Flying Bombs and Rockets : The Guards Chapel

If the Luftwaffe could have chosen a target none would have been better then the Guards Chapel.
It stood in Bird Cage Walk, St James and was the home of the the Royal Guardsmen based at the Wellington Barracks.
The church was packed that morning with Guardsmen,their families and friends.Just past 11.00 a.m., not long after the service started, the congregation heard a distant buzzing. It gradually grew louder and turned into a roar overhead which drowned out the hymn singing. The engine cut out and the V1 glided down and hit the roof of the chapel. This was made of concrete, having been rebuilt after damage by incendiary bombs in the blitz. The V1 exploded on impact and the whole roof collapsed on the congregation. Rubble was piled up to 10 foot deep in parts.
121 military and civilians were killed and 141 seriously injured. Only the Bishop of Maidstone,who was conducting the service was totally unhurt. The altar from which he was conducting the service was covered by a portico which sheltered him from the blast.
Legend has it that after the explosion the alter candles were still burning.
It took 2 days to dig the dead and injured out of the devastation. News of this awful tragedy was suppressed at the time although rumours of the disaster soon spread across London.It was a graphic illustration at an early stage of the attacks what a V1 could do and ,in terms of lives lost was the worst V1 disaster. You can visit the poignant guards chapel today which was re-built in the 1960's to a 1950's design. The portico which sheltered the Bishop of Maidstone survived and forms part of the re-built structure.

The attack resumed with full force on the 15th June, but this time with a much increased launch rate. What had been a joke "Hitler's secret weapon " was now generating fear and terror in Londoners. By the weekend of the 17th -18th June up to 60 V1's a day were reaching London. Over the weekend of 17th and 18th June 45 V1's were to strike in the South London area of study alone killing 200 people.
Serious incidents were occurring in all London boroughs although, as would be the case throughout the campaign South and South East London took the brunt of the attack.
On Sunday 18th June a flying bomb hit one side of Hungerford rail bridge demolishing some of the tracks. This was the 500th V1 launched. Later that morning a further bomb impacted
in Rutherford Street Wettminster killing 10 people. and demolishing two blocks of flats But far worse was to come later that morning.