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Great Yarmouth, Norfolk: Zeppelin Raids

Great Yarmouth is believed to be the first British town to suffer a fatality during an aerial bombardment.
On 19 January 1915 the Zeppelin L3 attacked the town dropping around ten bombs on the St Peters Plain area. Martha Taylor and Samuel Smith were killed in separate explosions. A blue plaque on number 25 stands in their memory. On the same night the L4 attacked Kings Lynn killing two others.

At the start of the war there were few effective weapons to combat the Zeppelin threat. Conventional bullets would pass harmlessly through the aluminium frame. However the craft was very vulnerable to incendiary bombs and bullets. If the hydrogen cells were breached the gas then mixed with the oxygen in the air causing the ship to explode.Though raids continued throughout the war there were no other casualties.

Emma Flaxman lived with her parents at Wolseley Road just across the river from St Peters Plain. Her account of Zeppelin raids has been recorded by an actress.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01rnjhk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-16620650

plus here is a documentary from the East Anglian Film Archive from 1972 ... http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/39

Has anyone got any family stories that have been passed down????

Sheringham also got hit, and there is a plaque on the wall, but it is never remembered.
thanks for this Liz

I had ancestors living in the Kings Lynn area at that time and my nan was in service in Kings Lynn in 1915, must have been frightening.

There was a commemorative service in Great Yarmouth yesterday and here are some pics and a video of the service

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/vid ... _1_3922932

The seaside town became the first target of the German’s fearsome Zeppelins during the First World War.

On January 19, 1915 airship L3, piloted by Kapitan Leutnant Hans Fritz, dropped hundreds of pounds worth of bombs on the resort claiming the lives of two people; 53-year-old shoemaker Samuel Smith and 72-year-old widow Martha Taylor.

Exactly one hundred years on from the devastating raid dignitaries, councillors, residents and a surviving relative of Mr Smith gathered at St Peter’s Plainto remember them and all victims of the bloody conflict.

They first visited Yarmouth’s new cemetery where Mr Smith is buried. An account of his “simple” funeral service as it appeared in the paper in 1915 was read out, before Great Yarmouth Mayor Marlene Fairhead placed a colourful wreath on his grave.

The group then moved to St Peter’s Plain for a full service led by the Rev Chris Terry, where the congregation sang hymns, said prayers and listened to readings.

.......

A separate service will be held at the grave side of Martha Taylor in Caister later this month.

They mentioned Sheringham on the local news.