Citation

Evans SG, Delaney KB. Appl. Geogr. 2018; 99: 44-53.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.apgeog.2018.07.019

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In a 291 day period in the latter stages of WW2 (1944-45) 10,386 V1 cruise missiles were launched against the UK from ground ramps in France and Holland, and from modified He-111 bombers flying off the south and east coasts of England. The attack mainly targeted London and despite a highly effective British campaign of in-flight interception, 2420 V1 missiles (23% of those launched) made explosive impact on the London target area resulting in significant loss of life and massive damage to London's housing stock. Using data from The National Register of 1939 we reconstruct the target geography of London and utilising a vast body of archival data from The National Archives we also reconstruct the V1 impact geography; in doing so we evaluate the accuracy of the V1 attack. Most missiles struck near the centre of the London target in areas of high population density; 40% of the missiles fell on the County of London forming the inner core of the London Civil Defence Region containing 38% of its 1944 population in only 16% of its area. The overall Mean Point of Impact is within 3.5 km of the centroid of the County of London. V1 impact density showed similar Clarke-like distance-decay relations to population density in relation to an assumed Central London aiming point. We also determine the accuracy metrics for the V1 attack. Our results verify the idea that high-resolution accuracy is moot when missile systems with relatively low accuracy are launched against large area targets, such as large cities. Although compared to modern missile systems the V1 was "inaccurate", we find that the German cruise missile system fulfilled the operational accuracy requirements to achieve its terror and urban damage objectives.

Language: en

Keywords

Cruise missile; Flying Bomb; London; Missile accuracy; Missile warfare; V1