Zeppelin Reading List

[Simon_Fielding]

Apologies if this already been done...but can colleagues suggest 'must reads' on the Zeppelin phenomenon and UK raids especially?

[Martin Bennitt]

The classic work is Douglas H. Robinson's 'The Zeppelin in Combat' which was updated about 20 years ago and is still hard to beat. For something more recent, but focussing on London rather than the UK as a whole, try 'Zeppelin Nights' by Jerry White, which came out last year.

Cheers Martin B

[Aspern]

For an overview on all the raids across Britain then 'German Air Raids on Britain 1914-1918' by Joseph Morris does a job. Originally published in 1925 there is a modern paperback reprint available. Cole & Cheesman's 'The Air Defence of Britain 1914 - 1918' is excellent but hard to find and probably expensive now. I would also recommend my own book (!!), 'The First Blitz - Bombing London in the First World War' by Ian Castle. Jerry White's book 'Zeppelin Nights' is excellent but is much more a social history of London during WW1 then a book on the Zepp raids. And if you can still find it, Ray Rimell's 'Zeppelin! - A Battle for Air Supremacy in World War 1' is a must have.

www.IanCastleZeppelin.co.uk

[Simon_Fielding]

Thanks Ian and Martin - I'm going to need more shelving...

[John Beech]

Hi Simon

Another good general history of the air war is Gott Strafe England by Nigel J Parker and published by Helion. Volume one, which covers up until 1916, is a very good read and volume two, which is due to be published shortly, will cover 1917 and 1918.

I would also support the recommendations for Douglas H Robinson and Ray Rowell and Ian's book is also a very good read!

Regards

John

[Aspern]

The problem I find with Gott Strafe England is that the author has taken the War Office summary reports of the WW1 air raids published in 1919 and, in most cases, transcribed them warts and all. In the intervening years much more information has become available and therefore the analysis of the raids is not always as accurate as they could be. But if you want a transcription of the War Office summaries then this is very useful - and they do contain an awful lot of very useful information.

[Nick Beale]

My apologies for getting to this debate rather late in the day but I just finished reading “Gott Strafe England!” and searched online to find out how others rated it.

By way of introduction, I make no claims of expertise here. I research and write about the Luftwaffe in the Second World War, occasionally reading about the Great War as a break from my own field. Countless years ago I found Fredette and Robinson’s books in the library. Since then I’ve bought, inter alia, Francis Mason’s “Battle Over Britain”, Ray Rimmell’s “Zeppelin!”, Cole & Cheeseman’s “The Air Defence of Britain” and Ian Castle’s three Osprey books and I’m frequently impressed by how much more has been unearthed about 1914–18 air war than about many aspects of its 1939–45 counterpart.

I’ve come away from Parker’s work both fascinated and annoyed. On the plus side, he imparts a huge amount of information and he gives a better impression of the sheer extent of the bombing than I’ve gained from either general histories or those dedicated to specific localities. On the other hand, the set is almost entirely useless as a stand-alone — Parker doesn’t really do context. For instance you can deduce from his tabulated data that the AA defences eventually standardised on the 3” gun but he doesn’t discuss this. Similarly “proper” fighters come to dominate the defensive effort but he doesn’t talk about that either, let alone their adaptation for night fighting. He barely discusses what the Germans were trying to do, the difficulties they faced or what they thought they had achieved. Since so much of their effort was expended in meandering over Eastern England dropping the odd bomb in out of the way places, were they simply lost or trying to convince the British that nowhere was safe? About the one place he essays a bit of critical discussion is the bombing of Chelsea Hospital, noting that contemporary sources refer to a 300 kg bomb whereas Cole & Cheeseman say it was 1000 kg.

