Flying Bomb - Grove Road, London, UK - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

The Flying Bombs and Rockets website (visit link) tells of the first flying bomb to hit London:

"On the night of the 13th June 1944 Londoners heard a strange sound in the sky. The sound was later described as sounding like a motorbike without a silencer or a badly maintained steam train going up hill. Some also saw, what they thought was a burning enemy aircraft crossing the sky with a sword of flame emanating from its tail. Others knew that this was the first of the Vengeance weapons code named "Diver " by British Intelligence.

The people of London  had become used to bombing and  hardened to its horrors during the Blitz of 1940 -41. Since then,bombing had become much more sporadic .There were some heavy hit and run raids in 1943 and In February 1944 there were a series of attacks which caused further damage and death in London. These are known as the mini blitz .They were not on the scale of the main 1940-41 Blitz but still caused further death,suffering and material damage.

After D day there was great relief and an expectation that the war would be over very quickly There had been rumours for some time about Hitler's secret weapons but these were taken as a joke and civilians did not believe that there was a serious threat.

It was a cold, damp, grey summer and the days following the Normandy landings were marked by the severest summer storms that anyone could remember. The greyness of the summer accentuated the mood. Fatigue after five long years of war, deprivation, rationing and suffering. Londoners were desperate for the war to be over but had no idea that they would shortly be in the front line again. They thought that their part of the war  at the home front was finished. 

On the night of the 13th June 1944 Londoners heard a strange sound in the sky. The sound was later described as sounding like a motorbike without a silencer or a badly maintained steam train going up hill. Some also saw, what they thought was a burning enemy aircraft crossing the sky with a sword of flame emanating from its tail. Others knew that this was the first of the Vengeance weapons code named "Diver " by British Intelligence. For a year Bomber command had been engaged in a campaign to destroy the V1 launch sites in Northern France. This met with  a great deal of success and had delayed the launch of the first missile by about 6 months. This was at the cost of the lives of
2000 allied airmen.

The first V1 dived to the ground and exploded in Grove Road,London E4 at 04.25 on the morning of 13th June 1944. It hit the railway bridge which carries the Great Eastern Railway across Grove Road, from Liverpool street to Essex and East Anglia. The bridge was badly damaged, as was the railway track. A number of houses were demolished and six people were killed. London had its first taste of what a V1 could do. he Grove Road V1 was one of five launched that night which were probably a range finding exercise by the Germans. After that nothing much happened for about 48 hours as the  next wave of the attack was prepared."

The same website (visit link) tells the V1 story:

"The V1 Flying bomb was the worlds first cruise missile. An unmanned gyro guided plane that delivered a tonne of high explosive each time one hurtled into the ground. 2419 were to explode in  ondon between June 1944 and March 1945. The distinctive noise of their pulse jet engine which cut out after a predetermined mileage terrorised London's population. They quickly became known as Doodle bugs.

The V1  was capable of killing large numbers of people, inflicting terrible injuries and causing huge material damage to buildings and homes. The  V1 caused blast damage over a wide area. It exploded on the surface, and a huge blast wave rippled out from the epicentre. As it did so it left a vacuum, which caused a second rush of air as the vacuum was filled.

This caused a devastating pushing and pulling effect.

At the impact site houses or buildings were totally demolished. In inner London suburbs where terrace houses were packed together, sometimes up to 20 houses would totally collapse. Brick walls were pulverised into small fragments. Further out from the epicentre walls, roofs and window frames were ripped out exposing the contents and innards of the house. Further out still, all the windows were blown out and roofing slates blown off. Every time a Doodlebug landed hundreds of houses were damaged. Ranging from demolition to  slight damage.  This was a cold, wet summer and repairs would take many months. Londoners were de-housed in their tens of thousands or shivered in cold, damp and roofless houses. The blast area of a V1  extended across a radius of 400 -600 yards in each direction. Anyone unlucky enough to be close to the impact site would be blown apart or suffer crush injuries from falling masonry. Others would be trapped below collapsed buildings and have to be dug out. Further away from the impact site awful injuries were inflicted by shards of flying glass.

During the course of the attacks the nature of the injuries changed somewhat. At the beginning people were caught unawares on the street and  injuries from flying glass were widespread. Later on, people had understood the necessity of shelter in safe (er) areas of their home e.g. under the stairs. However, this had the effect of less flying glass injuries but more crush injuries from people being buried in the ruins of collapsed houses.

The toll of human suffering was appx. 6184 people killed by V1's and 17981 seriously injured and maimed. Tens of thousands of others received lesser injuries. Countless more would suffer the pain of bereavement or from the loss of their home and treasured possessions.

The suffering and grief endured by Londoner's during this period must never be forgotten."