Did MI5 Make More Flying Bombs Land on Putney?


Directing attacks towards south London could have been deliberate


Flats damaged by rocket on 18 June 1944. Picture: Hugh Thompson

In the flying bomb offensive of 1944-5, Wandsworth was hit by 160 V1s and 8 V2s of the 2500 which were fired at London.

Sixteen landed on Putney and one of Putney’s worst hits in the war was the V1 which landed on 18 June 1944 on the corner of Upper Richmond Road and Charlwood Roads and killed 36.

Nearby Croydon had 140 such visitors. The Germans were aiming at Central London so were these doodlebugs just part of the generally poor bomb aiming on both sides, or something else? Ben Macintyre in his biography Agent ZigZag about double agent Eddie Chapman suggests it was the latter.

Chapman and others were instructed by MI5 to radio their German “masters” that the bombs were falling to the north west of London thereby making them think they were over shooting and readjust their range making more rockets land on South London including Putney.

Ben Macintryre says, “If the double agents reports exaggerated the number of bombs to the north and west but minimised those in the south and east, the Germans would assume they were overshooting and reduce their range”.

This was politically sensitive and “MI5 was careful to destroy the traffic aware of the potential repercussions if the inhabitants of south London realised they were being sacrificed to protect the centre of the city.”

So Putney and other suburbs took the hit for the more heavily populated centre and, as Sir John Masterman the officer in charge of the double agent programme, later said, “The deception was very successful saving many thousands of lives”.

In Putney, other flying bombs landed on the High Street, Lytton Grove and Fawe Park, Carslake, Egremont and Portinscale Roads. The Pleasance had three flying bomb hits. Four landed on Putney Heath and two in Putney Vale Cemetery. Overall there were around 200 bomb hits on Putney mostly dropped from planes.

Hugh Thompson

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

February 16, 2022