Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2013 | Page 18
FEATURE
Remembering
V-1 bombings
By Peter White
Picture: Dave
Sloggett
'The sound was always distinctive. As it crossed overhead the
one thing people did not want to hear was it cutting out'
Next year marks the 70th anniversary
of the first V-1 Doodlebug to land on
the Island. The Second World War
had entered its fifth year, and although
victory for Britain looked to be in
sight, there was still no easy route to
success.
For the people of Southern England,
including the Isle of Wight, the arrival
of the V-1 was a stark reminder that
despite the success of D-Day the
war was far from over. In this special
article, Island author and freelance
writer Dr Dave Sloggett looks forward
to the 70th Anniversary of the first
V-1 Doodlebugs landing on the Island.
He says: “The sound of the engine
was always distinctive. As it crossed
overhead the one thing people did not
want to hear was it cutting out. If it
did, seconds later there would be a
huge bang and some poor soul may be
lying dead or injured. The V-1 was a
terror weapon. It and its sister weapon
the V-2 were designed to bring Britain
to its knees just at the point where
victory seemed to be in sight.
“The V-1 had been developed in a
clandestine programme carried out
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at a remote research base on the edge
of the Baltic Sea called Peenemünde.
Over time the Nazis improved the
design of the weapon. Once launched
from a ski-ramp it could fly straight
and level over a range of up to 160
nautical miles. The Nazi’s planned to
launch 50,000 a month from their
A V1 pictured
landing on London
sites in Northern France into Southern
England with the main focus being on
London. This was not the only target;
the dockyards at Bristol, Southampton
and Portsmouth were also ‘on the
radar’. To fly to Southampton meant
flying over the Isle of Wight!
“British intelligence had been alerted
to the development and had issued
warnings to the Royal Observer Corps
to inform them what to expect. If they
saw a V-1 they were to issue a simple
codeword on the telephone. That word
was ‘Diver’. On June 13, 1944 as the
first wave was launched just before
4.0am several ‘Diver’ reports were
made.
“It signified the onset of a campaign
that would last for nine months.
In that time over 9,000 V-1 were
launched against the United Kingdom.
The peak of the V-1 campaign came
in the summer of 1944. In the first
week of July just over 800 V-1 flying
bombs were launched. This was a level
of attack that was not to be repeated.
The reliability of the V-1 was not
high. Many crashed into the English
Channel, failing to make landfall.
Others en route to Southampton
crossed over the Isle of Wight.
The Island was directly on the
pre-programme flight path
from France to Portsmouth and