Five Brothers and a War

V-1 “Buzz Bomb”

But as the campaign against England was winding down, the campaign against Antwerpen, Belgium was ramping up. Almost 30,000 V-1s were made and about 10,000 were fired at England, including targets as far as Bristol and as close as Dover. 2,419 reached London, killing about 6,184 people and injuring 17,981. 12,000 V-1s were launched at Antwerpen with 2,448 hitting the city from October 1944 to March 1945. The docks that supplied 80% of the Allies' supplies were saved. At the end of the V-1 campaign, the Allies were able to down 98% of the incoming missiles, mainly because of the introduction of radar integrated anti-aircraft guns. As the French coast was liberated by the Allies, it became necessary to move launch locations. The attacks on Antwerpen were launched from Holland, including Delft. In order to continue attacking England from Holland, the V-1s were given longer ranges. Greater fuel loads were installed, at the expense of reducing the weight of the warheads. This allowed the V-1s to be launched from Holland. About 275 of these long-range flying bombs were launched against Britain from Holland in March 1945. In all, there were 21 Dutch launch sites, including many in eastern Holland, made possible by the increased V-1 range. The further inland the launch sites, the more difficult for Allied aircraft to destroy the sites.

nazi germany

Underground factory producing V-1s.

Five Brothers and a War

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