All of this I could live with because I have other books I can refer to; what I found much harder to stomach was the sheer poverty of the editing. All books (mine included) have mistakes, but for someone who writes so prolifically (his “Luftwaffe Crash Archive” series is up to 10 volumes so far) he doesn’t seem to find writing at all easy. He has a peculiarly strangulated way of constructing and punctuating sentences which time and again change subject in mid-stream, leaving you trying to work out what he was trying to say. He doesn’t do synonyms, e.g. using the word “aeroplane” five times within two successive sentences. There are also signs that he has simply applied his spellchecker without reviewing its suggestions and he has real problems with place names: both Charing Cross and Forest Gate are repeatedly awarded a double-r; Sangatte becomes “Sandgate”, Neuruppin turns into “Nauruppin” and so on; a Zeppelin crashes after bombing “Budapest” (which must have hacked off the Austro-Hungarians!) and another is lost off Otranto “near Corsica” (which is a bit like saying “off Margate, near the Isle of Skye”). The R-planes are illustrated at one point by a Siemens-Schukert [sic] which never operated over Britain. I’d infer that he knows little or no German but someone might at least have told him their nouns begin with a capital letter. Information is given and repeated in identical terms on the same page (e.g a pilot’s report and the station commander’s which quotes from it). Swathes of Vol. 2’s introduction are repeated verbatim from Vol. 1’s and the list of sources appears to be identical in both. The use of a contrasting fonts for headings, tables and captions would have made for a more accessible and attractive-looking book as well.

In Vol. 2, incidentally, he mentions that he hopes to do a third book which will sweep up, in appendices, everything he found but wasn’t able to include in the existing two. The appendices he does include are of variable pertinence to his theme: the text of a lecture on the physics and engineering of early Zeppelins is certainly interesting but does little to illuminate the raids, likewise a letter from a woman who spent time in pre-war Germany is reproduced at length, for the sake of a couple of closing sentences where she meets Graf von Zeppelin and rides in his airship.

Finally, Aspern points out above that Parker works from original reports without factoring in later research and exactly the same criticism has been levelled at his Second World War series.

 

Edited 24 September , 2017 by Nick Beale
Typos

[Simon_Fielding]

Thanks for the detailed contribution to the thread Nick. 

[James A Pratt III]

War in the Air the RAF official history does deal with air raids on England it is online at archive.org

[Aspern]

Hi Nick

 

Your comments about the lack of writing  'style' in Parker's “Gott Strafe England!” books are, I'm afraid, wasted! Mr Parker isn't writing them at all, he is just transcibing the air raid reports word-for-word originally compiled by the 'Intelligence Section, General Headquarters, Great Britain' in 1918 and 1919. Many of the errors in the originals are faithfully reproduced (!) 100 years later, ignoring the fact that later writers have corrected these, and indeed many were put right as early as 1925 when Morris wrote 'German Air Raids on Britain 1914-1918'. The errors in the originals - for instance, the identity of particular Zeppelins or their commanders  - are fully understandable when writing while the war was still going on, but not now, 100 years later! This also effects the spelling of place names on occasions. I find this concerning. I can see writers in the future picking these books up, believing them to be the result of solid research 100 years on in time, and reprinting those errors. But - errors besides - the content of the original documents is the basis of all later works on the subject, so if used well are an essential component of the story. These were of course compiled from all the individual reports made by police, fire brigades, RFC, RNAS, military commands, observers, etc., etc. and it is interesting to look at these first and then see how these original reports were complied to produce the reports that Parker has now transcribed without comment. 

 

The books also don't discuss developments in air defence either as the reports were just an analysis of each raid for official purposes. Mr Parker hasn't added any interpretation of his own of the raids so they are written in the bland official language of the time.

 

I am unfamiliar with Parker's books on WW2, but is there also a series of official report here that perhaps he is transcribing - hence the language used?

 

Regards

Ian

 

 

Edited 7 March , 2017 by Aspern
spelling

[genegwf]

Try ZEPPELINS OF WORLD WAR 1. By Wilbur Cross.

The book is fairly light reading compared to other books mentioned in this thread but it does cover missions over England in some detail.

