Achtung! Zeppelins Back Over London

The Zeppelins are back over London. This summer, a German airship company is offering the chance to take scenic flights over London starting at $390 for a half-hour trip. The craft is a Zeppelin NT (New Technology, to remind people it's filled with non-flammable helium rather than hydrogen), and the visit has been sponsored by a brewing company.

It's all very different from the first time around, when the Zeppelins came during the First World War.

On January 15th, 1915, the Kaiser issued the authorization for bombing raids on Great Britain. This was a bold move, as attacks which would endanger civilians had previously been avoided as they were considered unlawful. After various minor raids, on 13th may 1915 the Zeppelin LZ 38 succeeded in attacking the capital, dropping its load of thirty-five high-explosive and ninety incendiary bombs over London. The first bomb killed a three-year old girl, and a total of seven people died.

The attack was widely seen in Britain as an outrage. Thomas Fegan's book on the WWI raids is called Baby Killers -- a term frequently applied to the raiders. People with German-sounding names were attacked in the streets and businesses were destroyed by mobs.

The idea of aerial bombardment was new. Something had to be done, but the defenses were very haphazard at first. Fegan quotes one account, from a Lt Commander Rawlinson, of pursuing a Zeppelin with the capital's only effective anti-aircraft weapon, a 75mm cannon mounted in the back of an armored truck. Unfortunately, he had to negotiate London's crowded streets at high speed in the process:

I feel quite confident that no man who ever took that drive will ever forget any part of it, and particularly Oxford Street [London's fashionable shopping street], which presented an almost unbelievable spectacle. I had such an anxious time of it that I had no time to laugh…The noise of our sirens being deafening as the glare of our headlight was dazzling, the buses in every direction were seeking safety on the pavement. I also observed several instances of people flattening themselves against shop windows, the public at that time being infinitely more fearful of a gun moving at such a terrific speed than they were of any German bombs.

Rawlinson eventually reached the Artillery Ground, appropriately enough -- an open area from which he could open fire. The
75mm rounds failed to damage the Zeppelin, Fegan records. But the shell bursts were close enough that Rawlinson could justifiably claim to have driven it off.

This time, it's a much more amicable type of visit. Nobody will be taking pot-shots at German airships. But the Zeppelin raids opened a new chapter in modern war. Fegan quotes from a diarist at the time which in the 21st century might be echoed by civilians in conflict zones all over the world:

"What a degrading war this is besides being a bloodthirsty and a terrible one. The poisonous gases, the Zeppelins, the torpedoes…all strike a note of mean unfairness. But as someone said the other day,
"There are no civilians now, we are all soldiers."

[Photo: Muzza_]