BORNE DU ZEPPELIN

"Here the Zeppelin L.49 was shot down on October 20, 1917". This is the inscription engraved on the milestone. "On the night of October 19-20, 1917, thirteen large naval Zeppelins flew over England. On their return to Germany, the winds were against them. Only two of the aircraft were able to return to base via the North Sea. The other eleven were thrown back over French territory. At 6 a.m. on October 20, three of them, working together, tried to break through our lines between Lunéville and Baccarat. At 6.45am, the 1st went down in flames in the commune of St Clément, Meurthe et Moselle. The second, an L-49 pursued for two hours by our aircraft, was forced to land on the banks of the Apance river, at Les Cornets in the commune of Serqueux near Bourbonne Les Bains. The aircraft was unharmed, but the crew, led by 28-year-old Captain Gayer, who thought they were on Dutch soil, were captured.

The only Zeppelin captured intact: the monster is there, dressed in black, coated with a shiny varnish, bearing its registration number on the front: "L.49". It's almost 200 meters long, with a diameter of 25 meters at the master couple, a volume of over 50,000 cubic meters and a total laden weight of 60 tons. What a mastodon! His commander was about to set fire to it (imperative instructions) when a local hunter, at gunpoint, prevented him from doing so.

The 19 prisoners were escorted to Bourbonne. A few days after the Zeppelin had landed intact, the French government announced that the main parts of the imposing trophy would soon be displayed in Paris on the Place des Invalides. Dismantled piece by piece, the bulk of the Zeppelin was transported by rail from Bourbonne Les Bains to Paris, ending its career as a war trophy and museum piece.

DATAtourisme France