Zeppelin Over Burton-on-Trent

Until January 31, 1916, Burton’s war involvement had been the loss of many of the town’s menfolk to the horror of trench warfare.

There had been Zeppelin raids on London and the South and East coasts but Burton was considered too far inland – which was underlined on the night of the air raid by the fact that no fewer than 20 electric street lamps and more than 200 gas lamps, combined with brightly lit shops to make the town clearly visible from the air.

The Zeppelins – nine in all – had orders to penetrate as far west as possible, although a combination of fog, relatively primitive navigational aids and unreliable engines made that a tall order. Three of the machines found themselves over Burton – L20, L19 and L15.

L15 was commanded by Kapitanleutnant Joachim Breihaupt, who reported later: “At 8.30pm, the ship was over the West coast; a large city complex divided in two parts by a broad sheet of water, running north and south and joined by a lighted bridge, was recognised as Liverpool and Birkenhead. After dropping a parachute flares, the lights throughout the city mostly went out. From 2,500 metres, 1,400kg of explosive and 300kg of incendiaries were dropped in four crossings of the city, mostly along the waterfront.”

The bombs fell over a wide area of Burton. About 25 high explosives (HEs) and 25 incendiaries landed as far apart as Newton Road and Shobnall Road. People were killed near Burton RFC’s ground at Peel Croft, in Shobnall Street, Wellington Street, at the Midland Railway goods shed and at the Black Cat billiard saloon in High Street. Besides Burton, raiders also struck at Overseal, Swadlincote and in Derby, where four men were killed at No 9 Shed at the Loco Works and severe damage was also caused to the Carriage and Wagon Works.