The First Blitz

The German Air Campaign Against Britain 1917–1918

Andrew P. Hyde

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781781591246
• eBook ISBN: 9781783461585
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

"An interesting account of the German air raids of the First World War, with a better focus on the human face of the raids." —HistoryOfWar.org
 
In 1917, the Germans launched a major air campaign against the British mainland, which shocked the whole nation and terrorized the southeast of England.
 
These attacks by German bombers caused hundreds of deaths and injuries, but until now, the full details of these raids have never before been told. These range from the massacre of Canadian troops resting in Folkestone on May 25, 1917 to the widespread carnage of shoppers a couple of miles away in the city center. Sheerness, then a major dockyard for the Royal Navy, barely escaped a similar fate when it too was singled out for the same treatment, and a 50kg bomb struck Upper North Street School in London's Poplar on June 13, 1917. It not only took the lives of eighteen schoolchildren, many as young as five years, but also crippled and mutilated twice as many again. Terrible as this was, it was just one of scores of similar tragedies, which terrified the populace of London and horrified the world.
 
The account of this campaign—plus the political and military circumstances surrounding it—follow years of original and painstaking research, interviews, and correspondence with those who remember that period.
 
"This is a tight and carefully crafted piece of history. It has drama and a slice of shock and awe." — War History Online
 
"A clear winner from the first page." — Indy Squadron Dispatch

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction and Acknowledgements Map
• Chapter 1 A Power That Controls The Fate of Nations
• Chapter 2 Aeroplanes May Come Over This Country
• Chapter 3 The Present Form of Parachute Is Not Suitable
• Chapter 4 Eat More Slowly, You Will Need Less Food
• Chapter 5 An Airship Raid Upon London Has Become Impossible
• Chapter 6 That’s Right In Tontine Street
• Chapter 7 The Guns Were Well Fought
• Chapter 8 That’s One Of Ours
• Chapter 9 Good Old Jerry! Good Old Lloyd George!
• Chapter 10 We Are All In This Business Together
• Appendix 1 Performance Ratings of Aircraft in Service with the Home Defence Squadrons
• Appendix 2 Teachers and Staff Present at Upper North Street School on 13 June 1917
• Appendix 3 Pupils Who Died at Upper North Street School on 13 June 1917
• Bibliography and Sources