A Fine Feat of Arms: The Zeppelin Base Raids, Autumn 1914

In the summer of 1914, as Europe teetered on the brink of war, the spectre of immediate Zeppelin raids on London and other major British towns and cities loomed large. When First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill accepted responsibility for the aerial defence of London, he recognised that Zeppelins were most vulnerable when on the ground. Despite limited resources, he believed that attack provided the best method of defence against the Zeppelin menace and, in autumn 1914, authorized the Royal Naval Air Service to carry out raids on Zeppelin bases in Germany.

Whereas much of what we study in the First World War focuses on the actions of great bodies of men - of divisions, corps and armies – this talk highlights the work of individuals, the handful of men who carried out some of history’s earliest examples of strategic bombing, at a time when aviation itself was in its infancy. It is a tale of great courage, intrepidity and much derring-do!