ENGLAND'S ORDEAL

Evening Star, Issue 25470, 28 April 1945, Page 8

ENGLAND'S ORDEAL

THE ROQKET-BOMB ERA

NEARLY THREE THOUSAND KILLED

LONDON, April 26

It is revealed that V-2 rocket bonius killed a total of 2,754 and seriously injured 6,52,'i The first rocket fell on the evening of September 8 on Epping.

" About 1,200 V-2's (long-range rockets) fell on Southern England and London, which was a target for rockets, as it was for the earlier living bombs," says the Press Association. " The V-2 bombs are finished, but the scars of sorrow they caused remain. They caused havoc on the way to London by falling short, especially in Essex, Hertfordshire, and Kent. The attack reached a crescendo during one week in February,- during which 71 were dropped on Southern England. Totals of 50 to CO, a week were common throughout January, February, and March.

" The worst incidents were, first, at Newcross, where 107 were killed when a rocket at lunch time fell on a crowded chain store; secondly, at Stepney, where a block of flats was reduced to nibble and 133 were killed; thirdly, at Farrington Market, near Ludgate Circus, one day in March, when stalls were crowded with shoppers, 115 were killed; fourthly, at Oeptford, where a surface shelter was wrecked, 50 nearby flats were destroyed, and more than 50 people were killed. Among the buildings destroyed was Whitefields Tabernacle, in Tottenham Court road. Seven American soldiers were killed when a rocket fell at the side of Self ridge's store, in Oxford street, and a taxicab was blown into the shop. The occupants of the cab were never found. A rocket fell near the Hyde Park speakers' corner at the Marble Arch, which is crowded on Sunday afternoons, but was practically deserted when the rocket fell at 7.30 a.m.. only one being killed. A doctor's quarters at Chelsea Royal Hospital, in which army prisoners live, received a direct hit. Some of the rockets burst in the air. The last rocket fell at Orpington on the evening of March 27.