The Sword of Damocles dangling from a Zeppelin over the Tower of London and a cringing John Bull. By. A Johnson.
Das Schwert des DamoklesThe Sword of DamoclesReverse:Kriegs-Postkarten des 'Kladderadatsch' Nr. 3Kunstverlagsanstalt Gerh. Stalling, Oldenburg i. Gr.War Postcards of 'Kladderadatsch' no. 3Art Publishing House Gerh. Stalling, Oldenburg i. Gr.
"The Thames we just dimly saw from the outline of the lights; two great railway stations I thought I saw, but the speed of the ship running almost before the gale was such that we could not distinguish much. We were half frozen, too, and the excitement was great. It was all over in a flash. The last bomb was gone and we were once more over the darkness and rushing onwards."
Description by a crew member of one of the Zeppelins that bombed London the night of October 19–20, 1917. The airships had set out to bomb Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield, but faced gale force winds at 16,000 feet. They had little idea of their position until their unexpected sighting of the British capital. Londoners had no idea of the airship's presence until bombs began exploding in the city — in Cricklewood, PIccadilly Circus, Camberwell, and Hither Green. The attack by the unseen, unheard airships became known as the 'silent raid.' It killed 31 and wounded 48 in London.
The First Blitz: Bombing London in the First World War by Ian Castle, page 96, copyright © 2015 Osprey Publishing Ltd., publisher: Osprey Publishing, publication date: 2015
1917-10-20, 1917, October, silent raid, Zeppelin, London, sword of Damocles
