Zeppelin raid on Liverpool or Manchester?

[Keelagher]

I was talking to my cousin recently she was telling me our Grandma told her she saw a Zeppelin raid in the Great War. My Grandma was in Service in both Liverpool and Manchester during those years. I was very sceptical at first but have since found a reference to a mass raid, which did not go well from a German point of view with many Zeppelins being lost. I cannot find out if any actually made it to either Liverpool or Manchester, were any bombs dropped at all.

Any info would be of great interest.

[daggers]

I have a small book or pamphlet 'Zeppelins over Lancashire' by Peter J.C. Smith, published in 1991, 36 pages, £2.50. It states that the L21 flew over Bolton, Blackburn and Rossendale on 25/6 Sept 1916 and the L61 was over Widnes, Wigan , Little Hulton and Crompton on 12/13 April 1918. There is much more detail, but it seems clear that neither Liverpool nor Manchester received either of these unwelcome visitors. However 29 soldiers of 3rd Battalion, Manchester Regiment were killed when a bomb was dropped on Cleethorpes on 31 March 1916, and another 53 were wounded. This was the worst single incident in all the Zeppelin raids.

The book was one of many local history publications by the late Neil Richardson. Copies may still be circulating in the Manchester region, which was his main area of interest.

D

[Tom Morgan]

There was at least one Zeppelin raid which targeted Liverpool, in which some commanders believed they were attacking Liverpool, but they were miles off-target.

http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/zeppelin.htm

Tom

[spconnolly007]

In addition to daggers reply, Thomas Fegan's 'Baby Killers' states that on the 26th September 1916 the L21, which had already bombed Rawtenstall and Holcombe that evening, came from the north-east over Ramsbottom then Astley Bridge where a bomb fell harmlessly in a field near an orphanage at 12.20 a.m. It then proceeded south-west and circled Bolton town centre - which Oberleutenant Frankenberg believed to be Derby - in an anti-clockwise direction, clearly visible to the onlookers below. Some twenty bombs were dropped in total and, although several failed to explode and the gas works and Town Hall were missed, the raider managed to inflict considerable damage. Thirteen were killed here (five men, five women and three girls) while a further fourteen were recovered from rubble with serious injuries. L21 dropped further bombs on Ormrod & Hardcastle's cotton mill and behind Parrot Street where extensive damage occurred. Dud's were then dropped, which fell through the roof of Holy Trinity Church and struck business premises in Mawdsley Street and Old Hall Street South. The Zeppelin then headed away north at 12.45 a.m. passing close to Blackburn and dropped a last bomb near Skipton. It passed out to sea north of Whitby just after 3.00 a.m.

The earlier raid on Rawtenstall saw an incendiary fall harmlessly and intact near Height Side House, this is now on display at Whitaker Park Museum in the town.

Regards,

Sean.

[bill24chev]

.

The book was one of many local history publications by the late Neil Richardson. Copies may still be circulating in the Manchester region, which was his main area of interest.

D

I believe copies are still available in the Central library in Bolton

Of special interest to me as the bomb near Parrot street was only yards away from where my father, then aged two, was peacefully sleeping. Releasing the bomb a few seconds earlier I may well not be here talking about it.

[John_Hartley]

but they were miles off-target.

IIRC, one dropped a bomb on the Swinton area - now part of the borough of Salford, Greater Manchester.

[Tom Morgan]

I didn't know that, John. Certainly the commander who reported seeing big explosions among the dock installations of Liverpool was about 65 miles inland at the time!

[John_Hartley]

Tom

I met a bloke when I was doing an adult education course a couple of years back who remembered it as a toddler.

John

[bill24chev]

A next door neighbour of mine was twelve at the time and lived on the opposite side of the Eagle Mill to where the most deadly bomb landed.

She always told the story of how her descriptive essay on the raid gave her a pass in the examination that children then had to take to be eligible to leave school at 12 to start work.

Incidentally, and call it fate, in WW2 she was living in Kirk St. , the seen of most fatalities in 1916, when a bomb destroyed her 1916 house causing a number of fatalities. As the Blues Brothers would say "God moves in mysterious ways"

[Warwick]

Your question, and the replies have prompted me to check through the letters of my Great Great Uncle...

News of the zepplin raids clearly reached those on the front line promting thoughts of home - in a letter home to family in Accrington on the 5th October my GGU writes "I'm told you've had Zeps over Accrington way. Is it so? I hope no damage done..." thanks to the responses above I can now put these throw away comments on the back of a letter into context!

Warwick

[Stephen Nulty]

Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust at www.wlct.org produce a local history publication called "Past Foward" and they have had a few Zeppelin articles over the years. The search engine on the site will give you the details

[IRC Kevin]

Some good information on the Wigan raid here.

http://www.wiganworl...D 1918&offset=0