One hundred years of aerial bombing.

[catsmate]

OK I'm a couple of days late and I'm aware that the Zeppelin raids were arguably not the first aerial bombing (i.e. the Italian War of Independence, the First Balkan War and the Mexican Revolution) however I believe that these raids were the true beginning of aerial bombardment as a part of war.

On the morning of January 19th 1915 two Zeppelin airships of the Imperial German Navy, the L3 and L4, took off from Fuhlsbüttel in Germany. Both carried eight explosive and 25 incendiary bombs, together with fuel for approximately thirty hours of flight. The operation had bee authorised by Kaiser Wilhelm II to attack military and industrial buildings on Humberside in England. A third airship, L6, had bee assigned to attack targets in the Thames Estuary but not in London, but was forced to turn back by engine problems.

Bad weather caused L3 and L4 to abort the attack on Hunberside and instead they switched to the coastal towns of Norfolk. Both airships crossed the coast of East Anglia a little north of Great Yarmouth with L3 heading south east towards Great Yarmouth and L4 north west towards Kings Lynn.

L3 found Great Yarmouth and dropped its bombs, killing Samuel Smith and Martha Taylor, the first British civilians to be killed by aerial bombardment.
L4 dropped the first bomb to fall on Britain soil at Sheringham. Two fatalities (Percy Goate and Alice Gazely) were caused at Kings Lynn.

 

[Ranb]

Wikipedia says a German Zeppelin bombed the Belgian city of Liège on 6 August 1914. The zeppelins appeared to be a costly waste of resources like the V2.

Ranb

 

[Craig B]

OK I'm a couple of days late and I'm aware that the Zeppelin raids were arguably not the first aerial bombing (i.e. the Italian War of Independence, the First Balkan War and the Mexican Revolution) however I believe that these raids were the true beginning of aerial bombardment as a part of war.

I can't see why we should deny that distinction to the Italian operations against the Ottomans in Tripolitania, now Libya.

The Italo-Turkish War saw numerous technological changes, notably the airplane. On October 23, 1911, an Italian pilot, Captain Carlo Piazza, flew over Turkish lines on the world's first aerial reconnaissance mission, and on November 1, the first ever aerial bomb was dropped by Sottotenente Giulio Gavotti, on Turkish troops in Libya, from an early model of Etrich Taube aircraft. The Turks, lacking anti-aircraft weapons, were the first to shoot down an aeroplane by rifle fire.

The Italians also used dirigible airships - also for the first time; as well as armoured cars; their first outing too.

That first ever military air operation was an Italian reconnaissance flight over Benghazi in 1911. It is interesting that flights over the same city were undertaken in the centenary year of that first mission, albeit by more powerful aircraft.

 

[dudalb]

Dammit,Craig B,ya beat me to it concerning the Italians in Libya in 1911.

 

[catsmate]

I can't see why we should deny that distinction to the Italian operations against the Ottomans in Tripolitania, now Libya. <snip>.

Principally because that was a purely military target, while the Zeppelin raids were aimed at cities, and on a tiny scale, while the Zeppelin would continue and be extended in scope.

 

[Craig B]

Principally because that was a purely military target, while the Zeppelin raids were aimed at cities, and on a tiny scale, while the Zeppelin would continue and be extended in scope.

Well, the expression you used was

aerial bombardment as a part of war.

and the Libya occurrence was certainly that. But if you define aerial bombardment solely as mass attacks on general targets including civilian populations I suppose you're right.

By the way, the Italians, in colonising Libya, did not omit the slaughter of civilians on a largish scale, though the technical limitations on air power in that early period prevented them at first from using aircraft for the purpose.

Thousands of Italian troops, mostly from southern regions such as Sicily, were conscripted to die in the Libyan desert over the course of a war that would last some twenty years. In the process, the Italians effectively decimated Libya's civilian population. By the time the Allies liberated the nation in 1943 as a prelude to the invasion of Sicily, kicking out Italian troops once and for all, there were fewer Libyans than there had been in 1912, despite general population trends reflecting an increase in neighbouring nations. That's because the Italians massacred the Libyans in a process of genocide rivalled (in modern Italian history) only by the Ethiopian occupation--and led by the same infamous general, Rodolfo Graziani (1882-1955), convicted of war crimes following the Second World War.

 

[rjh01]

Wikipedia says a German Zeppelin bombed the Belgian city of Liège on 6 August 1914. The zeppelins appeared to be a costly waste of resources like the V2.

