WW1 - Homefront

Question 1

Airship Raids

Answer 1

• 09/1914, War Office made little preparation for home defence against air attacks.
• Impact on British public disproportionate the damage caused.
• Massive psychological effect.
• British civilians were unused to war on their doorsteps.
• New sense of vulnerability.
• Britain was no longer an island, guarded by the biggest navy, but a target for air raids.
• Germans portrayed as “ravening Huns”, inflicting a new barbarism on civilians.
• Scare stories of German sympathizers and spies using lights to guide airships & secret Zeppelin bases in remote areas (Lake District).
• The Daily Telegraph reassured readers that airships were usually lost, minimising damage with bombs falling into fields and canals.

Question 2

Impact of Zeppelin Raids

Answer 2

• Zeppelins were blimps =500ft long used in bombing raids
• 05/1915, 1st air raid on London, 21 casualties.
• 51 Zeppelin raids on Britain. Dropped 200 tons of bombs, killing 557 and injuring +1,300.
• Zeppelins nicknamed “baby killers”.

Question 3

Gotha Raids

Answer 3

• This was the first mass raid of the war.
• 06/1917, 14 Gotha bombers attacked London, 162 people killed.
• Gotha’s harder to intercept and shoot.
• Home fleet needed, diverted resources from W. Front. Haig released two RFC squadrons.
• 07/1917, 100 British planes tried intercept 24 Gothas, failed.

Question 4

Defence Measures

Answer 4

• 12/1915, RFC took over home defence from RNAS. 11 squadrons deployed against German raiders.
• Difficulty intercepting airships, but once within range, Zeppelins were large targets, incendiaries effective.
• Tracer bullets improved accuracy of pilots.
• Doubts over air raid warnings may cause heart failure/chaos.
• Bombing outraged press = air raid warnings + restrictions on lighting.
• 12/1917, first night-fighter aircraft, 01/1918, downed Gotha over Essex by 2 British sopwithcamel fighters.
• Floodlighting much of SE England, and flying tethered balloons to steel wires.
• London divided into air defence zones with AA guns, little success.
• Used press to publicise new measures and official reassurances.
• 04/1918, London Air Defence Area (LADA) = 266 guns, 353 searchlights, and 270 day and night fighters.