1916 German zeppelins air raid on England....
Item # 726247
October 14, 1915
EVENING TRIBUNE, San Diego, Oct. 14, 1915
* German zeppelins - airships
* Aerial raid on London - England
* World War I - WWI bombing
The front page has a nice banner headline in red lettering: "FIFTY-FIVE KILLED I N ZEPPELIN RAID ON LONDON" with subhead. (see images) Nice for display. Surprisingly this issue is in good condition being from the "wood pulp" era. Very hard to find issues that are not totally fragile from this era in paper. Rare as such.
Complete with 12 pages, small library stamp within the masthead, a little irregular along the spine, generally very nice.
Background: On the night of October 13–14, 1915, the German Navy launched the "Theatreland Raid," the deadliest air assault on London of the First World War to that date. A squadron of five Zeppelins—L 11, L 13, L 14, L 15, and L 16—navigated through ground mist and wind with the intent of crippling industrial targets like the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, but the limitations of aerial navigation led to a terrifying and more generalized bombardment of civilian areas. Most notably, L 15 successfully breached the capital’s defenses and loosed a payload of high explosives over the West End just as audiences were beginning to emerge from theaters. One devastating blast at the corner of Wellington and Exeter Streets near the Lyceum Theatre claimed 17 lives instantly, while other bombs struck Aldwych and the Strand. By the time the airships retreated toward the North Sea, they had left 71 dead and 128 injured across London and its surrounding counties. Despite a vigorous response from newly organized anti-aircraft batteries under Admiral Sir Percy Scott, the British guns failed to bring down any of the attackers; however, the sheer psychological impact of the raid and the high civilian death toll forced a radical overhaul of London’s air defenses, leading to stricter blackout laws and the eventual deployment of more effective night-fighter aircraft.
* German zeppelins - airships
* Aerial raid on London - England
* World War I - WWI bombing
The front page has a nice banner headline in red lettering: "FIFTY-FIVE KILLED I N ZEPPELIN RAID ON LONDON" with subhead. (see images) Nice for display. Surprisingly this issue is in good condition being from the "wood pulp" era. Very hard to find issues that are not totally fragile from this era in paper. Rare as such.
Complete with 12 pages, small library stamp within the masthead, a little irregular along the spine, generally very nice.
Background: On the night of October 13–14, 1915, the German Navy launched the "Theatreland Raid," the deadliest air assault on London of the First World War to that date. A squadron of five Zeppelins—L 11, L 13, L 14, L 15, and L 16—navigated through ground mist and wind with the intent of crippling industrial targets like the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, but the limitations of aerial navigation led to a terrifying and more generalized bombardment of civilian areas. Most notably, L 15 successfully breached the capital’s defenses and loosed a payload of high explosives over the West End just as audiences were beginning to emerge from theaters. One devastating blast at the corner of Wellington and Exeter Streets near the Lyceum Theatre claimed 17 lives instantly, while other bombs struck Aldwych and the Strand. By the time the airships retreated toward the North Sea, they had left 71 dead and 128 injured across London and its surrounding counties. Despite a vigorous response from newly organized anti-aircraft batteries under Admiral Sir Percy Scott, the British guns failed to bring down any of the attackers; however, the sheer psychological impact of the raid and the high civilian death toll forced a radical overhaul of London’s air defenses, leading to stricter blackout laws and the eventual deployment of more effective night-fighter aircraft.
Category: The 20th Century
