These historic pictures of a Graf Zeppelin over fields between Leavesden and St Albans have been provided by Kevin Matthew, the managing director of a local firm.
He tells the Herts Advertiser that they were taken in 1930 by John Barrow, “one of my granddads, when we allowed the Germans to ‘test flight’ all over Britain whilst they were actually photographing and plotting positions.
“He had previously served on the Somme as a 17-year-old with the Herts Regiment, and between the wars he was a keen photographer and cyclist.”
Kevin’s grandfather went on to become sergeant in the RAF in the Second World War, but, “he died fairly early from lung disease/influenza mostly attributed to mustard gas, like so many other brave men who returned but never really recovered”.
The Graf Zeppelin - the largest airship at that time - ominously hovered over Wembley Stadium in 1930, during the FA Cup final.
According to the Herts At War website, many people believe that the First World War never came to British soil but there were isolated incidents in which Herts came under Zeppelin attack.
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