Zeppelin Kommt! Children play a Zeppelin raid on London. Holding his bomb in the gondola is a doll of the airship's inventor, Count Zeppelin. The other children, playing the English, cower, and the British fleet — folded paper boats — remains in port. Prewar postcards celebrated the imposing airships and the excitement they generated with the same expression, 'Zeppelin Kommt!'. Postcard by P.O. Engelhard (P.O.E.). The message on the reverse is dated May 28, 1915.
P.O.E.? EnglandLondonZeppelin Kommt!Reverse:Message dated May 28, 1915Stamped: Geprüft und zu befördern (Approved and forwarded) 9 Komp. Bay. L.I.N. 5
"On February 26 [1915], LZ.8 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Helmut Beelitz, left her shed at Düsseldorf and headed for England, but strong headwinds forced her to land at an Army encampment field in occupied Belgium. On March 4 Beelitz tried again, but was trapped by a North Sea gale and blown out of control over Nieuport, and his brand new Zeppelin was shot down by Belgian gunners."
Zeppelins had been used in the sieges of the Belgian fortress cities of Liège and Antwerp in 1914, and against cities in France and Russia. The first raids on Great Britain took place the night of January 19-20, 1915, striking the cities of Sheringham, Snettisham, King's Lynn, and Yarmouth. The prevailing winds over the North Sea worked against the German airships which were vulnerable to bad weather. Two were wrecked over neutral Denmark on February 17.
The Zeppelin Fighters by Arch Whitehouse, page 72, copyright © 1966 by Arch Whitehouse, publisher: New English Library, publication date: 1978
1915-03-04, 1915, March, anti-aircraft, Zeppelin, nach England
