Hugh Harkins

Zeppelin Raid on Edinburgh & Leith, 2/3 April 1916 Hugh Harkins

On the night of 2/3 April 1916, Scotland experienced her first ever air raid when German High Seas Fleet Zeppelin L.14 bombed the town of Leith and the City of Edinburgh on the South shore of the Forth Estuary. This report details the raids genesis - showing that it was not an isolated operation, but part of a far wider ranging German campaign that involved a number of other planned Zeppelin raids in the area of the Forth Estuary and the East coast of England - details the raid itself and its aftermath. The report shows that only a single Zeppelin operated over Scotland on the night of 2/3 April 1916 - disproving the claim that two such airships bombed targets in Scotland that night, a fallacy that has endured for more than 100 years after the event. The report also shows that defensive measures were instigated to try to intercept the Zeppelin on its inbound journey - by a RNAS fighter aircraft - and on the outbound journey - by warships of the Royal Navy 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron and attendant Destroyers. This was the first recorded incidence of a fighter aircraft being launched to counter an air raid on Scotland, a historical fact that has gone un-acknowledged during the ensuing 103 years. The report draws on documentary evidence from several archives held in a number of depositories. The major documentary evidence is taken from the Leith and Edinburgh Police Constabularies, the Edinburgh Fire Brigade, the Lothian Health Services Archives, German mission reports, British Admiralty reports on the airship raids and naval operations to counter the raid and a number of government documents/letters and personal circumstance letters.