September 1944
By order of the Reichsführer SS, the date of the initial employment of the A-4 was set for September 5, 1944. Two officers are provided with the necessary authority to bring the two groups North and South into action. Leader of Group North is Major Mertin. Leader of Group South is Major Schulz.
Shortage of time and the problems of bringing a new weapon into action, as well as the uncertainty of activities at the front, will hinder these plans. The staff of the supply platoon was divided. Oberst zum Eschenhoff remains in Group North, Major Jester is transferred to Group South for the supply task. Group South receives a greater number of vehicles, for the transport platoon 899. In another meeting Major Mertin is charged with the task to determine the transfer of the units of the former Harko 191 and Gen.Kdo. LXV. A.K. to the A-4 troop.
2 September 1944, Saturday, Battery 444 travelled to Euskirchen with orders to proceed south to attack Paris. On Sunday, September 3, Battery 485 moves into Den Haag (The Hague) to set up operations against London. The influential suburb of Wassenaar is chosen as the first launching location.
6 September 1944, Wednesday 09.00 hours and 09.40 hours – Battery 444, St. Vith, 18 km southeast of Malmedy (Belgium), rocket misfire. Both rockets came up to full power, lifted a few feet and then set back down on firing table, still vertical, when engines cut off. The intended target for each rocket was Paris. Battery 444 also suffered its first combat losses this same day when the unit was attacked by partisans.
7 September 1944, Thursday, Battery 444 moves to a new Site (17 miles southeast of former Site) near Houffalize (Belgium). It was a place between Baraque de Fraiture et Houffalize, in an area (very little village, only a few houses) called Petites Tailles. This is about 3 km south of Barraque de Fraiture. Meanwhile Battery 2/485 in Wassenaar experienced a storm that uprooted trees (one tree fell on the test tent). Also problems with the new ground equipment delayed the launches.
8 September, (+/-18.35 hours) – Batt. 2./485, Wassenaar, crossroads of Lijsterlaan / Schouwweg, V-2 rocket fired, impacted either Chiswick (3 dead, 7 seriously injured. 7 Houses demolished) or Epping, Essex (fell in Parndon Wood. Slight damage to two cottages).
The launches on September 8 from Wassenaar lifted off simultaneously and were performed using the I-Gerät. However, confusing radio signals were transmitted during the launches and the reactions of the enemy observed.
9 September, Saturday, the RAF located the first launching Sites in Wassenaar and attacked. A heated battle ensued with anti-aircraft batteries. Later that night, troops of Battery 1/485 set up operations in the Wassenaar area near The Hague. Group North is reorganized: Major Mertin is charged with special tasks. Major von Ploetz now is leader of Group North. Oberst Hohmann is again leader of Battalion 485.
10 September 1944, Sunday, (+/-21.25 hours) – Battery 1/485, Wassenaar, Beukenhorst, V-2 rocket fired, impacted Fambridge, Essex. The Rocket disintegrated before impact. Slight damage to buildings on two farms.
12 September 1944, Tuesday, (08.14 hours) – Battery 1/485 or Battery 2/485, Duindigt, V-2 rocket fired, impacted Dagenham. Fell in school grounds. Two surface shelters demolished, one wing of school destroyed by fire. Twelve people were seriously injured.
12 September 1944, Tuesday, (17.50 hours) – Battery 1/485 or Battery 2/485, (Site Unknown), V-2 rocket fired, impacted Paglesham, Essex. Fell on marshland. Slight damage to farm building.
13 September 1944, Wednesday, (11.05 hours) – Battery 1/485 or Battery 2/485, Duindigt, V-2 rocket fired, impacted North Sea in mouth of River Blackwater, Essex.
On the 15th intensive air activities over Group North (The Hague) by RAF resulted in losses, both in men and material. The air activities force the V-2 troops to change positions. Replacement launch sites south of Den Haag were determined. One prepared, but unused launch site was even destroyed. Battery 444 arrived at Walcheren from Stavelot, Belgium (via Germany) and set up operations against London. Group South begins launching against Lille.
15 September 1944, Friday, (22.33 hours) – Battery 1/485 or Battery 2/485, Wassenaar, V-2 rocket fired, impacted in a farm field at Noak Hill, near Romford, Essex. The Rocket disintegrated before impact.
General Kammler had travelled to Walcheren and was present when the first launches were performed against London. However, the preparations for the next round of launches were hampered by intensive air activities of the enemy. The supply line was interrupted for 12 or more hours due to the bombings of the road Bergen op Zoom/Middelburg between 19.00 and 20.00 hours.
16 September 1944, Saturday, (+/- 07.00 hours) – Battery 444, Walcheren, Serooskerke, Vrederust, V-2 rocket fired, impacted East Ham. Direct hit on houses. Six people killed and fifteen seriously injured. Four Houses demolished. Large pieces of the rocket remains were taken to the East Ham police station.
Direct hit on houses in East Ham
17 September 1944, Sunday, (13.02 hours) – Battery 485, (location unknown), V-2 rocket fired, impacted Hockley, Essex. Fell on open ground among brambles. Three people seriously injured.
Just after noon on September 17, 1944, 12 Spitfires of No. 229 Squadron RAF took off from their base at Coltishall. Their mission was to scan a stretch of the Dutch coast looking for evidence of rocket activity. While patrolling at 12,000 feet over North Holland, they witnessed a V-2 rising in the distance at terrific speed. The rocket impacted several minutes later in greater London at Coulsdon. The Spitfires were too far away to discern the exact location from which the rocket had been fired. They could only report the general location, which was near the coast, possibly The Hague. Battery 444 launched their final rocket of the day that evening, which came down at Adelaide Road, Brockley, Lewisham, killing 14 people and injuring another 41. (Ref: T Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile, 2005).
Later that evening, 27 Lancaster bombers and 5 Mosquito’s, acting on a tip from the Dutch underground, attacked the surrounding area near Beukenhorst between Raaphorstlaan and Eikenhorstlaan. The attack took place between 18.38 hrs and 18.48 hrs. 169 tons of Brisant high explosive bombs and twenty-four 250-pound marker-bombs were dropped. Sighted visually, the target was well marked and the attack was concentrated with many bombs falling directly on target. These heavily wooded areas southeast of Wassenaar were suspected as V-2 supply depots but in fact were not.
Very intensive enemy air activity around Nijmegen and Arnhem during the start of Operation Market Garden. Allied paratrooper landings near the command post of SB.2 near Nijmegen.
After September 18-19 there were no V-2 troops near The Hague. Because of the Allied invasion of Operation “Market Garden,” both the 1/485 and 2/485 moved to positions in the area Burgsteinfurt –Münster-Coesfeld with the new target area Belgian and northern French industrial area, while Battery 444 moved overnight to Dordrecht and supply site Blasig to east of Utrecht, then to Rijs in Gaasterland. Command post of SB.2 and Group North move to Darfeld.
