The V1 and V2 rockets were developed as a reaction to the heavy allied bombing of German cities towards the end of WW2. (V stands for Vergeltungswaffe - retribution weapon'). In total, over 3,000 V2s were launched against Britain, resulting in an estimated 9,000 deaths.
V1s, known as doodlebugs, flew until they ran out of fuel and then they dropped to the ground. So people on the ground would listen hoping to hear it pass overhead, but if the noise stopped while it was still coming towards them they would dive for cover. The V2s were the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile and as such no one heard them coming.
This Wikipedia image shows a V2 rocket.
2018: A has a great post about V2s.
2018: , references "Most Secret War" by R. V. Jones where Tower Bridge is named as the permanent target for all the London V1 rockets. It seems to be generally agreed that the V1s were not at all accurate and many fell short.
2018: In 2009 Matt the Magnificent Mapper at plotted all the V2 sites he had access to at that time. Then in 2018 that was superseded by .
2019: has an interesting post about these bombs, particularly in the comments about their random nature.
2025: The worst attacks were: New Cross Woolworths, Whitechapel Hughes Mansions, Smithfield Charterhouse Street, Bloomsbury Church House.
2025: A article about the DLR discovered that Linke-Hofmann Busch, the German company that made the V2 rockets, went on to provide the trains for the DLR, "the company’s second export to East London".
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