London marks 60th anniversary of first V2 attack

It was designed as the ultimate weapon to win the Second World War and began a reign of terror that claimed nearly 3,000 lives in Britain.

The Nazi's V2 bomb surpassed all other missiles, including the "Doodlebug" or V1 introduced months before, as it travelled three times faster than the speed of sound and was impossible to stop.

On 8 September 1944 - 60 years ago today - the first V2 fell on Staverley Road, Chiswick, apparently from nowhere, killing three people and demolishing six houses. Its impact left a crater 30 feet across and eight feet deep.

Today, residents in Chiswick are commemorating that first V2 attack with a memorial at the site.

It was launched from the Netherlands and landed within five minutes. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels gave the V2 its name, Vergeltungswaffe zwei (Vengeance Weapon 2).

In total more than 1,300 V2s dropped in Britain, while hundreds more were fired at Antwerp and Paris.

The bombs killed 5,000 people in Allied territory. But what was an early missile was later used to pioneer research into space missions.

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