"He was hit by shrapnel in his hotel room while
standing at the window watching the bombing," wrote my grandfather-in-law
in his memoirs. This happened to his colleague who was on leave in London
during a Zeppelin raid, and had just mentioned to his friends how ironic it
would be to die in an air raid on London after surviving so well at the Front.
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| Zeppelins over London |
My characters have a few encounters with London raids. The
following scene is from Elusive Dawn, and describes the
first successful downing of an airship in Britain, in Sept. 1916, for which
pilot Leefe Robinson received a Victoria Cross.
The thunder of distant
explosions seemed to punctuate her statement.
“An air raid!” Sid
cried with glee. She turned out the lights and went to the window, drawing back
the blackout curtains, which were now mandatory. “Oh look, there’s a Zepp to
the north, heading our way.”
The graceful, silvery
behemoth was pinned in the beams of dozens of searchlights. Anti-aircraft fire
burst around it like holiday fireworks. As if in celebratory greeting. Even
though it appeared to be on the outskirts of London, they could hear the whine
of shells and the cacophony of explosions.
“Oooh, there are a few
more in the distance. They’ve just been spotted by the lights.” And began
dropping their bombs.
“We should go to a
shelter, or at least your cellar,” Jack suggested half-heartedly.
“Don’t be absurd,
darling. The basement is the servants’ domain. This is the only excitement I
get. I really can understand why you men want to go to the Front. There’s
something deliciously stimulating, almost erotic, about danger. It makes you
realize that you’re alive.”
“Aren’t you worried
about your reputation – if we should be killed and they find our naked bodies?”
Jack teased as he draped her silk peignoir around her shoulders.
“I don’t give a damn!
Let the sanctimonious prudes realize that I lived and loved and had more fun
than they did.” . . . “Oh, look! It’s been hit!”
The Zeppelin had been
twisting in different directions, as if it were impaled on the beams of light
and writhing to free itself. Suddenly it burst into flames, its nose drooping
down, fire scrambling up the sides until it was completely ablaze and
plummeting toward the ground.
“Poor bloody buggers,”
Jack couldn’t help saying. Fire was the aviators’ worst fear . . . He and Chas always took along their revolvers
when flying. Just in case.
The Zepp was exploding
as well, from the ammunition on board. The city was like a stage suddenly
illuminated, and they could see people out in the streets. Cheering.
The other Zeppelins
must have turned back or headed elsewhere, since they were no longer in view.
“They didn’t get very
close,” Sid said, as if disappointed the Zeppelins hadn’t dropped bombs around
her house.
Jack found himself
perturbed and annoyed by that blasé civilian attitude that some espoused – that
war was a fun diversion for a while.
He couldn’t help
thinking about the aircrew who had just been doing their duty for their
country, as he did, and who perhaps had wives and mothers and children awaiting
them back home.
His ardour dampened,
he knew it was time to leave.
During air raids, London policemen rode about on bicycles or
in cars with placards announcing that people should take cover. Boy scouts
bugled the "All Clear" when the raids were over.
Zeppelin bombing raids during the four years of the war
killed 557 people, injured 1358, and caused £3 million damage. During the last
two years if the war, the new German Gotha bombers killed an additional 836
people, injured 2,000, and caused a further £1.5 million damage. This first
“Battle of Britain” served to terrorize the population, disrupt factory
production, and draw pilots and resources away from the front lines for Home
Defence.