Ranb

I was told that the British diverted a lot of resources to shooting down the zeppelins. One of the main problems with the zeppelins is that they could not go high enough to keep out of the range of aircraft. The crews did not carry oxygen nor were they in pressurized cabins.

 

[Craig B]

I was told that the British diverted a lot of resources to shooting down the zeppelins. One of the main problems with the zeppelins is that they could not go high enough to keep out of the range of aircraft. The crews did not carry oxygen nor were they in pressurized cabins.

They did, at least on occasion, carry oxygen.

New types of Zeppelin with improved ceilings restored the advantage, but led to further flying and navigation problems; oxygen was needed to fly at high altitude

I'm sure I've also seen photos of the crew of a Staaken heavy bomber using an oxygen cylinder on a raid. Oddly, the Germans used heavy bombers during the First World War, but not the Second.

 

[rjh01]

They did, at least on occasion, carry oxygen. I'm sure I've also seen photos of the crew of a Staaken heavy bomber using an oxygen cylinder on a raid. Oddly, the Germans used heavy bombers during the First World War, but not the Second.

Your link says oxygen was required. However that was not a complete solution.

Cruising at seventy MPH and beyond the top-out range of British fighters, crew members fought oxygen depravation, dizziness, bitter cold, snapped oil lines, congealed oil, frozen radiators, and cracked windows.
<snip>
The Germans had discovered maintaining ships higher than 16,000 feet for four hours or more caused severe headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Crew members became exhausted and gasped for air. They grew inefficient, apathetic, and collapsed at their posts. To help resolve the situation the German navy began issuing bottles of compressed oxygen. The problem was that the breathing apparatus that regulated the gas flow was extremely primitive and the oxygen was contaminated with glycerin and other impurities. Crew members who used it experienced nausea for days afterwards.

http://sped2work.tripod.com/zeppelins.html

 

[Craig B]

Your link says oxygen was required. However that was not a complete solution.


http://sped2work.tripod.com/zeppelins.html

I was responding to your original observation that

The crews did not carry oxygen

You're now stating that they did carry oxygen, but that the breathing apparatus was inefficient. These two statements contradict each other. I think that the first is wrong, and the second is right.

 

[catsmate]

I was told that the British diverted a lot of resources to shooting down the zeppelins. One of the main problems with the zeppelins is that they could not go high enough to keep out of the range of aircraft. The crews did not carry oxygen nor were they in pressurized cabins.

Yes, the effects of the raids were mainly psychological and cost far more resources to be used to neutralise them that was really justified.

 

[rjh01]

I was responding to your original observation that You're now stating that they did carry oxygen, but that the breathing apparatus was inefficient. These two statements contradict each other. I think that the first is wrong, and the second is right.

The link says that when the raids started they did not carry oxygen. Later on they did (is that all airships or just some? That is not specified) but the apparatus was very primitive and had serious side-effects. They probably did not use it all the time for that reason. Going at high altitude also had other effects. The link has more details. In short you cannot say that I am right or wrong.

 

[Craig B]

The link says that when the raids started they did not carry oxygen. Later on they did (is that all airships or just some? That is not specified) but the apparatus was very primitive and had serious side-effects. They probably did not use it all the time for that reason. Going at high altitude also had other effects. The link has more details. In short you cannot say that I am right or wrong.

In short, the plain statement that they did not carry oxygen is wrong. They may not have been able to use it effectively, but at least some of them did carry it at least on some occasions, so your statement is wrong.

 

[zooterkin]

Yes, the effects of the raids were mainly psychological and cost far more resources to be used to neutralise them that was really justified.

There's a well-known poster from the time of a soldier shaking his fist at a Zeppelin, standing by the body of (presumably) his wife, with a crying child being comforted beside him; the caption is "Daily Chronicle readers are covered against the risks of bombardment by Zeppelin or aeroplane". Which seems somewhat bizarre; I'm not sure how it worked in practice.

 

[Craig B]

There's a well-known poster from the time of a soldier shaking his fist at a Zeppelin, standing by the body of (presumably) his wife, with a crying child being comforted beside him; the caption is "Daily Chronicle readers are covered against the risks of bombardment by Zeppelin or aeroplane". Which seems somewhat bizarre; I'm not sure how it worked in practice.

Maybe if a charred copy of that journal was found in the smouldering ruins of your house, the Daily Chronicle paid for your and your family's funeral. Assuming they could find enough bits of you to bury.