Posts

Showing posts with the label German Empire

Imperial German Air Power, 1914-1918 Part II: The ‘Red Battle Flyer’ and the Aces of 1916-1918

Image
Part I The deployment of the Imperial German air services  Jastas followed closely to what Hauptman Oswald Boelcke had envisaged before his death, the 'Red Baron', Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen in particular, always having took pride in having  stayed true to his late contemporary and friend’s pedagogy. However the Jastas rosters or lineups themselves changed rapidly with the death or disablement of pilots during missions. By 1917 many more of  Jagdstaffeln, or Jastas, hunting groups, were created in Bavaria , Saxony and elsewhere, with their bases of operations spread between the various theaters of war, from France , to Russia , Macedonia , Palestine , and Turkey , the German air services rapidly expanded in the months from 1916 into the spring 1917. Depiction of Royal Prussian Jagdstaffeln,  'Jasta 18'  in action 1916-1917 Though all the major German Kingdoms fielded Jagdstaffeln , Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony, & Württemburg among them...

Terror Bombers! Imperial Germany's Zeppelin Campaign over Great Britain, 1915-1918

Image
Perhaps no other weapon of war of its age was as fear-inspiring than the Zeppelin dirigible bombers of the Imperial Germany Navy and Army during the Great War of 1914-1918. These behemoths of the sky were originally designed for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering as a tool for scouting infantry movements and for artillery ranging, becoming a potent if ultimately ineffective heavy bomber and reconnaissance "flying boats" during later period of conflict, January 1915-August 1918. Period German postcard of a Zepplein Raid on London The Zeppelins of Imperial Germany succeeded in spreading fear throughout  England but at such a high cost that ultimately the first experiment in “terror bombing” had little influence on the course of the war between Entente and Central Powers. Regardless of their overall effectiveness, the ingenuity of zeppelin and anti-aircraft warfare seems to resonate today as one of the more intriguing portions of the Anglo-German struggle for victory. Ger...