From September 1940 until May 1941, Britain - especially Greater
London - suffered heavily under a barrage of day and night-time raids by
the then mighty Luftwaffe; raids which killed some 20,000 people and
destroyed or damaged one million homes during what came to be known as
the London Blitz. A 'baby blitz' followed, from January to May 1944,
which was destined to be the final manned bomber offensive by a much
depleted Luftwaffe. Afterwards, there came the last gasp, the final
blitz on London, this time delivered by the V1 flying bombs and V2
rockets which were aimed at the capital. Overall, the V weapons killed
or seriously injured 31,000 in London and destroyed or seriously damaged
1.6 million houses throughout Britain. Yet despite all this, British
industry, economy and morale remained largely intact.
Group Captain Nigel Walpole grew up in London during the Blitz and he
has traced the full history of the V1 'doodlebugs' and V2 rockets that
terrorized so many at this time. He looks at the infamous missile
development site at Peenemunde and the engineers who brought Hitler's
horrific visions to life. He reports his vivid memories of the three
Blitz campaigns and the countermeasures taken in response to them.
Having been granted direct access to the history of the V weapons, he
describes the evolution, development, production deployment and launch
of the flying bombs and rockets. while acknowledging the terrible damage
inflicted by these weapons, Nigel also recognizes them as an example of
Germany's extraordinary capacity for innovation and determination during
one of the darkest periods of world history.
