The development of radio, better aircraft, incendiary ammunition and, above all, a more co-ordinated defensive policy, gradually allowed the British to inflict heavy losses on the Zeppelins. The innovative use of seaplanes and planes launched from aircraft carriers allowed the Zeppelins to be intercepted before they reached Britain and to strike back with raids on the Zeppelin sheds. July 1918 saw the RAF and Royal Navy act together to destroy two Zeppelins in their base at Tondern (the first attack by aircraft launched from a carrier deck).Â
The last Zeppelin raid on England came in August 1918 and resulted in the destruction of Zeppelin L70 and the death of Peter Strasser, Commander of the Imperial German Navy’s Zeppelin force.
Before London was blitzed in World War II, massive German Zeppelins rained bombs and terror upon the British in World War I. Of the 115 Zeppelins used by the German military, 53 were lost and 24 were damaged beyond repair. In Britain, 528 people, mostly civilians, had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded during the attacks.