The German fleet sent a battlecruiser squadron with accompanying cruisers and destroyers, commanded by Rear Admiral Friedrich Bödicker, to bombard the coastal ports of Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Posted Message. On its way back out of Britain via Lowestoft it dropped a single bomb and crossed the coast at 0115. Card is unused and in excellent condition. Later that day a German ship struck a mine and the resultant radio traffic warned the British of the German operation. Published by Edgar & Co. of Lowestoft. If successful, the High Seas Fleet would be able to destroy significant elements of the British fleet before the main body of the British Grand Fleet could assist, reducing or eliminating the Royal Navy's numerical superiority. The aftermath of the Zeppelin raid on Lovewell Road, Lowestoft, on August 9, 1915. At 21:30, another message indicated that British patrol boats off the Belgian coast were heading back to harbour, which was interpreted as confirmation that British submarines had reported the German movements. With luck, the German battlecruisers could engage the south-east force and after defeating it would run back to the north-west, meeting the northern group in the area around Terschelling Bank. It carried out a total of ten raids on England, and 17 reconnaissance missions.1 1 Raids on England 2 Destruction of LZ 61 3 Commanders 4 Operational bases 5 Confusion with SL 11 6 References 7 External links The LZ 61 took part in a total of ten raids on England during 1916. Card has not been postally used and is in good condition. Lowestoft was bombed by Zeppelin L5 on April 13/14th, 1915. In February 1916, Admiral Reinhard Scheer became commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet and commenced a new campaign against the Royal Navy. The photograph was taken from a window giving a view of buildings destroyed by the raid. To avoid other possible mines and submarines, the battlecruiser force altered course to a route along the coast of East Friesland. At 08:30, he had located smoke from the ships, but was ordered to abandon the chase and return home. Plans derived from LZ96 were later used in the United States for construction of the first US "zeppelin", the USS Shenandoah (ZR-1). [3], Immediately before the raid, the German Navy believed that the British had a strong force in the North Sea, off Norway and another at Hoofden and off the south-east coast of England. What happens to your body in extreme heat? This had previously been avoided, because in the clear weather the ships risked being sighted from the islands of Rottum and Schiermonnikoog and their movements reported to the British. The third Zeppelin to come inland, L.15 (Joachim Breithaupt), did so at about 5.50pm, in the same area as the previous raiders. (click on image to enlarge) Zeppelin L21. More information arrived at 20:15, when an intercepted wireless message gave the information that they were headed for Yarmouth. The ships then moved off to Yarmouth but fog made it difficult to see the target. [11] The presence of these ships on the Thames was given later as one reason the Harwich destroyers were not permitted to join the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland: they were held back to escort the battleships should they be called upon to take part. Carl Chinn reports ... 1916, eight miles to the east of Lowestoft. © 2021 BBC. It was assumed that the British would now be alerted to the movements of the German ships. [5], Around 20:00, German ships received a message from the Naval Staff, that a large British fleet was operating off the Belgian coast and that another large force had been sighted off Norway on 23 April. None of the crew survived. The counties of Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk were particularly affected by German airship raids. [2] Tyrwhitt reported the sighting of four battlecruisers and six cruisers to the Grand Fleet. [2], The British already knew that the German fleet had sailed at midday. At Swaffham she headed west. She was forced to turn back with a flooded torpedocompartment from a 50 … Frankenberg, the LZ61 was on its 10th raid of England, and had also carried out 17 reconnaissance missions. Just before 01.00, the single zeppelin was spotted. WWI, attack, bomb, bombs, Zeppelin attack, World War I, World War 1, WWI, First World War, The Great War, war, Background: People examining the damage to Lowestoft after bombing raid by Zeppelin … Coronavirus Tattoo parlour 'distraught' over alleged lockdown breaches Holly Hume, Suffolk man sailed 3,600 miles to avoid lockdown, Vaccine sites to open despite Beast from the East 2, Together During Lockdown exercise scheme extended thanks to funding boost, Postal workers self-isolating after colleague at delivery office tests positive for Covid-19, Information about BBC links to other news sites, Russia expels diplomats over Navalny protests. At 15:50, the British fleet had been placed on two hours readiness and at 19:05 were ordered to sail south from Scapa Flow. On 24th April 1916, a large force of German ships set out to bombard Lowestoft and Yarmouth. [11] The German U-boats sent out to intercept British ships leaving harbour had not found any targets. Destroyed in the Ahlhorn … The map below shows the area of the Zeppelin raid over Rossendale on the 25th of September 1916, with kind permission from Mr Peter J.C. Smith, from his book entitled Zeppelins over Lancashire. The Harwich Force, including Lightfoot, set out to counter them on the night of 24th April. V. Buttlar though he was over Harwich and dumped all his bombs when he came under fire from some naval 12-pounders at Lowestoft. Max Dietrich died a day later when the zeppelin he now captained, the L34, was shot down in Tees Bay off Hartlepool. Read about our approach to external linking. "There was intense competition between the local photographers to take pictures of the damage the next day, to sell them as postcards.". It made two passes over the town, mainly dropping incendiary bombs. Boedicker failed to follow the retreating ships, assuming they were faster and probably concerned whether other, larger vessels might be about. Genre: Documentary; Wartime. [6] The ships off the Flanders coast included 12 additional destroyers from the Harwich Force, which had been sent to assist with a barrage of the coast. The crews were rescued and taken prisoner and around 07:30, the German Naval Staff passed on reports from Flanders of intercepted wireless transmissions instructing British ships to coal and then proceed to Dunkirk. Houses were damaged, two men slightly injured and two horses and a sparrow died, in the night attack on Denmark Road, in Lowestoft in 1915. Visibility over land was poor, the winds were unfavourable and the towns were better defended than had been thought. Read about our approach to external linking. The mission had been abandoned and the ships returned north to port, so that on 24 April the main body of the Grand Fleet was near its home bases of Rosyth for the battlecruiser squadron and Scapa Flow for the remainder of the Grand Fleet. [2], At noon on 24 April, German forces were in place and the operation began. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The operation had been almost a complete failure, sinking two patrol craft and damaging one cruiser and one destroyer, in exchange for serious damage to a battlecruiser, while the damage done to the naval establishments at Yarmouth and Lowestoft was light. With regard to L11's raid on Lowestoft on 9-10 August 1915, this Zeppelin took off from its base at Nordholz at 12.28pm and returned at 5.18am (more info in Robinson's The Zeppelin in Combat if you want it). The battlecruisers HMAS Australia and HMS New Zealand had collided in fog off Denmark, causing serious damage to both ships. 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