The Beighton Doodlebug - Xmas Eve 1944
"The Angel of Death is abroad in land only if you can't hear the flutter of his wings."
Winston Churchill - Cabinet meeting 15th January 1945
Until just recently I was totally ignorant of the fact that one of Hitler's so called "Vergeltungswaffe Eins" (Revenge Weapon Number One) had actually landed and exploded in Sheffield or more precisely Beighton. The Nazi V1 campaign against Britain began on the night of the 12th-13th June 1944, one week after the Normandy landings. The campaign is extensively covered both in books and on-line and so I am not going to go into the history of the campaign.
I had always assumed that Sheffield was beyond the range of the V1 rocket. The information that was available indicated that the "Doodlebug" had a maximum range of 150 miles and at that range it was neither accurate or reliable. In order to extend the range, the bomb was carried by a modified HE-111 Heinkel bomber.
The idea was for the aircraft to carry the V-1 at extreme low level to avoid detection from British radar, then as they approached the British coast they would sharply increase their altitude to about 1,500ft (450m) before releasing the V-1, then generally using cloud cover or low level flying to make good their escape back to their bases. The aircraft chosen to carry out this task was the He 111H. A number of these including the He 111H-6, the He 111H-16, the He 111H-21 and the He 111H-22, were modified to carry the new projectile which actually was a Fieseler Fi 103 flying bomb, but known as the V-1. All these aircraft, after modification became the He 111H-22. They were delivered to III/KG3 that was based in the Netherlands. Initially the campaign was successful - the modified He 111H-22 carried and launched over 300 V-1 rockets against London, 100 against Portsmouth and Southampton and 20-30 against Bristol. The use of the He 111H-22 and the V-1 rocket was such a success, that over 100 He 111H aircraft were modified to He 111H-22 standards and delivered to KG53 for the sole purpose of launching the V-1 at British targets. But the success was shortlived - in the next six months, only 20% of 1,200 V-1 rockets reached their intended targets, many of then falling and exploding in empty fields or remote suburbs, and some eighty He 111H-22 aircraft were destroyed either by the RAF or by AA gunfire. The loss of aircraft were to force the Germans to use specially constructed launch pads.On Christmas Eve 1944, a formation of these specially modified HE-111 Heinkel bombers (I/KG53 squadron) flying over the North Sea launched 45 V1 Flying Bombs (Doodlebugs) from off the Lincolnshire coast at Mablethorpe. The target was Manchester. The raid was winessed by fisherman in the North sea who reported that some of the rockets had failed to ignite and had just fallen harmlessly into the sea Unfortunately the majority of the rockets did ignite. The RAF coastal radar station at Lowestoft had picked the raid up in its infancy and alerted the coastal defences along the coast. The Humber AA defences opened up but failed to destroy any of the incoming rockets. In total, thirty-one of the bombs reached the target area with fifteen falling on Manchester itself. The remaining bombs fell over a wide area of north west and north England.
The bombs took on average thirty minutes before they reached their target - the first one landing at Chorley at 5.30 in the morning, obliterating a hen coup with thirty birds in it. However the true destructive nature of the V1 bomb was revealed when one exploded in in Abbey Hills Road, in Oldham, landing on a row of cottages, killing 27 people and seriously injuring 49. A further six people died when the V1 rocket landed on Chapel Street, in Tottington, near Bury, Greater Manchester - it destroyed a row of cottages and was one of 15 bombs to fall near Manchester - a memorial garden was built where the bomb landed.
In total, forty-two people where killed and over one hundred seriously injured. Many homes suffered damage but no military and industrial areas were damaged. In military terms the raid was a failure, but it was a sharp reminder of the dangers that still existed for those who had endured over five years of war.
One of the V1's did land in Beighton and destroyed a hedge. I have made a few preliminary enquiries and someone seems to think that it exploded in the region of of what is now Rother Valley Country Park but cannot be certain. The crater would have been very approximately forty feet across and four feet deep. If anyone can provide an exact location please contact me
Sources
Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks 2 - Ron Collier
This page was last updated on 23/12/05 09:14