LZ85 - The Salonika Zeppelin

[alldog]

Hi,

Apart from HMS Agamemnon and TB18, the Patrie, HMS St George, Monitor M19 and HMS Canning all fired at the LZ85. This small list is compiled from several sources and most probably incomplete.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards

Ian

I asked and got he reply that HMS Queen Elizabeth was at Scapa Flow in March 1916 so she can't have fired at the Salonika Zeppelin unless her 15" guns had an unusually long range! It seems odd that someone who was there would make a mistake but some records were written later - very much later occasionally - so I think all we can say for certain is that a British warship fired large-calibre shells.

Keith

[Rockdoc]

In my question thread HERE, it's suggested that HMS Agamemnon may also have been in Salonika Harbour. Perhaps some of the confusion comes from the crews of every gun, whether on ship or on shore, wanting to be able to say they had something to do with bringing the airship down. After the trials and tribulations of the retreat from Serbia and the discomforts of building the Birdcage through a Balkan winter the various forces would have relished a piece of good fortune and the men of all the units involved would have been heroes. From what's been written in these threads, it seems that vast quantities of shells were in the sky that night so confusion in the records is probably inevitable.

Keith

[alldog]

Hi Keith,

Yes, the Agamemnon was there and although shots were fired from many ships - including those listed in my last post - it was largely believed at the time that the gun crew of the Agamemnon had made the decisive shot in bringing down the Zeppelin. The Zeppelin was already in trouble. listing and heading towards the marshes before the TB18 managed to get her shells on target just before she crashed. A report I read some time ago stated that several ships shot at the LZ85 and they were located "at the boom" - I am no naval expert and so I am unsure as to what is meant by this?

Kind regards

Ian

[Revan]

Hello,

Thank you "high wood" for these photographs, very beautiful and interesting.

I will search a list of French destroyer or escort boat in the area for to find in their board books online in French archives, some records of some British HMS in April-May. I have started a little this research (only a destroyer : http://pages14-18.me...sujet_862_1.htm ), but I have only found the "HMS RUSSELL" wich was seen one day before that it was sunk near Malta, and I haven't continued after.

Regards.

Edit : English to British, sorry.

[Jim_Grundy]

Mansfield man, Sergeant A. Smith, 78th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, wrote an account of the destruction of the Zeppelin LZ85:

“The scene is laid in a huge amphitheatre of rocky hills, with the town of Salonica and its bay forming the arena. The time (according to Divisional Headquarters) is 2.15 a.m., and the camps – English, French, and Serbian – lie sleeping quietly under the eastern moon.

“Here and there the figures of sentries are seen, sharply silhouetted against the sky, on the summit of some rocky ridge, and then with a glint of steel where the light flashes on the bayonets, they turn and disappear.

“On the other side of the bay, forty miles away, the snow-capped peak of Mount Olympus rises from a collar of white, feathery clouds. From the lower slopes of the hills, below the camps, comes the murmurous tinkling of bells, as some sheep move restlessly in the folds. Frogs croak occasionally in the streams which now trickle feebly over the boulders torn down from the hills in the fury of winter storms. All else is silent, and only an occasional flash from the searchlights on hill-top and battleship reveal a never-ceasing state of watchfulness.

“Suddenly the roar of an anti-aircraft gun breaks into the calm of the night, and pandemonium is let loose. Other batteries join in the firing, and the bursting shells throw splashes of lurid light against the sky. The searchlights, after sweeping the heavens in search of the foe, rapidly converge as the Zeppelin is sighted, and a moment later, the whirr of her propellers is heard faintly through the clear air. The troops spring forth from tent and bivouac, and prepare to seek the shelter of dugout and trench, that is, those who are lucky enough to possess these shelters. Tonight, however, their precautions are needless, for victory is with the gunners.

“Amongst the first half-dozen shells sent heavenwards by the keen-sighted artillerymen, one at least has found its mark, and the monster is evidently not answering properly to her steering gear. She swings slowly over the hills, and drifts over the town, most of whose inhabitants, mindful of the slaughter of former air-raids, have taken refuge in cellars at the first sound of firing. Every moment one expects to hear the crash of falling bombs, but doubtless the airship’s crew are busy trying some measure to repair the damaged portions of their charge, and so the town, with its innocent population, goes scathless, for this time at least. The searchlights reveal the fact that the huge airship is at a lower altitude, and is pursuing an erratic course round the bay. And now the naval gunners have their turn, and their performance justifies our faith in the supremacy of British naval gunnery. With a thunderous roar they open fire from deck guns and fighting tops, and the Zeppelin, like some huge beast, wounded to the death and groping blindly for an avenue of escape, twice makes the circle of the bay, her envelope torn by shell fragments. She makes one futile effort for freedom, and sheers off landward, but her wounds are mortal, and descending at a steep angle, she comes down with a crash into the marshes at the mouth of the River Vardar. In the downward flight her crew throw themselves overboard the stock of bombs to avoid being blown to pieces by their own weapons, and these explode harmlessly on reaching the water.