Cross really puts emphasis on the German crews and some on the British counter measures against the Zeppelins.

 

Gene

[bill24chev]

There is a short booklet "Zepplins over Lancashire" (ISBN 1 85216 066 7) that narates the Zepplin attacks  including the attack on Bolton that took the lives of  thirteen civillians 5 men,5 women and 3 young girls aged 2, 5 and 17.

 

There are maps showing the probable route of the Attacks. During the attack on Bolton the track goes over the house/street where my Father was sleeping as a two year old. If the bombs had been released a few seconds later I would probably not be here.

 

bill

[Nick Beale]

On 07/03/2017 at 17:23, Aspern said:

Quote

 

Hi Nick

 

Your comments about the lack of writing  'style' in Parker's “Gott Strafe England!” books are, I'm afraid, wasted! Mr Parker isn't writing them at all, he is just transcibing the air raid reports word-for-word originally compiled by the 'Intelligence Section, General Headquarters, Great Britain' in 1918 and 1919 … 

 

Regards

Ian

 

 

The constant use of "proceeding in a north-westerly direction" (etc.) reminded me of how stolid police constables used to talk in black and white British comedies!

 

[James A Pratt III]

There is another book The Zeppelin Fighters by Arch Whitehouse that I recommend you avoid. Lets just say there are better books out there.

[David Filsell]

Former Great War observer and pilot, In fairness to dear old Arch, something of a hack aviation writer and judged a frequently unreliable witness, the book was written at a time when research and records were far harder to obtain than now and I also believe he had something of an eye for the juvenile and adult juvenile market not the experten.

[Felix C]

Churchill’s War Against the Zeppelin 1914-18: Men, Machines and Tactics Hardcover 

 

Anyone read this title?
 

[pete-c]

On ‎20‎/‎01‎/‎2016 at 20:44, Simon_Fielding said:

Apologies if this already been done...but can colleagues suggest 'must reads' on the Zeppelin phenomenon and UK raids especially?

 

Simon,

One recent publication which you could perhaps add to your book-shelves is David Marks' Let The Zeppelins Come, Amberly Publishing, ISBN 978-4456-6702-7.   Whilst by no means a history as such of the Zeppelin phenomenon, it highlights, via the medium of postcards, the manner in which these machines were perceived by both the British, and German civilian populations.

[Felix C]

On 3/7/2017 at 12:23, Aspern said:

Hi Nick

 

Your comments about the lack of writing  'style' in Parker's “Gott Strafe England!” books are, I'm afraid, wasted! Mr Parker isn't writing them at all, he is just transcibing the air raid reports word-for-word originally compiled by the 'Intelligence Section, General Headquarters, Great Britain' in 1918 and 1919. Many of the errors in the originals are faithfully reproduced (!) 100 years later, ignoring the fact that later writers have corrected these, and indeed many were put right as early as 1925 when Morris wrote 'German Air Raids on Britain 1914-1918'. The errors in the originals - for instance, the identity of particular Zeppelins or their commanders  - are fully understandable when writing while the war was still going on, but not now, 100 years later! This also effects the spelling of place names on occasions. I find this concerning. I can see writers in the future picking these books up, believing them to be the result of solid research 100 years on in time, and reprinting those errors. But - errors besides - the content of the original documents is the basis of all later works on the subject, so if used well are an essential component of the story. These were of course compiled from all the individual reports made by police, fire brigades, RFC, RNAS, military commands, observers, etc., etc. and it is interesting to look at these first and then see how these original reports were complied to produce the reports that Parker has now transcribed without comment. 

 

The books also don't discuss developments in air defence either as the reports were just an analysis of each raid for official purposes. Mr Parker hasn't added any interpretation of his own of the raids so they are written in the bland official language of the time.

 

I am unfamiliar with Parker's books on WW2, but is there also a series of official report here that perhaps he is transcribing - hence the language used?

 

Regards

Ian

 

 

thanks for that bit.