![Eastern Daily Press: The first zeppelin raid on England at Great Yarmouth on 19th January 1915 - Damaged houses at St Peters Plain edp 6/11/2002]( "Eastern Daily Press: The first zeppelin raid on England at Great Yarmouth on 19th January 1915 - Damaged houses at St Peters Plain edp 6/11/2002")
The first zeppelin raid on England at Great Yarmouth on 19th January 1915 - Damaged houses at St Peters Plain edp 6/11/2002
On January 19, 1915 Great Yarmouth became the first target of a German Zeppelin during the First World War.
MORE; town remembers air raid deadAirship L3, piloted by Kapitan Leutnant Hans Fritz, dropped hundreds of pounds worth of bombs on the resort claiming the lives of two people; 53-year-old shoemaker Samuel Smith and 72-year-old widow Martha Taylor.
The greatest damage was caused by the 110lb of explosives dropped in St Peter's Plain. It blew out the front of St Peter's Villa and the workshop opposite was badly damaged.
The same night King's Lynn was bombed and Percy Goate and Alice Gazley were killed when Zeppelin L4 dropped bombs on Bentinck Street.
![Eastern Daily Press: Aerial raider: the German naval Zeppelin L3 which carried out the war’s first strategic bombing raid against Great Yarmouth. The airship is being walked back into the shed at Fuhlsbuttel and clearly shows the open control car.]( "Eastern Daily Press: Aerial raider: the German naval Zeppelin L3 which carried out the war’s first strategic bombing raid against Great Yarmouth. The airship is being walked back into the shed at Fuhlsbuttel and clearly shows the open control car.")
Aerial raider: the German naval Zeppelin L3 which carried out the war’s first strategic bombing raid against Great Yarmouth. The airship is being walked back into the shed at Fuhlsbuttel and clearly shows the open control car. (Image: Archant)
MORE; painting recalls Zeppelin fightTwo incendiary bombs were dropped on Sheringham the same night.
When the war started in 1914, the German armed forces had several Zeppelins, each capable of travelling at about 85 mph and carrying up to two tons of bombs. With military deadlock on the Western Front, they decided to use them against towns and cities in Britain.
![Eastern Daily Press: Blasted from the air: the scene in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, near where a man and woman were killed and several other people had lucky escapes in the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk.]( "Eastern Daily Press: Blasted from the air: the scene in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, near where a man and woman were killed and several other people had lucky escapes in the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk.")
Blasted from the air: the scene in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, near where a man and woman were killed and several other people had lucky escapes in the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk. (Image: Archant)
![Eastern Daily Press: Blasted from the air: the scene in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, near where a man and woman were killed and several other people had lucky escapes in the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk.]( "Eastern Daily Press: Blasted from the air: the scene in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, near where a man and woman were killed and several other people had lucky escapes in the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk.")
Blasted from the air: the scene in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, near where a man and woman were killed and several other people had lucky escapes in the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk. (Image: Archant)
![Eastern Daily Press: Blitzed: a soldier surveys the damage to Drakes Buildings on the morning after the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Great Yarmouth. A century on, the once shrapnel-scarred property survives as a house.]( "Eastern Daily Press: Blitzed: a soldier surveys the damage to Drakes Buildings on the morning after the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Great Yarmouth. A century on, the once shrapnel-scarred property survives as a house.")
Blitzed: a soldier surveys the damage to Drakes Buildings on the morning after the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Great Yarmouth. A century on, the once shrapnel-scarred property survives as a house. (Image: Archant)
![Eastern Daily Press: Wrecked: the bomb that fell in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, during the January 1915 Zeppelin raid shattered the premises of local builder J E Pestell which had to be demolished. His family’s living quarters were also badly damaged, but the only casualty was a pet canary. After the war, Pestell’s undertook the construction of the town’s war memorial.]( "Eastern Daily Press: Wrecked: the bomb that fell in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, during the January 1915 Zeppelin raid shattered the premises of local builder J E Pestell which had to be demolished. His family’s living quarters were also badly damaged, but the only casualty was a pet canary. After the war, Pestell’s undertook the construction of the town’s war memorial.")
Wrecked: the bomb that fell in St Peter’s Plain, Great Yarmouth, during the January 1915 Zeppelin raid shattered the premises of local builder J E Pestell which had to be demolished. His family’s living quarters were also badly damaged, but the only casualty was a pet canary. After the war, Pestell’s undertook the construction of the town’s war memorial. (Image: Archant)
![Eastern Daily Press: Zeppelin victim: King's Lynn woman Alice Maud Gazley, one of two people killed by L4’s bombs, pictured with her husband, Percy George Gazley, who had been killed while serving in France with the Rifle Brigade a few weeks earlier.]( "Eastern Daily Press: Zeppelin victim: King's Lynn woman Alice Maud Gazley, one of two people killed by L4’s bombs, pictured with her husband, Percy George Gazley, who had been killed while serving in France with the Rifle Brigade a few weeks earlier.")
Zeppelin victim: King's Lynn woman Alice Maud Gazley, one of two people killed by L4’s bombs, pictured with her husband, Percy George Gazley, who had been killed while serving in France with the Rifle Brigade a few weeks earlier. (Image: Archant)
![Eastern Daily Press: Ruin from the air: a number of people had miraculous escapes from the remains of their homes after a single bomb laid waste to back-to-back terraces around Bentinck Street, King’s Lynn, during the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk.]( "Eastern Daily Press: Ruin from the air: a number of people had miraculous escapes from the remains of their homes after a single bomb laid waste to back-to-back terraces around Bentinck Street, King’s Lynn, during the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk.")
Ruin from the air: a number of people had miraculous escapes from the remains of their homes after a single bomb laid waste to back-to-back terraces around Bentinck Street, King’s Lynn, during the January 1915 Zeppelin raid on Norfolk. (Image: Archant)
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