The London SE8 Deptford area was already badly battered by the Blitz.Now it was to be on the receiving end of 15 V1 Flying Bombs and 3 V2 Rockets. Between them these killed at least 93 people. The Death rate at 5.16 per missile was the 4th highest in South London which very much was due to the densley packed nature of the terraced housing in this area.
What is really remarkable about the Flying Bomb attacks on Deptford is the manner in which the Nazis were able to hit Deptford Dock Yard or nearby streets. No less than 7 V1's and a V2 fell in this concentrated area. Now if the Nazi's were able to select a target this would have been one of the highest on the list in London. The reason for this is that the dock yard was the home of a USA Amphibious base which was being used to support the D day Landings. Now whether this was very good aiming or whether it was a matter of luck will probably never be known but there was significant damage to military equipment and loss of life amongst service personel.
There was a very tragic Rocket incident in Adolphus street on the 9th January 1945 which killed 15 people. In common with many Rocket explosions that winter fires were caused in the debris of collapsed buildings due to burning coals from domestic fires being scattered around.
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