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Downing of German Zeppelin over Suffolk remembered in centenary service | |
(about 9 hours later) | |
Villagers have packed into a church to remember the moment its forebears were thrown into the front line of World War One following a German airship raid. | |
The German L48 was one of the most advanced "height climber" airships, but in 1917 the Zeppelin ran into problems and was shot down over rural Suffolk. | |
About 100 people gathered at St Peter's Church in Theberton and Eastbridge on Sunday to mark the centenary. | |
Former BBC Breakfast host Bill Turnbull read a survivor's account at the event. | |
Suffolk Coastal MP Therese Coffey and Colonel Hermann Hanke, from the German Air Attache to the UK and Republic of Ireland, also attended the service - where candles were lit for each of the German victims and the men from Theberton who died in the conflict. | |
Col Hauke said that the service showed "friendship can grow out of hatred and tragedy". | |
"We should not give up working to overcome divisions between people today, however hard and almost impossible it would appear." | |
On 17 June 1917, the Germans dispatched two Zeppelins during the fateful raid which were able to fly at altitudes of 13,000ft (4,000m) - way beyond the 8,000ft (2,400m) flight ceiling of English fighter aircraft. | |
One - L42 - crossed the Kent coast at Ramsgate and released its bombs, but L48 endured heavy winds over the Orfordness coast. | |
Its compasses froze and it developed engine problems. | Its compasses froze and it developed engine problems. |
John Rea Price, one of the organisers of the service, told how the airship dropped a few bombs over Martlesham and Wickham Market before drifting over Saxmundham and Leiston. | John Rea Price, one of the organisers of the service, told how the airship dropped a few bombs over Martlesham and Wickham Market before drifting over Saxmundham and Leiston. |
There it was forced to descend to a height that put it in range of Royal Flying Corps fighters, he said. | There it was forced to descend to a height that put it in range of Royal Flying Corps fighters, he said. |
"Completely crippled by the gunfire, after a terrible descent lasting seven minutes as it became engulfed in flames, the end came in a cornfield between Theberton and Eastbridge. | "Completely crippled by the gunfire, after a terrible descent lasting seven minutes as it became engulfed in flames, the end came in a cornfield between Theberton and Eastbridge. |
"Of the 18 crew there were just three survivors." | "Of the 18 crew there were just three survivors." |
The dead were laid to rest in the village churchyard before being moved to the German cemetery in Staffordshire. | The dead were laid to rest in the village churchyard before being moved to the German cemetery in Staffordshire. |