The First London Aerial Bombing

Talk about the Battle of Britain yesteray, and the Blitz, reminded of an important fact that explains why London, in particular, was well-prepared to withstand a bombing campaign by the Germans. It wasn’t the first time.

In the Great War in the summer of 1915, the first bombs dropped by German Zeppelins fell on London. It was the first aerial bombandment of a major city, and at the time there was nothing they could do about it. This is a video from the Museum of London:

When WW2 rolled around, this was old hat. They’d had twenty years to perfect how to react to a bombing raid, build bomb shelters for every Londener, and in general had experience that was indisputably necessary in the Blitz.