Because of the sweeping Allied advances just weeks earlier, many Dutchmen in the province of South Holland believed the war would be over before Christmas of 1944. On September 5, 1944, there were many rumors about the fast-approaching Allied armies. However, the citizens were unaware of the overextended supply lines slowing the advance, which would soon become a crawl. Although they had grown accustomed to the sights and sounds of war, the Dutch were about to face another trepidation. Their suffering would not end soon.

   It had been a warm, sunny afternoon in the affluent suburb of Wassenaar, just northeast of The Hague (Den Haag). On that day, September 8, 1944, the citizens heard a different kind of sound. A tremendous roar filled the air, furniture and windowpanes shook, and the ground began vibrating. Dutch civilians exited their homes in time to witness two pointed projectiles, about 50 feet long, rising slowly above the treetops. A cloud of smoke rolled through the streets after the rockets had cleared the trees. They gained speed rapidly with flames emerging at the rear extending to more than half their lengths. As the rockets moved higher and higher into the heavens, a white trail appeared in the form of a spiral. The smoke disappeared at a height of about 12 miles, and the projectiles accelerated rapidly, their trajectory flattening out somewhat. They finally disappeared traveling at a terrific speed.

   Under the command of Colonel Hohmann, platoons from the second battery of Artillery Battalion 485 (2./485) had launched two rockets simultaneously at 6:36 PM from the picturesque neighborhood streets: one from the intersection of Lijsterlaan, Konijnenlaan, and Koekoekslaan; the other, about 150 feet away, from the intersection of Schouwweg and Rust en Vreugdlaan.

   Mr. C. van Fliet lived in Wassenaar. He remembered those first missiles. I heard a terrific noise as though 30 aircraft were flying low overhead, a noise such as I had never heard. I looked up to see two pointed projectiles, about 10 meters long, rising slowly above the treetops. A cloud of smoke billowed slowly after reaching a height of about 15 meters. The projectiles gained speed rapidly with a flame emerging at the rear extending to more than half their lengths. Van Fliet recalled that, the thunder of the rocket engines was tremendous. One of the rockets from Wassenaar ended its five-minute journey traveling three times the speed of sound when it slammed into English soil at Staveley Road in Chiswick. The other rocket came down in a field at Epping (north of London).

   The thunderous impact at Chiswick echoed all across London. First, a whip cracking sound was heard, which was created by the rocket moving faster than the speed of sound, as the air pressure bounced off the point of impact split seconds before the flash of impact. The explosion of the warhead churned debris and earth skyward. Almost immediately afterwards, as in reverse order, the whine and rush of whistling air was heard as the rocket descended, followed by the ominous roar of the incoming rocket, before it tapered off to silence. The explosion had killed three people, including Private Frank Browning, who was in a hurry that payday to visit his girlfriend s house. Seventeen other people had been seriously injured in the blast, covered by the debris of their wrecked homes until rescue workers pulled them free. Eleven homes situated on Staveley Road were totally flattened, while two dozen more sustained substantial damage. As more and more residents emerged from their homes many were surprised to find the blast radius was so broad; windows of houses almost two miles away had been blown out by the tremendous concussion. The whole area was impassable.