大象传媒

Still under attack from A4 rockets (V2) I was working as a carpenters mate repairing war damaged houses. The site I was on was in Restons Crescent opposite Perpins Road. This particular day we were replacing a bay window in a house hit by a previous V1 attack. We were on the upper floor and I heard an explosion to the north and watched a shower of large debris fall through the clouds. This was an A4 that had broken up on entry; the warhead landing in farmland behind Ryfield Road, a site now occupied I believe by a school. The following explosion sent shockwaves across the half-mile distance from the site to where we were working. They appeared as shining rings/waves coming across the low trees and bending them right over. On seeing this I ducked below the window ledge, calling to my mate 'look out' which he did, collecting the full blast and proceeding backwards across the room at a great rate, hitting the wall and slowly sliding to the floor. I got up from my sheltered position with a faceful of dust and mouthful of sand and cement; my mate, looking very dazed said 'what the **** was that?' We found out afterwards that it was fortunate it had landed in open ground and caused minimal damage and casualties.

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