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Zeppelin LZ106 L61
Class : V
Commander : Kapitanleutnant Herbert Ehrlich
First flight : 12 December 1917
Homebase : Wittmundhaven
General information :
9 reconnaissance missions; two attacks on England dropping 4,500 kg (9,900 lb) of bombs; in 1920 ordered to be transferred to Italy as war reparations .
Text on this statue :
“This was the fifth milestone standing beside the A.57 Prescot to Warrington Rd. At Bold on the 12 April 1918. When five German Naval Zeppelins made the last effective airship raid on England. Zeppelin L61 from Wittmundhaven, commanded by Captain Leutenant Ehrlich with a crew of 19, crossed our coast at Withernsea and flew almost to Crewe before turning north and crossing the Mersey at 18,000 feet above Malton. At 11.17 p.m. the first of its bombs fell damaging the milestone, the road surface, a water main and doing some minor damage to adjacent property. There were no casualties here. A second bomb dropped three minutes later made a crater seven feet deep and fifteen feet across in a field at Abbots Hall Farm, Bold. “
“The Zeppelin went on to bomb Inoe and Wigan, before returning safely to base. The night was dark and overcast, added to which the effectiveness of the official black out prevented accurate navigation, so that the airship commander reported in his log that he had bombed Sheffield. The light from the blast furnaces of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company, which had received no air-raid warning, attracted L61. Seven people were killed and twelve injured at Wigan and a further four injured at Aspull. The milestone was kept for many years at Victoria Park at Widnes as a reminder of the second of the only two Zeppelin raids on Lancashire.”
Location : milestone at Bold +-500m : 53°23’52”N 2°42’11”W
Abbots Hall farm : +- 500m 53°24’52”N 2°42’46”W
Harper Street, Wigan where Mr and Mrs Tomlinson were killed during zeppelin raid. Location : +-20m : 53°32’37.53”N 2°37’02.79”W
Literature :
Zeppelin L61 – Daresbury District Heritage Group (ddhg.org.uk)
Zeppelin over Rainhill - Rainhill Remembers...
Zeppelin raids over Pocklington (pocklingtonhistory.com)
War Time Friends: Zeppelins over Wigan – GM 1914 (wordpress.com)
12/13 April 1918 (iancastlezeppelin.co.uk)