The city of Hull was bombed several times by Zeppelin airships during World War One. Saturday marks the centenary of the first raid.
Civilians in Britain had been largely unaffected by the war but in January 1915 the first Zeppelin raids on other parts of the UK had shattered the illusion of safety.
On its way to Hull six months later, on June 6, Zeppelin L-9’s presence was first spotted just after 19:00 by intercepted wireless traffic when it was 100 miles away over the North Sea.
Here’s a tangential connection:
J.R.R. Tolkien was stationed (and hospitalized) in and around Hull in 1917 and 1918. In late July 1917 he was sent on a signals course. Some have wondered whether his work in signals was connected with the Acoustic Sound Mirror (a sort of early warning system for detecting Zeppelins). The Acoustic Sound Mirror was built in 1916 close to Hull, as a response to the raids of 1915. http://www.tolkiensociety.org/blog/2014/08/in-tolkiens-genuine-footsteps/