The V1 Flying Bomb Campaign 1944-1945

The Doodlebug Summer and After

Jan Gore

• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Year: 2024
• Edition: 0
• eBook ISBN:
  9781399065832
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

Analyzes the V1 campaign's development and impact, detailing its strategic bombing efforts, terror tactics, and phases of escalation during World War II. In this new study, Jan Gore assesses the success of the V1 campaign. The background to the development of the V1 will be examined, from the initial references to a mystery weapon to the gradual realisation by the British that the Germans were planning both a flying bomb (V1) and a long range rocket (V2). Once the first V1 sites were identified, the British began a strategic bombing campaign, later joined by the Americans. However, as the Normandy landings became imminent in June 1944, Hitler realised he had nothing to lose by delaying his vengeance attacks. A week after D-Day, the first V1s began to reach England. The attacks swiftly intensified. It was a very different campaign from those before. The pilotless planes could be produced cheaply and there was no need to put expensively-trained pilots at risk. The planes could be launched by day or night, whatever the weather. They were true terror weapons, as the first-hand accounts of those who lived through the attacks make clear; there was very little notice that a doodlebug explosion was imminent and so it was almost impossible to take cover. The book describes thefirst weekend of the attacks with the bombing of the Guards' Chapel, the evacuation program which followed, and the UK's defense strategies. It goes on to discuss thesecondphase of the attacks, including the planned bombing of Manchester, and thethird phase of the campaign, where V1s were ground-launched from the Netherlands.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 The Very Start of the Doodlebug Campaign
• Chapter 2 June 1944: The Doodlebug Summer Begins
• Chapter 3 July 1944: An Increasing Number of Flying Bombs
• Chapter 4 August 1944: The Height of the Assault
• Chapter 5 September 1944: “And Still They Came”
• Chapter 6 October 1944: “The Wettest Autumn in Living Memory”
• Chapter 7 October 1944 - March 1945: The V1 Campaign Abroad, Antwerp and Liège
• Chapter 8 November 1944: Air Launches and Propaganda
• Chapter 9 December 1944: The First Twenty-three Days
• Chapter 10 December 1944: The Christmas Eve Raid
• Chapter 11 Christmas 1944 and After: The Last of the V1s
• Chapter 12 Conclusion: Looking Back
• Bibliography
• Plates