Last airship raid on Paris
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Western Front
- Date:
- 29 January 1916
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
On the evening of 29 January 1916 the German army airship LZ 79 appeared over Paris. At about 10 p.m. it dropped a dozen or so bombs on the working-class districts of Belleville and Ménilmontant in the east of the city. More than twenty people were killed. It was the second and last airship raid to reach the French capital. The first, in March 1915, had done far less damage.
Two army airships, LZ 77 and LZ 79, were sent on the raid from bases in occupied Belgium. According to French studies, LZ 77 had to turn back before reaching Paris, reportedly because of a breakdown. LZ 79, commanded by Captain Victor Gaissert (Geissert in some sources), flew on alone. Thick cloud over the city helped it to hide from the searchlights. According to the Musée de l’Armée in Paris it dropped eighteen bombs on the 20th arrondissement, seventeen according to other sources. One of the first fell on the boulevard de Ménilmontant and pierced the roof of the tunnel of Métro Line 2, spreading panic among the passengers. Others destroyed apartment buildings in the rue de Ménilmontant, the rue Haxo and neighbouring streets. On the way back the airship got rid of about 30 bombs over communes near Paris, among them La Courneuve, Stains, Pierrefitte and Montmorency, but there the damage was slight.
The casualty figures vary from source to source. The Musée de l’Armée gives 23 killed and 31 wounded, while the Paris press of 31 January and the city archives give 26 killed and 38 wounded. President Raymond Poincaré visited the ruins in the 20th arrondissement. Both sides used the raid for propaganda. The French announced that the raid had “completely failed” and that the population of Paris had remained calm. The Germans claimed that they had attacked a centre of French war production.
LZ 79 paid dearly for its success. It was hit several times by French anti-aircraft artillery and gradually lost height. It still made it back to Belgium, but in the darkness it made a forced landing near the town of Ath, striking a building. The crew survived, but the airship could not be repaired and was dismantled.
No airship ever bombed Paris itself again. Some English-language sources, relying on press reports of the time, state that the following night LZ 77 set out again and dropped bombs on the suburbs, including Asnières and the area around Versailles, with little effect. French studies, however, count only two airship raids on the capital. LZ 77 was shot down at Revigny on 21 February 1916, the first day of the Battle of Verdun. Better anti-aircraft defences in Paris, more fighter aircraft and the distance from the bases meant that thereafter the city was bombed only by aeroplanes, and in 1918 also by long-range guns.
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Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 21 February 1916 · Western FrontAirship LZ 77 shot downOn the evening of 21 February 1916 a French anti-aircraft gun shot down the airship LZ 77 near Revigny, flying behind Verdun. None of the crew survived.
- 21 February 1916 · Western FrontStart of the Battle of VerdunOn 21 February 1916 more than 1,200 German guns opened fire on the French positions at Verdun. A battle began that lasted until December 1916.
- 21 March 1915 · Western FrontFirst airship raid on ParisOn the night of 20–21 March 1915 two German airships bombed Paris and its suburbs. Z X, damaged by fire from the ground, crashed on the way back.
- 31 January 1916 · Western FrontAirship raid on the MidlandsOn the night of 31 January–1 February 1916 nine naval airships sent against Liverpool bombed the Midlands instead. 70 people were killed and 113 injured.