Two days after nine German
zeppelins dropped close to 400 bombs throughout the English Midlands, the crew
of the British fishing trawler King Stephen comes across the crashed
remains of one of the giant airships floating in the North Sea.
Developed by a German army
officer, Count Ferdinand Zeppelin, and first flown in 1900, the zeppelin was an
impressive aircraft by the beginning of World War I. With the
capacity to carry five machine guns and up to 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) of
bombs, it could reach a maximum speed of 136 kilometers per hour (84.5 miles
per hour) and a height of 4,250 meters (13,943 feet).
The first zeppelin attack on
England took place on January 19, 1915, when two of the airships bombed the
English coastal towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, killing a total of
four people. The first bombing raid on London came on May 31 of that year, when
a single zeppelin dropped 90 small bombs and 30 grenades on the city, leaving
seven dead and 35 wounded.
The raid of January 31, 1916,
by nine zeppelins was one of the largest Britain saw during the war. The
Germans bombed the West Midlands towns of Bradley, Tipton, Wednesbury and
Walsall. Across the region, more than 70 people were killed and more than 100
injured in the attacks.
Just before daybreak on
February 2, King Stephen skipper William Martin spotted a downed airship
partially submerged in the North Sea. The skipper and his crew waited at a safe
distance until daylight when they confirmed the wreckage was that of a German
zeppelin with the identification mark L-19. With three of its four engines
failing, the L-19 had reportedly come under Dutch fire, which punctured
its gas cells and brought it down, killing some of the crew.
The nine unarmed men aboard
the King Stephen saw that about 20 German soldiers had survived the
crash. Fearful that the German airmen could easily overpower them and take
control of the ship, Martin and his crew refused the soldiers' pleas for help
and did not take the men aboard, choosing instead to return to Britain to
report their discovery to the authorities. The remaining crew of the L-19
disappeared with their craft. Word of the incident soon got out in both Germany
and Britain--some saw Martin's decision as a necessary one to protect his crew,
while others, including some Britons, vilified Martin for what they saw as an
unpardonable act of cruelty, even for wartime.
Taken from: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/zeppelin-crashes-into-north-sea
[02.02.2015]
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