At the beginning of 1916, as the world entered the second full year of
global conflict, the cities, towns and villages of Britain continued to
lay vulnerable to aerial bombardment. Throughout that period German
Zeppelin airships and seaplanes had come and gone at will, their most
testing opposition provided by the British weather as the country's
embryonic defenses struggled to come to terms with this first ever
assault from the air. Britain's civilians were now standing on the
frontline -- the Home Front -- like the soldiers who had marched off to
war. But early in 1916 responsibility for Britain's aerial defense
passed from the Admiralty to the War Office and, as German air attacks
intensified, new ideas and plans made dramatic improvements to Britain's
aerial defense capability.
While this new system could give early warning of approaching raiders,
there was a lack of effective weaponry with which to engage them when
they arrived. Behind the scenes, however, three individuals, each
working independently, were striving for a solution. The results of
their work were spectacular; it lifted the mood of the nation and
dramatically changed the way this campaign was fought over Britain.
The German air campaign against Britain in the First World War was the
first sustained strategic aerial bombing campaign in history. Despite
this, it has become forgotten against the enormity of the Blitz of the
Second World War, although for those caught up in the tragedy of these
raids, the impact was every bit as devastating. In Zeppelin Inferno
Ian Castle tells the full story of the 1916 raids in unprecedented
detail in what is the second book in a trilogy that will reveal the
complete story of Britain's 'Forgotten Blitz'.
