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On 27 December 1916, a German Zeppelin was shot down by a Royal Air Corps pilot over Tees Bay. Eye witnesses could see the burning wreckage in the night sky from Whitby.

The L34 had been dropping bombs over Hartlepool when it was picked out by search lights. Later two members of the crew were washed up on the shore at Seaton Carew and buried in the cemetery of Holy Trinity church.

Neither of the bodies could be identified due to the time they had been in the water. Their graves were unmarked.

Later they were reinterred at the German Cemetery at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, in July 1962. They were buried in graves near the Zeppelin memorial; both stones marked "An unidentified German soldier".

Parts of the Zeppelin which were recovered at the time are kept in Hartlepool鈥檚 archive.

Location: Seaton Carew, Hartlepool TS25 1BU
Image: Part of the Zeppelin that was shot down