Editing V-2 rocket (section)

== Targets ==

During the succeeding months about 3,172 V-2 rockets were fired at the following targets:<ref>{{cite web |title=V2 Rocket Facts|url=http://www.worldwar2facts.org/v2-rocket-facts.html |work=World War 2 Facts |access-date=14 December 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215002156/http://www.worldwar2facts.org/v2-rocket-facts.html |archive-date=15 December 2013 }}</ref>

* '''Belgium''', 1,664: [[Antwerp]] (1,610), [[Liège]] (27), [[Hasselt]] (13), [[Tournai]] (9), [[Mons, Belgium|Mons]] (3), [[Diest]] (2)
* '''United Kingdom''', 1,402: [[London]] (1,358), [[Norwich]] (43),<ref name=Irving />{{rp|289}} [[Ipswich]] (1)
* '''France''', 76: [[Lille]] (25), [[Paris]] (22), [[Tourcoing]] (19), [[Arras]] (6), [[Cambrai]] (4)
* '''Netherlands''', 19: [[Maastricht]] (19)
* '''Germany''', 11: [[Battle_of_Remagen#V2_rockets_used|Remagen (Ludendorff Bridge)]] (11)
Antwerp, Belgium was a target for a large number of V-weapon attacks from October 1944 through to the virtual end of the war in March 1945, leaving 1,736 dead and 4,500 injured in greater Antwerp. Thousands of buildings were damaged or destroyed as the city was struck by 590 direct hits. The largest loss of life by a single rocket attack during the war came on 16 December 1944, when the roof of the crowded [[Cine Rex]] was struck, leaving 567 dead and 291 injured.{{sfn|King|Kutta|1998|p=281}}<ref>{{cite web |title=V2Rocket.com "Antwerp, The City of Sudden Death" |url=http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/antwerp.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703163237/http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/antwerp.html |archive-date=3 July 2015 }}</ref>

An estimated 2,754 civilians were killed in London by V-2 attacks with another 6,523 injured,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/homefront/arp/arp4a.html |title=Air Raid Precautions – Deaths and injuries |work=tiscali.co.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308060050/http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/homefront/arp/arp4a.html |archive-date=8 March 2007 }}</ref> which is two people killed per V-2 rocket. The death toll in London did not meet the Nazis' full expectations, during early usage, as they had not yet perfected the accuracy of the V-2, with many rockets being misdirected and exploding harmlessly. Accuracy increased during the war, particularly for batteries where the {{Lang|de|Leitstrahl}} (radio guide beam) system was used.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mobile Firing Operations & Locations |url=http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/mobileoperations.html |work=V2Rocket.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813205741/http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/mobileoperations.html |archive-date=13 August 2007 }}</ref> Missile strikes that did hit targets could cause large numbers of deaths; 160 were killed and 108 seriously injured in one explosion at 12:26&nbsp;pm on 25 November 1944, at a [[F. W. Woolworth Company|Woolworth's]] department store in [[New Cross]], south-east London.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/V2_maintextb.html |title=Flying Bombs and Rockets, V2 Woolworths New Cross |author=Stephen Henden |work=flyingbombsandrockets.com  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214000651/http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/V2_maintextb.html |archive-date=14 December 2012 |access-date=23 March 2011}}</ref>
British intelligence also helped impede the effectiveness of the Nazi weapon, sending false reports via their [[Double-Cross System]] implying that the rockets were over-shooting their London target by {{convert|10|to|20|mi|0|abbr=out}}. This tactic worked; more than half of the V-2s aimed at London landed short of the London Civil Defence Region.<ref name=jones>Jones RV; Most Secret War 1978</ref>{{rp|459}} Most landed on less-heavily populated areas in [[Kent]] due to erroneous recalibration. For the remainder of the war, British intelligence maintained the ruse by repeatedly sending bogus reports implying that these failed rockets were striking the British capital with heavy loss of life.<ref name="Blitz Street; Channel 4, 10.5.2010">Blitz Street; Channel 4, 10 May 2010</ref>

=== Possible use during Operation Bodenplatte ===

At least one V-2 missile on a mobile ''[[Meillerwagen]]'' launch trailer was observed being elevated to launch position by a [[USAAF]] [[4th Fighter Group]] pilot defending against the massive New Year's Day 1945 Operation Bodenplatte strike by the Luftwaffe over the northern German attack route near the town of Lochem on 1 January 1945. Possibly, from the potential sighting of the American fighter by the missile's launch crew, the rocket was quickly lowered from a near launch-ready 85° elevation to 30°.<ref>Ordway & Sharpe 1979, p. 256.</ref>

=== Tactical use on German target===

After the US Army captured the [[Ludendorff Bridge]] during the [[Battle of Remagen]] on 7 March 1945, the Germans were desperate to destroy it. On 17 March 1945, they fired eleven V-2 missiles at the bridge, their first use against a tactical target and the only time they were fired on a German target during the war.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bruecke-remagen.de/ausstellung/3-1_en.htm |title="The Watch on the Rhine" Everyday Life of the Soldiers at the Bridge |access-date=25 November 2014 |publisher=Friedensmuseum Brücke von Remagen |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923194759/http://www.bruecke-remagen.de/ausstellung/3-1_en.htm |archive-date=23 September 2015  }}</ref> They could not employ the more accurate {{Lang|de|Leitstrahl}} device because it was oriented towards Antwerp and could not be easily adjusted for another target. Fired from near [[Hellendoorn]], the Netherlands, one of the missiles landed as far away as Cologne, {{convert|40|mi}} to the north, while one missed the bridge by only {{convert|500|to|800|yard}}. They also struck the town of Remagen, destroying a number of buildings and killing at least six American soldiers.<ref name=v2rocket>{{cite web|title=V-2s on Remagen; Attacks on the Ludendorff Bridge|url=http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/v2s-on-remagen.html |website=V2Rocket.com |access-date=14 November 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114012341/http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/v2s-on-remagen.html |archive-date=14 November 2014 }}</ref>

=== Final use ===

[[File:Bomb Damage in London, England, April 1945 CH15111.jpg|thumb|The extent of damage caused to a London residential area due to a single V-2 strike in January 1945.]]

The final two rockets exploded on 27 March 1945. One of these was the last V-2 to kill a British civilian and the final civilian casualty of the war on British soil: Ivy Millichamp, aged 34, killed in her home in Kynaston Road, [[Orpington]] in Kent.<ref>Foster, Vicki. [http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/5421934.ORPINGTON__65th_anniversary_of_the_V2_rocket_landing_in_Orpington/ "65th anniversary of the V2 rocket landing in Orpington"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910231452/http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/5421934.ORPINGTON__65th_anniversary_of_the_V2_rocket_landing_in_Orpington/ |date=10 September 2016}}, ''News Shopper'', Orpington, Kent, 2 April 2010.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bromleytimes.co.uk/news/tale-of-orpington-woman-killed-by-hitler-s-final-v2-uncovered-in-new-book-1-1649097|title = Barking and Dagenham Post}}</ref> A scientific reconstruction performed in 2010 demonstrated that the V-2 creates a crater {{convert|20|m|ft|abbr=off}} wide and {{convert|8|m|ft|abbr=off}} deep, ejecting approximately 3,000 tons of material into the air.<ref name="Blitz Street; Channel 4, 10.5.2010" />