END OF V2 BOMBS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 28 April 1945, Page 5

END OF V2 BOMBS

! SCARS AND SORROW REMAIN I 1 NEARLY 3000 KILLED IN ENGLAND MAIN TARGETS IN THE SOUTH London, April 26. It is revealed that V-2 rocket bombs killed a total of 2754 persons and seriously injured 6523. The first rocket fell on the evening of Bth September at Epping and about V-2’s (longrange rockets) fell "in southern England and London, which was a target for rockets as for earlier flying-bombs, says the Press Association. V-2 bombs are finished, but the scars and sorrow they caused remain. They have 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, curing which 71 were dropped in southern England. Totals of 50 to 60 weekly were common throughout January, February and March. The worst incidents were: (1) At Newcross 167’were killed when a rocket fell on a crowded chain store at lunchtime. (2) At Stepney where a block of flats was reduced to rubble and 133 were killed. (3) At Farringdon Market near Ludgate Circus one day in March when stalls crowded with shoppers were hit and 115 were killed. (4) At Deptford where a surface shelter was wrecked, 50 nearby flats were destroyed and more than 50 were killed. Among the buildings destroyed were Whitefields Tabernacle, in Tottenham Court Road.

Seven American soldiers were killed when a rocket fell on the side of Selfridge’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 Marble Arch which is crowded on Sunday afternoons but which was practically deserted when the rocket fell at 7.30 a.m., only one be ir.g killed. The doctors’ quarters at Chelsea Royal Hospital, in which army prisoners live, received a direct hit. Some rockets burst in the air. The last rocket fell at Orpington on the evening of 27th March. Earlier rockets were radio-controlled until they started falling towards southern England and the latest type had an automatic device to cut out fuel supply at a determined height. A new type of flyingbomb was believed to have been launched against England early in March. Airmen estimated the speed at 800 miles an hour.