Zeppelin Z VIII shot down in the Vosges

On 23 August 1914 the German army airship Z VIII (factory designation LZ 23) was shot down over the foothills of the Vosges. Damaged by ground fire, it came down in a forest near the French village of Badonviller.

A mission over Lorraine

In August 1914 the Germans used Zeppelin airships for reconnaissance and bombing. During the fighting in Lorraine, Z VIII was ordered to reconnoitre and bomb French troops who had advanced into German territory. To see its targets clearly, the airship flew at low altitude in daylight.

This was a mistake. The huge, slow-moving aircraft became an easy target. French soldiers fired at it with rifles and guns. The bullets riddled the envelope and damaged the controls. Losing lifting gas, Z VIII drifted helplessly until it came down among the trees. The crew managed to escape, and French cavalrymen chased off the last of the Germans and stripped the wreck.

A costly lesson

Z VIII was not the only loss. In the first weeks of the war the German army lost several airships, damaged by ground fire during low-level flights over the battlefield. As early as the beginning of August Z VI had been badly damaged at Liège, and in the same days as Z VIII, Z VII was badly damaged over Alsace and had to make an emergency landing.

These losses showed that airships were unsuitable for daytime reconnaissance over enemy lines. The Germans began to use them mainly for night bombing and naval reconnaissance. From 1915 the airships of the Navy and the Army carried out night raids on England, which for several years spread terror among the people of London.