Hitler's Vengeance Weapons in Shoreham
The first V1 flying bomb, aka "doodlebug" or "buzz bomb", to hit UK soil crashed to earth at 4.13am on June 13th in Swanscombe. Fortunately it came down on open farmland with no casualties. Seven minutes later, another crashed at Cuckfield in Sussex, again on farmland, no casualties. Five minutes after that, things got serious. The third bomb hit the railway bridge over Grove Road in Bethnal Green, killing six people and injuring thirty more. Hitler's top-secret Vengeance Weapons had arrived. The primary target was of course London, but many, many hundreds fell short in Kent.
On September 15th 1944, the Kent Messenger printed a map that showed where all the V1 doodlebugs, had crashed down in Kent. This is the portion of that map showing Shoreham. |
Our resident artist, Neil Powell, has kindly overlaid the Kent Messenger map onto a modern OS map. It won't be totally accurate, the Kent Messenger map can only be approximate at best, but it should give you a very rough idea of the scale of the threat. (The fact the Parish boundaries have changed a fair bit since 1944 didn't help). Credit and thanks to John Smith who also had a go at overlaying the maps and came up with a very similar result. However, to illustrate how vague the plotting is, we know that Meadow Cottage (along by the river path in Darenth Way) was destroyed by a V1 on 11th August 1944 but there isn't a mark on the map close by. If anybody has any more definitive info on a V1 strike in the area between June - September '44, please let us know.
Bear in mind, the above map only shows the V1s that fell between June and September 1944. Many hundreds more would be launched until the last one to hit the UK came down at Woolmer Green in Hertfordshire on the 29th March 1945. The map also doesn't take into account the new V2 rocket, the first of which had hit Chiswick on the 8th September 1944, less than a week before the map was published in the Kent Messenger. Just one V2 rocket hit Shoreham, on the 15th February 1945, it fell on an orchard east of Well Hill, damaging farm buildings and about 20 houses.
Before and after photos of Meadow Cottage, hit by a V1 doodlebug on 11th August 1944. The owners, Mr & Mrs Barker were indoors at the time, fortunately the ancient but sturdy frame remained standing, saving them from being crushed.
Text by Mellie, overlay map by Neil Powell