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While the use of airships for military purposes had been pioneered by the German army, in 1913 the navy raised their own airship troops. After operating in varying command structures for the first years of the war, in late 1916 the navy took over airship operations on the western front while the army
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The bombings in 1916 were more intense than in 1915. After an accidental bomb-dropping on London, the Kaiser approved of raids directly against the city's urban center. Twenty-three raids on London resulted in around 1,800 casualties. Despite safety precautions, civilians were still unprepared for
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caused nearly half of the planned bombings to end in failure. Only eleven successful raids occurred in the last year of the war. Nearly 80 zeppelins had been built for the
Luftschifftruppe during the war; around 60 of them were shot down, including
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approved of the
Luftschifftruppe's bombing of England. On January 19, 1915, the first bombs fell over Britain, when two Zeppelins dropped 50 kg explosives on villages outside
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The
Luftschiffer became the backbone of German aerial warfare in the first years of the War, conducting reconnaissance flights as well as the first bombings of cities, including
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the raids and zeppelins were still able to avoid defenses. By 1917 and 1918 the threat the
Luftschifftruppe posed to London was diminished. Large-scale introduction of
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Upon the outbreak of World War I, the
Luftschifftruppe numbered around 20–25 zeppelins in service. The Luftschifftruppe began aerial surveillance early on in
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The
Luftschiffer's career and service to Germany came to an end when, following World War I, the Luftschifftruppe was dismantled and barred from existence by the
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Until 1918, the army launched 50 airships, the navy 73. 17 army and 23 navy ships were lost to the enemy, 9 army and 30 navy ships were lost to other causes.
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Military aviation units and formations of
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word meaning "airshipmen's troop", was the designation of the
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units operating observation balloons at the frontline,
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303:Versuchskompanie für Motorluftschiffahrt
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