Flyingbombsandrockets.com

The Peckham and Nunhead areas (SE15) suffered heavy bombardments from the V-weapons.

 

•Total V1 Flying Bombs ("Doodlebugs"): 29

•Total V2 Rockets: 3

•Total Missiles: 32

•Total Fatalities: 161

•Average Deaths Per Missile: ~5.03

 

Worst Incidents

 

While the SE15 district endured 32 separate strikes, a few specific impacts were responsible for disproportionately high loss of life and massive destruction:

 

1.Savage's Corset Factory (22 June 1944): A V1 strike that resulted in 24 deaths, making it the single largest loss of life in Peckham during the war.

 

2.Waite Street (14 February 1945): A devastating hit from a supersonic V2 rocket that killed 18 people. The sheer blast completely levelled the street, which remains undeveloped today and forms part of local playing fields.

 

3.North of Peckham High Street (Cluster): While not a single strike, the area just north of the High Street suffered the highest concentration of V-weapons in the district. A staggering 10 V1s and 2 V2s fell in this localised zone, resulting in near-total destruction of the neighbourhood's original buildings and requiring massive post-war redevelopment.

 

The Savage's Corset Factory Strike

 

The most tragic incident in Peckham occurred on the morning of 22 June 1944 at Savage's corset factory, located on the corner of Nunhead Lane and Peckham Rye (the modern-day site of Glover House).At approximately 8:50 AM, residents heard the distinct, terrifying buzzing sound of a V1 flying bomb approaching. Eyewitness accounts, including that of a young local boy named Martin Gain, who was standing in his front garden, noted that the V1 passed directly overhead before inexplicably turning 180 degrees, after which the pulse-jet engine abruptly cut out. The missile plummeted directly onto the corset factory, causing absolute destruction. The blast was so powerful that the heavy steel tram tracks in the street outside were broken, twisted, and curled into the air. The Rescue Effort: The factory workforce consisted primarily of young women and girls. Following the explosion, many of the workers were trapped in the air-raid shelter situated below the collapsed building. Initially, rescue crews and passers by digging through the rubble could hear the trapped staff singing to keep their spirits up in the darkness. Tragically, the sheer weight of the debris and the time required to move it proved fatal. When the rescue crews eventually reached the shelter, all 24 victims had perished, most likely from asphyxiation as the dust and lack of oxygen took their toll. MemorialTo ensure the victims of Peckham's worst WWII disaster are never forgotten, a commemorative plaque was unveiled by the Mayor of Southwark on 23 June 2017, at the site of the original factory on Nunhead Lane.