EARLY BOMBING RAIDS DURING WORLD WAR I

While the Allies were focusing mainly on military targets for bombing, Germany embraced the concept f the bomber as a psychological weapon to be used against civilians. The experience of the panic caused by early Zeppelin raids over cities spurred the Germans to plan raids against enemy population centres. As early as August 1914 German aircraft were flying over Paris dropping grenades and an invitation to the Paris garrison to surrender. Within six weeks, German Etrich Taube aircraft had dropped 56 bombs, none of them heavier than 10lb, which killed 11 Parisians and injured a further 47.

The Germans tactical use of bombers in World War I is well illustrated by the 1917 German attack on British

supply train prior to the Battle of Mesines Ridge. As a result of the disruption to their supply of ammunition, British artillery had to cease firing after three hours.

Britain’s early bombing successes began with Royal Naval Air Service raids on the Zeppelin sheds at Düsseldorf and Cologne on October 8, 1914. The aircraft used were two Sopwith Tabloids. The plane attacking Cologne failed to find its target due to bad weather and bombed the railway station instead, but the other Tabloid successfully dropped a small number of 20lb bombs on the airship shed, destroying it and Zeppelin Z.9 in the process. The sheds had been targeted before by B.E.2s on September 22, but bad weather and unexploded bombs meant that the mission failed.

Britain was keen to build a dedicated bomber force, and in December 1914 the Admiralty called for the development of a large hard-hitting bomber described by Commodore Murray F. Sueter as a “bloody paralyser of an aeroplane” the resulting Handley Page O/100 entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service in November 1916, and was used at first for daylight sea patrols near Flanders. From March the following year the O/100s focused on night bombing of German naval bases, railway stations and junctions, and industrial targets.

Attacks against weapon manufacturing facilities were an effective means of removing a threat at source. In 1915 Allied aircraft set out to attack a factory at Ludwigshafen suspected of manufacturing chlorine gas dropped on Allied troops.

A long range bomber had always been a German priority so that British mainland would be within reach. In autumn 1916 the Gotha G.V appeared, and this very capable aircraft gave Germany the ability to strike at Britain itself.

On May 25, 1917 a fleet of 21 Ghotas attacked the English coastal town of Folkestone, killing 95 inhabitants. The raid caused widespread panic among a populace who now believed that Germany could rain death from the sky over Britain unopposed.  At midday on June 13 another fleet of Ghotas dropped bombs on London, and the daily raid continued for a month, largely unopposed by the RNAS and Royal Flying Corps. The effect on civilian morale was considerable and damaging, and worker’s productivity levels plummeted. The psychological impact was perhaps as damaging to Britain as the loss of life and physical destruction caused by the falling bombs.

*The ruins of Messrs Odhams Printing Works, 93 Long Acre, London, which was bombed by two giant Gothas in the worst bombing incident of the war.

The arrival into service of the Sopwith Camel forced the Gothas to switch to night bombing which caused the cost to the Germans to climb. Bombing accuracy fell, accidents happened in night flying and aircraft were shot down for little gain, so the raids ceased before the end of war. The raids had been damaging for Britain: 835 civilians were killed, 2000 were wounded and there had been three million pounds worth of damage (an enormous amount of money en 1918). However the morale and productivity problems among the population were even more damaging and showed the world that the bomber could be a war winner. 

*Image of the blog  http://ww1ha.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/air-raid-on-london-22-2/ blog