V-1 flying bombs

The terror weapon of the Germans in Second World War

Horsmonden had at least on V-1 Fying Bomb or ‘Doodlebug’ land in the village and many must have flown over. In 1944, one of them landed in north east side of St. Margaret’s churchyard destroying all the stained windows on that side.

The technically it was a jet-powered cruise missile developed by the Luftwaffe.

Between 13 June 1944 and 29 March 1945, many were fired at London and other population centres.

V-1s were launched from ‘ski’ launch sites along the French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts until the sites were overrun by Allied forces.

The underground V-1 storage depots and launch sites were bombed during Operation Crossbow.