![LZ61 (L21)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/LZ61_%28L21%29.png)
The ''LZ 61'' was a
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
German Navy
The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...
airship, allocated the tactical numbering 'L 21'. It carried out a total of ten raids on England, and 17 reconnaissance missions.
Raids on England
The ''LZ 61'' took part in a total of ten raids on England during 1916. These included:
*31 January
:It was ordered to attack Liverpool, but problems with night navigation meant that instead it bombed
Tipton
Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham.
Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...
,
Bradley
Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English.
Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular.
It is also an Anglicisation of t ...
,
Wednesbury
Wednesbury () is a market town in Sandwell in the county of West Midlands, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. Historically part of Staffordshire in the Hundred of Offlow, at the 2011 Census the town had a population of ...
, and
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...
: killing over 30 people - including Julia Slater, Walsall's Lady Mayoress.
*1 April
:It attacked
Cleethorpes
Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then develo ...
, dropping several bombs on the town just after midnight. One of which landed on the Alexandra Road Baptist Chapel, killing 31 soldiers of the 3rd Battalion the
Manchester Regiment
The Manchester Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1958. The regiment was created during the 1881 Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot and the 96th ...
, who were billeted there.
One of the only British Army units to be directly engaged by enemy action on British soil during World War I.
*2 September
:It took part in the largest airship attack of the war with 13 other naval airships and also four army airships - 16 in total. During this raid, the crew of the ''LZ 61'' witnessed the downing of the
''SL 11'', the first airship to be shot down over the British mainland.
*25–26 September
:It was unable to find its designated targets of Derby and Nottingham, and instead attacked
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
,
Lumb,
Rawtenstall
Rawtenstall () is a town in the borough of Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The town lies 15 miles/24 km north of Manchester, 22 miles/35 km east of Preston and 45 miles/70 km south east of the county town of Lancaster. The town is at the cen ...
,
Ewood Bridge,
Stonefold,
Haslingden
Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town (including Helmshore) had a population of 15,96 ...
,
Helmshore
Helmshore is a village in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, England, south of Haslingden between the A56 and the B6235, north of Manchester. The population at the 2011 census was 5,805. The housing in Helmshore is mixed, with some two-up, two- ...
,
Rossendale,
Ramsbottom
Ramsbottom is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 17,872.
Historically in Lancashire, it is on the River Irwell in the West Pennine Moors, northwest of Bury, a ...
and
Holcombe.
Destruction of the ''LZ 61''
On 27 November 1916, ten Zeppelins set out in two groups, heading for the Midlands and the North of England. One, the ''L.21'', crossed the English coast at
Atwick
__NOTOC__
Atwick is a village and civil parish in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The village is near the North Sea coast, and north of Hornsea on the B1242 road.
The civil parish is formed by the village of Atwick and th ...
at 21:20, and then turned north to evade patrolling aircraft before heading to
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
, where it was driven off by heavy anti-aircraft fire. An effective
blackout shielded
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
from attack, so the airship headed southwest to
the Potteries
The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall, which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of ...
where it dropped a number of bombs on industrial targets in Stoke, causing some damage, but no casualties. At 01:30, it headed for home, setting a course towards Great Yarmouth. It was spotted by two RNAS aircraft north of
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, but managed to evade them. Over
East Dereham, it was spotted by Flight Lieutenant W. R. Gaynor, who was forced to abort his attack after suffering engine failure. However, reports of the ''L.21''s movements had reached Great Yarmouth, so at dawn
Egbert Cadbury and Flight Sub Lieutenant Gerard W. R. Fane took off in their
B.E.2c
The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including establis ...
fighters to intercept. They were joined by Flight Sub Lieutenant Edward L. Pulling from
RNAS Bacton. Cadbury later reported:
I saw the Zeppelin approaching the coast and immediately chased after it. It was flying about 5,000 feet when I first saw it and it immediately climbed to 8,000 feet. I went after it. I approached from the stern about 3,000 feet below and fired four drums of explosive ammunition in to its stern, which immediately started to light. At the same time one of the other pilots was flying over the Zeppelin and to his horror he saw a man in the machine-gun pit run to the other side and leap overboard. Having seen the Zeppelin circle down to the sea in a blazing mass – a most horrible sight – I went back to Yarmouth. I could not say I felt very elated or pleased at this; somehow I was overawed at the spectacle of this Zeppelin and all the people aboard going down into the sea.
Commanders
Operational bases
Confusion with SL 11
For unknown reasons, when the
''SL 11'' became the first German airship to be shot down over England, it was described officially and in the press as the Zeppelin ''L 21'' (the ''LZ 61''s tactical number). This misidentification persisted for decades, even though it is clear that the authorities were always aware of its correct identity.
One suggestion for this confusion was a calculation by the authorities that the downing of a hated and feared Zeppelin 'baby killer', would be received better with the public than the destruction of an almost unknown
Schütte-Lanz type.
Accordingly, the 1918 film ''
The Last Raid of Zeppelin L-21'' told the story of the ''SL 11''s destruction and not that of the ''LZ 61''.
References
*
*
External links
Zeppelin Airship L21 over Lancashire
{{LZ Navbox
Airships of the Imperial German Navy
1910s German bomber aircraft
Hydrogen airships
Zeppelins
1916 in Germany
Aircraft first flown in 1916