First Ballistic Missile attacks

8th September 1944: A new age in warfare dawns as the first V2 rocket hits London in a random attack - but the public are kept in the dark

A German picture of a V2 launch during testing in the summer of 1943. The many technical challenges to get it operational were only just overcome in September 1944.

On 8th September the British newspapers were full of reports of the rapid Allied advance through France and Belgium. A further victory was also apparent. The British had conquered the German V1 rocket attacks and there was widespread reporting of a statement made by War Cabinet member Duncan Sandys¹ who had claimed that "except possibly for the last few shots, the battle of London is over".

Hundreds of V1 rockets had been launched at Britain - but a coordinated program of counter-measures had been largely successful.

… breaking the sound barrier as it re-entered the atmosphere. It had been just minutes since the missile had left the Hague in Holland.

He had praised the assistance of United States officials who:

had thrown themselves into the job of beating the bomb as if New York or Washington had been the victim of the attack...

The latest American equipment for use with British heavy guns was ordered earlier in the year when flying bomb attacks began to look imminent. The necessary priority was accorded by the President as a result of a personal request by the Prime Minister.

Intelligence, agents, air reconnaissance and photo-interpretation units warned us in the first place what Hitler was preparing for us, and since then we have directed our bomber forcesm with remarkable precision onto the weak links and bottlenecks in the enemy’s organisation. The visitation which London has so bravely borne has been painful enough.

Had it not been for the vigilance of the intelligence services and the unrelenting efforts of the British and American air forces, her ordeal might have been many times more severe.

A Bofors gun battery fully manned, situated on the South Coast.

A highly concentrated barrage of anti-aircraft guns on the south coast had proved to be very effective in knocking the V1 rockets out of the sky. Those that got through the barrage were often intercepted by pursuing aircraft, either Typhoon or the latest Spitfires, which just had the speed to catch them. On 28th August 90 out of 97 V1 rockets fired at London had been brought down by the guns, and only four missiles got through to hit London. Soon the Allied advances on the continent would put them completely out of range.

The lightly damaged launching ramp of the modified V1 launching site at Belloy-sur-Somme, near Amiens, France. This was one of several launch sites overrun by the Allies since D-Day in Normandy.

However, the Minister had been evasive when questioned about whether there was a "V2" rocket: