What was air raids

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Examples of air raid in a Sentence Much of the city was destroyed in an air raid. Through four games in the season, Mississippi State sophomore quarterback Will Rogers has the fourth-best completion percentage in the FBS despite having 39 more attempts than anyone else in the country. First Known Use of air raid , in the meaning defined above. Learn More About air raid. Time Traveler for air raid The first known use of air raid was in See more words from the same year.

Style: MLA. Costlier raids on the capital took place later in the year. Although German airship attacks on England continued throughout the war, their limitations quickly became apparent. Despite their long-range bombing capabilities, Zeppelins were vulnerable to poor weather and made enticingly large targets for British fighter pilots and anti-aircraft gunners.

From the spring of , the German military authorities increasingly turned their attention to long-range bombers such as the Gotha aeroplane. The daylight attack on London by 20 Gothas on 13 June killed civilians, the highest death toll from a single air raid on Britain during the war.

Less than a month later, on 7 July, a further raid in which 57 more people were killed raised British anti-German sentiments to fever pitch. The government offered some guidance via information leaflets and posters about what to do during an air raid and how to differentiate between British and German aircraft. Reassurance was intermittently provided by the success of British fighter pilots in downing German airships and aeroplanes and by the development of an air defence system that included anti-aircraft artillery and the erection of barrage balloons over London.

Nonetheless, false alarms about air attacks were common. Stories appeared in the press about German planes that dropped not only bombs but also poisoned foodstuffs. The psychological impact of the air raids extended far beyond the property damage and loss of life. Britain was not the only country to face an aerial onslaught during the First World War.

Gotha planes attacked Paris, too. Although Berlin was too distant, British and French aviators bombed many other German cities. As in Britain, civilian morale in Germany was severely shaken by these attacks.

Nevertheless, air raids provided an unprecedented means of striking at resources vital to the enemy's war effort. Many of the novel features of the war in the air between and - the lighting restrictions and blackouts, the air raid warnings and the improvised shelters - became central aspects of the Second World War less than 30 years later.

The following references give an idea of the sources held by The National Archives on the subject of this chapter. These documents can be seen on site at The National Archives.

Air raid on London: casualties and damage Transcript. Air raids: 'public warning' poster k Transcript. Impact of bombing on German towns k Transcript.