Germany's V-1 flying bombs first struck London
On this day · 13 June 1944
On June 13, 1944, a week after D-Day, the first V-1 buzz bomb fell on London, opening a new age of guided-weapon warfare.
Just one week after the D-Day landings, a strange new menace appeared over London. At about 4:25 a.m. on June 13, 1944, a short-winged machine roared across the dawn sky at over 350 miles per hour, its jet engine making an unmistakable buzz before it cut out and the bomb fell.
This first V-1 landed at Grove Road in Bow, in London’s East End, destroying a railway bridge and nearby homes. Six people were killed, around 30 injured, and some 200 left homeless.
Londoners soon nicknamed the weapons doodlebugs or buzz bombs. Cheap, pilotless, and aimed only roughly, they were among the world’s first cruise missiles.
When the engine’s drone stopped, those below had seconds to take cover.
From that June morning until March 1945, roughly 10,000 V-1s were launched at England, a terrifying glimpse of long-range warfare to come.
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