“A torpedo boat destroyer, rushing across the bat at top speed, pours in a volley from quick-firing guns; the escaping gas catches fire, and a burst of yellow flame illumines the dreary waste of marshland, destroying the fabric and inflammable parts in a few minutes. Mounted patrols cut off and surround such of her crew as are still alive, and the pale glimmer of early dawn shows a tangle mass of burnt framework as all that remains of the shapely structure as all that remains of the shapely structure which ten short hours before was just emerging, with a fell intent from the recently constructed hangar at Sofia, one hundred and thirty eight miles away. Such are the fortunes of modern warfare.”

‘Mansfield and North Notts Advertiser’, 16th June 1916.

[Rockdoc]

Brilliant, Jim. I've not seen such a recollection before and it makes a great deal of sense of the bits I have seen. Thanks very much.

Keith

[Jim_Grundy]

My pleasure!

[Milan]

Zepp Raider wrote:

"Interesting comment from Predrag re the capture of the crew by Serbian infantry. What's your source for this? I have always understood that the crew were rounded by French cavalry whilst, as one account puts it "drying their drenched clothes in the sun"."

apwright wrote:

"It's Ward-Price (The Story of the Salonica Army) who says the crew were captured by French cavalry while "drying their drenched clothes in the sun". Cyril Falls in the Official History also states that the captors were French cavalry."

- hello friends, sorry to bump a three year old thread to the top; not sure why Predrag didn't answer you, anyhow I was just reading "Zeppelins over Serbia" (in serbian here: https://www.scribd.com/doc/228578475/Cepelini-Nad-Srbijom ) and in it there's a quote from the book "History of Yugoslav aviation" (1933) by the Serbian officer, pilot and politician Sava Mikic ( http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sava_Mikic ) where he describes how his battalion (added to the 3rd Combined Infantry Regiment, as Predrag mentioned earlier) under the command of colonel Petar Markovic and famous Jovan Stojkovic 'Babunski' ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jovan_Babunski ) found the zeppelin ("the metal skeleton laid there in a pond like a Nile crocodile") and then captured the LZ85 crew hiding in a gully, he adds that some of them were captured in a nearby village while trying to slip into civilian clothes, heh heh... I don't think there's an english translation around, so I could give it a go if anyone's still interested...

[Errol Martyn]

By chance, just a few days ago a member of the Wings Over New Zealand forum posted some IWM images of the wrecked LZ85 here:

http://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/22125/airship-souvenirs

Also an interesting fashion statement!

Errol

[Milan]

Amazing photos, never saw them before (you have quite a few of them in this thread too

 

[ZeppRaider]

"The metal skeleton laid there in a pond like a Nile crocodile" ........... beautiful!

Thanks for reviving the post on one of my favourite Zeppelins! Interesting to have a further source re the capture of LZ85's crew. Also, I hadn't seen the New Zealand photos before.

I'll need to update my research files!

Best

David

[PFF]

Links in regard to LZ85

http://84eri.canalblog.com/archives/2007/11/23/6989822.html

http://lzdream.net/dirigeables/zeppelin/ficheszep/55/index.php

http://www.aeroconservancy.com/zepbombcarrier.htm

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30087029

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39245032@N08/5479645992/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39245032@N08/5509747704/

http://writeso.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/zeppelins-and-souvenirs/

[high wood]

This rather interesting paper knife turned up at the local antiques market this morning. It had obviously come from a trench art collector as there were several other paper knives from the same source as well as other trench art bits and pieces. The paper knives had various markings and came from different theatres but this one was cheaper because all the others were brass. Needless to say, I am still smiling.

Edited 4 December , 2016 by high wood

[ZeppRaider]

Wow! Nice find - I have a very similar one - albeit it's a 1914 bullet and says "Salonique" rather than "Salonica"

[high wood]

12 hours ago, ZeppRaider said:

Wow! Nice find - I have a very similar one - albeit it's a 1914 bullet and says "Salonique" rather than "Salonica"

 

I guess that yours is a French souvenir rather than a British one. I am very happy to finally have an artefact to go with my Salonika photographs shown earlier in this thread.

[Guest]

I see you are researching The Salonica Zeppelin LZ85.  I have a photo I can share with you before I sell it on eBay.