London V1 strike maps

Hello Folks

As you can see, I am new to this forum - glad to have found you.

My father served in US Army G2, headquartered in London (and later Paris) during WWII. As part of his legacy, I have inherited a set of wall maps of London (5 in total), which detail the impact point of every V1 flying bomb to hit the capitol. My father was involved in tracking these impacts, in an effort to pinpoint the launchpoints of the V1's as a prelude to bombing missions to destroy them. He told me that the maps used to hang on their HQ walls, and had pushpin markers indicating casualty figures for each explosion.

I have to believe that these maps would be of some scholarly value, but I am at a loss as to who I might approach to loan them. Does anyone have a suggestion where I might start ? My first thoughts ran to the Imperial War Museum, or London Topographical Society, but thought someone on this forum might have a better idea.

Oh, and as a thanks, please enjoy the attached V1 pic - this 'photo' was included with the maps - it once hung on the same wall, and still carries its 'Secret' stamp on the reverse.

Thanks in advance for your help. If I have posted this in the incorrect part of the forum, please relocate as required.

Chris (aka Garwood1)
Herefordshire

 

I would say the Imperial War Museum was your best bet.

 

Welc

 

Thanks chaps. I'll try contacting the IWM.

Yes, I have one covering south of London area - it extends from Streatham across to Bexley, and from West Ham down to Beckenham.

They each measure around a metre square.

I could look into getting them copied, or could possibly scan A4-sized sections that were of interest.

Looks like Lewisham got a pasting....

 

Yeah L

 

Drew, I managed to scan the area you requested, and can send you a PDF. Drop me a visitor message with your email address, and I'll fire it over to you today.

Chris

 

Nice one matey !

 

Thanks SD
Re my dad - He never talked extensively regarding his war experiences (similar to my Grandfather and his WWI experiences - a HUGE opportunity lost, I believe). I know he was in G2 Intelligence, Staff Sergeant, I believe, and was heavily involved in helping to determine the launching points of the V1 rockets (and later the V2's). He related a story concerning a truckload of GI's who had just pulled to the curb, not far from where he was working in London, when a V2 rocket hit - there was nothing left of the truck (or the poor chaps inside) bigger than your fist. Really got to him, I think.
He kept up correspondence with his colleagues back in KC, at his old employer, and I have those letters as well - fascinating day-to-day accounts of life in wartime London.
His Paris stint was not very long; I think he was there only a month or so prior to VE day (and has several photos taken from the rooftop of his offices in Paris on VE day, showing the throngs of people below on the street.)
And, to top it all off, I ended up marrying the daughter of a woman he was friends with while here in the UK !! So the circle is complete, in a way.
As to these maps - not quite sure how to post or distribute them - they are so big, I cannot scan them at home (other than A4 sized pieces) - they are also getting a bit fragile, so I am hesitant to keep folding / unfolding them. My first goal is to get goodf quality, full-sized copies made - perhaps at the same time I can get them scanned and converted to a digital format which others can then share.

 

Attached is scan of Lewisham section of London, as requested by Drew, to give you an idea of the appearance of these maps.

 

Many

 

Per my dad, each black dot represented a V1 impact - not bombs or any other explosion. I believe there was another map with red dots signifying V2 strikes, but not sure where this ended up.
Looks like there was a V1 strike at the end of Engleheart Rd...

Drew, per your later comments - thanks for the link you posted - VERY interesting. I was able to tie several of the locations listed in the timeline with black dots on the map - but as you say, there would appear to be many more than mentioned. I need to pin down when these maps were hanging on the wall, as they are not dated...I need to know what time period they represent. This research is intriguing !!

 

Chris,




Hope this helps.

 

Interesting....and confusing, in equal measure.
Attached is a map scan of the same part of town...can't seem to correlate these with the ones shown on your map. What's going on here ? Could these be V2 strikes perhaps? They didn't launch as many of those, or so I thought....
The mystery continues....

 

Very interesting stuff Chris. I viewed your Lewisham map, in the area on the left of this section is the area of Brokley where my brother and 2 of my sisters live, from what I can make out my brother's street actually took a hit...He didn't live there at the time though......
Excellent, and I would imagine, rare piece of wartime history you have there mate.

 

Hello,Garwood / Blacksnake, a very interseting subject and one of my favorites, heres one you may or may not know, from September 1944 to 14th January 1945 Luftwaffen group 111kfg 3 amalgmated with other bomber groups to form 1kgf 53 which carried out an offensive of V1 attacks launched from HE111 bombers with a total of 1,300 successful launches fivfty of which where at manchester

 

The map I posted was put together at the end of the war by the government (There is one for every part of London-I just can't get one from where I lived) to show all the damage from bombs, V-1 and V-2 strikes. It was put together to help them decide whats part of London could be repaired and what parts needed to be demolished and re-built

The standard key for all the maps is:

Black - Total destruction

Purple - Damage beyond repair

Dark Red - Seriously damaged, doubtful if repairable

Light Red - Seriously damaged, repairable at cost

Orange - General blast damage, minor in nature

Yellow - Blast damage, minor in nature

Green - Clearance areas

Small circle - V2 Bomb - I suspect there are no strikes on this map as I'm not aware of any V-2 strikes where I lived.

Large circle - V1 bomb



Cheers

 

Welcome garwood. Interesting to read. I have my mother's mini-diary from 1944 that records days when there were raids and buzz bombs. I look forward to anything you share.

I agree re the Imperial War Museum as a repository. Since you are in England, you may be able to locate a local conservator, or someone near who could ensure that the fragile documents are saved. Being maps they might deacidify them and mount them on linen for you (from what I can recall when I was looking up conservation for my treasures).

 

As requested, here is an excerpt of a letter sent by my father to a work colleague back in Kansas City. It is dated 8 July 1945, and was sent from his new HQ in Paris (The Majestic Hotel). At this stage, he was able to reveal some formerly secret activities from his days in London in 1944.

"One of my formerly secret duties in England (Feb 1 1944 until the danger period was over in August) was working with the Intelligence Branch of G-2 exclusively on V-1 intelligence - I made and kept charts of all launching sites - records of progress in reconstructionof new sites from agents' reports and photo recon plus the results of our bombing campaign against these sites. We had some very uncomfortable days around May 15th, when we fully expected the Germans to start firing the things - if they had, history might have recorded an entirely different story for the 35 sites on Cherbourg which were never used because of our tropps moving too fast could have caused inestimable damage to the crowded ports and harbors along the southern coast of England.'

'Officially, there were 96 plotted and photographed launching sites and although our bombing countermeasures kept their effectiveness, according to our estimates, at around 30, the biggest surprise of all came when we learned that of the hundreds (I should say thousands) of V-1's fired, none were from these sites anyway, but from portable wooden affairs ! So you see, we've had some close calls.'

'Another interesting incident is that I happened to have guard duty at the War Room in Headquarters the night the first one came in and exploded not so far away in London. Having worked so long them I knew what it was, although having never seen them before, so you realize how the Colonel I was on duty with and I kept the telephone giving the news and descriptions to our 'boss' from our point of vantage up there on top of the office building in Grosvenor Square that HQ was in.'