| On the 8th September 1944 a huge explosion occured in Staveley Road Chiswick in SouthWest London. There was no siren, no warning. This was the first ballistic missile,Hitler's much vaunted V2 Rocket. It weighed 13 tons and had arrived via the stratosphere at 3,000 miles an hour. 3 People died and 17 were seriously injured in the tragedy which reduced rows of houses to the apperance of a battle field. Londoners would have heard for the first time the distinctive sound of the Rocket. Firstly the explosion,secondly the roar of the rocket motors catching up (because it travelled slower than the supersonic Rocket) and lastly the noise of the sonic boom from the upper atmosphere. The noise could be heard all over the capital. A second V2 hit Epping at around the same time but fortunately in this case there were no casualties. The V2 Rockets had been known about by British Intelligence for some time but it had been assumed that the launch sites had been overun by the Allied invasion of Normandy. Indeed only on the day before Duncan Sandy had memorably announced at a press conference "except possibly for the last few shots the battle of London is over" At the same time a wave of optimism had been sweeping the country as it was assumed that Germany would capitulate at any time. The V2 Attacks went on until the 18th September by which time about 14 had fallen on the London area,when they abruptly stopped because of the Allied Operation Market Garden at Arnem which forced the Rocket batteries to withdraw. They continued to fire but could only reach East Anglia.London had temporary relief. |
| Staveley Road Chiswick after the V2 attack |
| The V2 Rocket |
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