Ian Castle will cover:
an overview of the Zeppelin campaign and how they were defeated - but it includes detailed looks at the raids on Sheffield and Derby, but not Nottingham
The Forgotten Blitz and the Defeat of the Zeppelins’ by Ian Castle
At the beginning of the First World War, Britain had little in the way of an aerial defence capability, and when Zeppelin airships appeared over the country in 1915 there were few anti-aircraft guns and only a limited number of aeroplanes to oppose them. As such, Zeppelin raiders roamed largely unmolested for 20 months, inflicting death and destruction on cities and towns across Britain. But in September 1916, the introduction of new weapons changed the nature of the air war over Britain.
An author and a leading historian of Germany’s WW1 air raids on Britain, Ian Castle will tell the fascinating story of these early air raids, this forgotten blitz. The talk will explore the impact of the raids on Germany’s main target, London, but also look in detail at raids on Derby (31 Jan 1916) and Sheffield (26 Sept 1916), the gradual improvement in Britain’s air defences and the ultimate repulse of the Zeppelin onslaught.
Ian Castle
