ROCKET BOMB

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25049, 13 November 1944, Page 5

ROCKET BOMB

BRITAIN'S ORDEAL FIRST EXPLOSIONS NEW TERROR IN USE LAUNCHED IN HOLLAND (Reed. 5.3fi p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 11 One day in September the people of The Hague were stunned by a roar which shook the entire city, says the Associated Press correspondent. Houses trembled and trees swayed violently. Then they saw a huge flaming object hurtling almost vertically into the air. They were witnessing the first launching of V2 from that area. A Dutch Government official who has escaped from German-occupied Holland said the Germans shot off the rockets from movable launching sites all around The Hague. The launching apparatus is a huge eelf-propelled affair with a great many wheels. The ground for acres around is scorched when a rocket goes off. "We heard," he added, "that many Germans engaged launching them were killed and injured." First Rockets to Fall The first rocket on Britain fell with a crash which was heard over a wide area. Suddenly, without warning a violent explosion was heard. In the street where it fell houses were demolished and a crater appeared. One woman was killed and several people were injured. No one had seen anything, and no one then suspected enemy activity. Some thought a gas main had blown up, others that there must have been an undetected delayed action bomb under the roadway. Service and civil defence chiefs travelled to the scene, and instructions were immediately issued that nothing should be published about the new weapon. Many of the rockets have fallen in open country and some into the sea. Britain "Taking It" Again Houses, schools, hospitals, churches, Eublic houses and other buildings have een destroyed or damaged in the rocket attacks. Doctors and nurses helped in the rescue work when a rocket damaged a hospital in Southern England, Killing three patients and injuring others. One nurse described a vivid purple flash before a terrifying explosion. When the first V2 rockets fell on Britain the people realised they were once again "taking it," but this time no one knew for certain —although all suspected—what they had to take. People for a few days believed that a new gun was being tested. At unpredictable intervals great explosions reverberated in Southern England. Sometimes—it depended on the area wherein the missiles fell and where the listener stood —it 6eemed preceded and sometimes followed by a rush of air. The explosions sporadically rocked various areas of Southern England, and gradually it became generally known that a new terror had replaced the ones previously known and conquered. Pieces of Bombs Found People who have seen the V2 rockets falling describe them as resembling great balls of fire. Many pieces of the rockets have been recovered. One piece, about 10 feet long and weighing one hundredweight, fell on the roof of a house and landed on a bed. It is believed to have been part of the shell of a rocket casing. Some parts of the mechanism have also been found. Tough white metal, some in rolls and some in flat sheets over a yard square, has been picked up. Also, numerous lengths of metal chain, curiously shaped blocks of wood, bright red iron* piping resembling gutters, with many slotted holes, have been found.

People who have picked up fragments of the V2 have had their fingers burned, not by heat but bv the extreme cold. Some of the fragments have been coated with ice over an inch thick. This may have been due to oxygen being used with the propellant fuel. The metal casing is a very thin alloy. Empty gas bottles have also been found among the wreckage.

GERMAN BOASTS THREAT TO ANTWERP LONDON, Nov. ]0 "For the time being our long-range weapons will be trained on targets at Antwerp nfc irregular intervals, said the Gorman news agency commentator Max Krull. "The science of ballistics shows that a missile's deviation decreases proportionately to the shortening of the trajectory," he said. "We inay therefore expect far greater accuracy here than against London. It is easy to calculate what may be in store for Antwerp once a quick succession of V2 salvoes hits the centre of the straggling harbour area. We now have a general picture of the future uses of our longrange weapons in areas immediately behind the front. One such salvo has a greater effect than several salvoes of large-calibre artillery." The Berlin radio tonight stated: "The British press says the V2 cannot win the war. We never said it could. We maintain that Germany, in spite of her heavy air raids and other trials, is able to produce a completely new weapon and knows how to use it. The time is coming when masses of men and material will no longer count. German quality in production and inventiveness is about to come out 011 top. "Should the bombardment of Antwerp increase, the harbour will hardly_ be usable for unloading men and materials. New robot sites have been built behind the Siegfried Lino. Churchill's statement is regarded as an admission that V2 is-having a telling effect. The manner in which he spoke leaves no doubt that, official England no longer believes any good can come from a policy I of silence.