V-2 Rocket Attacks Begin 8 September 1944

Cover produced for the V-2 Rocket Attacks which started on September 8th 1944 - 2004 marks the 60th Anniversary. The artwork shows a V-2 being Luanched aginst London, the test flight rocket in Poland and the entrance to the top secret factory death camp at Dora-Mittelbau. The bottom part of the artwork shows the Woolworths Deptford store which was hit by a V2 in November 1944 killing 160 people. Cover bears green 30p defin stamp cancelled with BFPS 2406 The German V-2 Offensive against England.

In the early evening of 8th September 1944 two heavy explosions were heard in London somewhere north of the Thames. One was traced to a glade inside Epping Forest the other to Stavely Road Chiswick where a 30 foot wide crater had been formed and three people had been killed and ten seriously wounded. There were other mysterious explosions to follow which according to the Ministry of Information were casued by main gas leaks. However the German High Command announced in its Daily Communique of 8th September that Revenge Weapon 2 had for some time been in action againt targets in London and Southern England and that the V-2 was the second of a series of highly efficient secret weapons which would bring victory to Germany.
The British Government could not continue to keep this news secret therefore on 10th November 1944 CHurchilll announed in the House of Commons that the long-expected V-2 campaign had begun. He explained that it was a ballistic missle which because of its very high speed gave no warning of it's approach. Its explosive warhead was no greater than the V-1 but becuase of the almost vertical trajectory on impact it caused greater damage when exploding well underground. It was known that some of the rockets had been fired from the Island of Walcheren in the Netherlands but in due course no matter where the Germans positioned their  llaunching sites the V-2 campaign would be ended by the unstoppable advance of the Allied Armies. Between 8th September 1944 and March 27th 1945 1125 V-2 missiles were launched against England killing 2612 in London and 212 elsewhere. 517 rockets fell in the London Civil Defence Region and 537 outside the capital in eleven counties with Essex bearing the brunt.
The worst V-2 disaster of all England occured on 25th November 1944 when a missile exploded at the rear of Woolworths in New Cross during a busy Saturday lunchtime. The store was full of women and children of which 160 were killed. Another V-2 dived into the middle of Smithfield Market on 8th March 1945 when the place was packed with customers.
The only method of defence against the V2 was  by attack of its missle launching sites. These were small, well dispersed and ingeniously concealed in hundreds of places in the Netherlands. Typically the Germans shotted disregard of civilian property by selecting sites in streets between rows of housing and even in hospital buildings. The RAF began to strike accurately against these sites by using the spitfire as a dive bomber but always in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire. The last V2 launched against England was on 27th March 1945 then the V2s ounded Antwerp.
 

Cover has been flown in Hercules C130 of 30 Squadron from RAF Lyneham to Paderborn and then back to RAF Aldergrove en route overflying the Nordhausen area in which the Dora-Mittelbau V-2 producing concentration camp was located.

Cover bears preprinted signatures on front