Shadow of the Conqueror

I had a great article prepared for you today, something a little bit odd, and really came together well. But yesterday I came across a document while looking for other things, that pointed to not wrong information, more a missing part of the story. A quick check of the archives catalogue and it shows further research is needed, lest I start putting out wrong information.

Equally I can see this subject spiraling out of control in the size of the piece, so I might need to break it down into another three or even four part article, or maybe even do a small booklet on it. Let me know your ideas down in the comments, or on Facebook.

That means I've got nothing prepared for you. I guess you'll have to talk amongst yourselves for a bit. Sorry.



....



You're still here, ok, let me see what I can find under the "not enough documentation to make a full article" pile.

Here we have a plot of every V-1 encountered in the detailed time frame.

Considering that's for only about three months you can see the scale of the problem. One of the departments that stepped forward to challenge the V-1 was the Department for Miscellaneous Warfare Development (DMWD), of the Royal Navy. It's idea, code-named Tonsil, was to site Pillar Box AA rockets in a single battery. Some twenty launchers were installed within just a few weeks of the idea being first created.

The launchers arrive by truck, I doubt they were fired from the back of the truck due to the back-blast and the later pictures.

The Pillar Box launchers were placed in a single Battery at Dymchurch, on the coast. Each rocket was fused to explode at the same point, and when a V-1 was sighted the entire battery was fired in one giant salvo.

Tonsil Launching

The effect of a salvo from the battery.

This meant that the V-1 had a box barrage of 400 rockets laid around it in very short order. During the batteries operation from July 1944 to September 1944 it was credited with shooting down eight V-1's.