Conflict archaeology, a resource stemming from both official and personal archives, especially family memory, is becoming increasingly popular, even amongst academics. The government puts value on it as it is an important part of our culture, and there has been an explosion of material online. What does it tell us about the people, and about the first air raids on London and Great Britain?

In Germany before WWI there was political conflict between the government and the armed forces about the use of air power, but the British government was apparently expecting raids from the air as the first British anti-aircraft battery overlooked Chatham Docks (it is well preserved and may later be open to the public). Germany had a technological lead in airships: a zeppelin passenger service was already operating in 1910/11, and there were other potential uses for them, particularly as ‘scouts’: they had been part of the battle plan for Jutland. German Army and Navy airships were different, with different materials used for the frame. Inside the frame were cowskin cells of hydrogen gas, which was easily obtainable although highly combustible. There were walkways inside the frame, plus positions for a taillgunner and machine gunners, and gondolas for 20-30 crew slung underneath, including the control gondola containing the Captain (there was a telegraph for sending orders to the crew), a gondola from which bombs were controlled and engine cars (diesel) which drove the propellors. It was physically demanding and uncomfortable; crews wore fur-lined coats as there was no heating, there were no parachutes - to cut down on weight - and in the later stages when zeppelins could go up to 20,000 feet, but without oxygen, the crew could suffer hypoxia and carbon monoxide poisoning. The Germans had chosen not to raid at the start of the war – until the stalemate on the Western Front – but a German propaganda image (the propaganda war before the shooting war) showed zeppelins heading for Britain; another showed a zeppelin over Trafalgar Square. A British propaganda poster, probably to show the population that the situation was under control, showed searchlights lighting up a German zeppelin with shells exploding around it (although airships were rarely brought down by ground fire). After the first zeppelin raid on London in May 1915 a news photograph showed damage in Liverpool Street. This was the beginning of warfare against civilians, although they could not be deliberately targeted as navigation was inaccurate, and many of the German crews were not very skilled.

“Room 40” in Whitehall housed a coding and cypher school, part of the British code-breaking operation. It was soon worked out that airships were using radio to report back to HQ and to each other in real time about weather conditions, so even without the codes, bearings could be taken on the radio transmissions by a string of Marconi direction-finding stations. In the winter of 1916 an airship was successfully brought down over the North Sea. The British were “learning” to defend London. A map found at The National Archives shows anti-aircraft and searchlight positions. Barrage balloons and nets were anchored to the ground and fighter planes flew patrols between airfields such as Biggin Hill and Sutton Farm. An airship would cross a patrol line and truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns were driven at high speed around London, chasing a zeppelin that had been spotted. The trucks would stop, put down stabilizers and shoot at it. Anti-aircraft guns comprised a mix of weapons, some imported from France - a spent round from a French gun was found in a roof space in Greenwich. Only an approximate location of fixed anti-aircraft positions can be gauged from maps, but two different accounts from the 1930s related to the same spot on Shooter’s Hill (not the site shown on Time Team). A team from Birkbeck College found a magnetic hotspot. The site was still very close to the surface, perhaps built in the winter of 1915, probably by the Navy. There were two circular concrete holdfast points, for two weapons – the first having been abandoned, as is recorded in a document. There were also telephone cables, probably a link to Whitehall. No evidence was found of buildings which would have probably been temporary, including a mess, magazine etc. Metal detecting was used around the site to look for “cultural material” relating to it, and a piece of French “trench art” was found in the shape of a head cut from a French coin. Andy showed a map of the Richmond area with an air patrol line and an anti-aircraft gun site marked, and issued a challenge to RAS members to do some research to pinpoint it (this has been carried out).

Yvonne Masson