired, the
friction of the bullet moving down the gun barrel would ignite the bullet and cause it
to burn. On September 2nd 1916, British Lieutenant William Robinson, using the Buckingham incendiary
bullets mixed with explosive bullets, ignited the hydrogen gas in a Zeppelin over the north
end of London, becoming the first to shoot one down. Londoners went wild and Robinson
was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions.
For the German aircrews this new form of destruction was terrifying. In many cases now their first
indication of being attacked was the large red glow emanating from above their heads.
Here’s a little zeppelin story from the war, from Africa, actually.
In German East Africa, General von Lettow-Vorbeck was waging a guerilla war against the British
with meager resources, both in men and material. His former chief medical officer suggested
to the high command the possibility of sending medical supplies through by airship. The High
Command modified one to make the perilous voyage. The air mile distance between Germany's
southernmost Zeppelin base, Jamboli in Bulgaria, and the area where it was thought Lettow-Vorbeck
was operating was 3,600 miles- 5,760 kilometers, and the plan was to fly 11 tons of ammunition
and three tons of medical supplies to support the general’s operations.
However, the German command soon decided von Lettow-Vorbeck’s situation was too precarious
and recalled the zeppelin mid-flight. By the time it received the recall order and headed
back to Bulgaria, though, it had reached the Sudan. That zeppelin, an L-59, had accomplished
something pretty remarkable. It had been in flight for 95 hours and had covered 4,200
miles in some of the worst environmental conditions. When they reached Jamboli, they still had
fuel for another 64 hours in the air.
During the war 88 Zeppelins were built and deployed. Technology that allows safe air
travel today such as accurate weather reporting, weather radar, long range communication systems,
things that we take for granted now had not yet been invented. When it was cold, the crews
froze. When they flew high, they got altitude sickness. And when they were shot down it
was usually in a raging inferno where they had to decide between burning to death or
jumping to their death. They saw action as the eyes of the fleet, as bombers, and as
reconnaissance aircraft against, and while their success as a weapon of war is debatable;
the bravery of the men who operated them is not.
Now, it wasn’t only Germany that used zeppelins in the war, several other nations did and
you can look that up. Time constraints prevent me from covering that here. To learn more
about von Lewttow-Vorbeck and German East Africa, click here for our bio about him.
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