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It's Easter 1916...

Over in Flanders millions of men struggle in the mud of the Somme. For over two hundred miles across France a network of trenches faces a silmilar network, where young men huddle awaiting the call that will send them over the top, below the wire and constantly deafened by the drumming of the artillery barrage. Those men dream of home, be it the Fatherland or Blighty, and long for a chance to break the impasse that the devastating power of machine gun and field guns have brought to this most tragic of wars...

And in Germany, a chance has arisen to break the stagnation of trench war. The Zeppellin, mighty airship that offers luxury and speed in peacetime is now a mighty bird of prey. It has been decided that the morale of the British can be broken by the bombing of the sleepy cities of England, and for the first time terror and death rain from the skies on to innocent civilians below...

From 1915 to 1917 the Zeppelin Company turned out on average two airships a month. The Kaiser was greatly against bombing civilian targets, but in January 1915 under pressure he agreed to limited raids. The order read -

"Air attacks on England approved by Supreme War Lord. Targets not to be attacked in London but rather docks and military establishments in the lower Thames and on the English Coast."

The very first raid, featuring Zeppelins L6, L3 and L4 ran into problems that were to be repeated constantly. L6 suffered mechanical problems and had to turn for home. L3 and L4 got lost, failed to find the dockyard they were meant to be bombing and instead dropped their lethal cargo on several small villages they believed were fortifications and on Gret Yarmouth, but missing the harbour and instead bombing civilians...

Navigation was extremely difficult, and the crew huddled in freezing gondoliers under the craft suffering extreme discomfort. Weather and technical problems proved far more dangerous than British action, and the first zeppellin to be lost was the L10 which exploded after being struck by lightning valving gas during a thunder storm. Not only did they suffer terrible conditions, they were also fairly futile. Damage done was light, and the 1915 raids achieved practically nothing towards shortening the war by reducing military effectiveness.

May 1915 saw the Kaiser relax his rules a little. Bombing began of London in May, though all bombs fell East of the Tower, at The Kaiser's insistence - he was determined his own family in Buckingham Palace would not suffer. The random bombing however did bring terror to London: peversely it also stiffened the will to fight on, and increased determination to defeat Germany at any cost.

1916 saw a renewed offensive. Led by Heinrich Mathy, the greatest Zeppelin Captain of the age, raids began in earnest as Spring brought suitable weather. However new problems awaited the airship crews - more British aircraft, searchlights and the imposition of black out on suitable nights for raids. The greatest danger of all came however from a new British weapon - the incendiary bullet.

Up until this time attacks on zeppelins had been ineffective: bullets punctured gas bags leaving slow leaks, shells passed through, and bombing from above was really the only viable target. It was believed that the hydrogen cells of German airships were protected by a layer of inert nitrogen gas, but the order had gone out and the aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corp now carried balzing incendairy rounds.

Even so by Easter 1916 not one German Airship has been brought down by British action, and Britain is still lagging far behind the Germans in airship technology. With summer coming on few doubt that the German Zeppelins will bring untold terror and chaos to London as massed raids begin again. So far the mood of the people has remained bouyant and defiant, but how long can antion stand to have it's women and children suddenly obliterated by terror from the skies?

Suddenly all that changed...