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Dover: Lock and Key of the Kingdom
Dover in the First World War - Bombing and Shelling
To Dover goes the dubious honour of being the place where the first bomb fell on
British soil. It was Christmas Eve 1914, the weather bright sunny, when at around
midday a German plane was spotted over the town. Its pilot Lieutenant von
Prondzynski leaned over the side of his plane and saw Dover Castle and the great
naval harbour some 5,000 feet below him. He lifted his bomb in both hands as his
knees held his “joy stick” to keep the plane under control, heaving the bomb over the
side of the plane he let it fall.
British soil. It was Christmas Eve 1914, the weather bright sunny, when at around
midday a German plane was spotted over the town. Its pilot Lieutenant von
Prondzynski leaned over the side of his plane and saw Dover Castle and the great
naval harbour some 5,000 feet below him. He lifted his bomb in both hands as his
knees held his “joy stick” to keep the plane under control, heaving the bomb over the
side of the plane he let it fall.
The tiny bomb landed in the garden adjoining St James’s Rectory and made a crater
about four or five feet deep. The blast smashed some windows in the Rectory and
knocked the gardener, Mr James Banks, out of a tree he was pruning.
By the end of the First World War 184 bombs dropped from enemy aircraft and 23 shells
fired by enemy ships had fallen on the town. There were 113 air-raids in all, 23 people
were killed and 71 injured.
about four or five feet deep. The blast smashed some windows in the Rectory and
knocked the gardener, Mr James Banks, out of a tree he was pruning.
By the end of the First World War 184 bombs dropped from enemy aircraft and 23 shells
fired by enemy ships had fallen on the town. There were 113 air-raids in all, 23 people
were killed and 71 injured.
The bomb dropped towards the Castle
but Lt. Prondzynski was about 400
yards short of his target, no mean
achievement in days when bomb
aiming instruments were unknown.
but Lt. Prondzynski was about 400
yards short of his target, no mean
achievement in days when bomb
aiming instruments were unknown.
