Gotha Terror: The Forgotten Blitz 1917-1918 by Ian Castle

Gotha Terror by Ian Castle cover (author's photo)

As regular readers will be aware, Ian Castle has been writing about Germany's air raids on Britain during the First World War for some seventeen years now and he must surely be regarded as one of the foremost authorities on the subject, which has invariably been somewhat overshadowed by the better-known and more destructive Blitz of the  Second World War. Nevertheless, this was certainly the first sustained strategic bombing campaign in history and the author has taken great strides in documenting this campaign over the years.

Ian's most recent project has been to meticulously research every raid and incursion during this conflict and his latest book, entitled Gotha Terror forms the final part of his Forgotten Blitz trilogy and covers the final two years of the war from 1917-1918.

This period saw the transition from the Zeppelin being the primary means of attack, to the conventional aeroplane, mainly in the form of the Grosskampfflugzeug, perhaps better known as the Gotha but also the Riesenflugzeug, the aptly named Giant and it was the raids by these latter two types of aeroplanes in squadron strength, initially by day but latterly by night, that was to bring renewed terror to the civilian population of the United Kingdom.

Apart from the Gotha and Giant raids, the Zeppelins continued their campaign against Great Britain when circumstances permitted, still under the command of the redoubtable Fregattankapitan Peter Strasser, the splendidly titled Fuhrer der Luftschiffe, who continued to believe in these weapons and who commanded a fierce loyalty from those who served under him.

On the Allied side, the year 1916 had closed with the British under the illusion that following what seemed to be the defeat of the Zeppelins, the threat of future air attacks from Germany had evaporated and as a consequence of this complacency, the country's air defences were downgraded accordingly but following a report commissioned by the War Cabinet, written by Jan Christian Smuts, the air defence system was thoroughly overhauled and reconstituted to meet the renewed threat.

As in his previous volumes, the author records each raid in meticulous detail, using a mixture of official sources as well as many contemporary eyewitness personal accounts, the majority of which have never been previously published. The book also tells the story of the re-establishment of Britain's air defence system in the shape of the London Air Defence Area, or LADA, under Major General Edward Ashmore and follows the evolving system in the face of experience gained during the campaign.

This volume completes what is an invaluable triptych of reference works, each meticulously researched and written in an extremely readable style. 

This volume will appeal to both the serious military historian as well as anyone interested in the history of air warfare and I have no hesitation in recommending it to you.

Published by Frontline Books/Pen & Sword

RRP £29.99

hardback, pp392