I was 13 years old and living at 229 Mawney Road when the V-2 rocket landed in March 1945.¹ As luck would have it I had been walking past that very spot just 15 minutes previously and at the time of the explosion was standing in our kitchen.

I can remember nothing of the explosion and my first recollection is pushing aside the outside kitchen door, which had blown off it’s hinges and making my way into the back garden. There I was joined by my mother, who had escaped injury due to the fact that she was sitting close to an internal wall, and my brother, aged 10, who had been playing under a heavy mahogany dining table and had also escaped injury. It was at this time I realised that I was bleeding quite badly although I recall feeling no pain.

We made our way down the garden to a rear alleyway leading to Forest Road, and passed my father who was calling for help from inside his collapsed garden shed. There was nothing we could do to assist him so we made our way into Forest Road where I was taken by an Air Raid Warden to the front garden of number 245 Mawney Road, where extraneous bits of glass were removed from my head and arms, and my cuts were stitched. We were then transported to Mawney Road school where we were joined later that night by my father.

We then spent two or three weeks living with relatives in Hornchurch and were subsequently allocated a requisitioned house in Thurloe Gardens were we remained until our house was rebuilt in 1947.

My abiding memories of that night are the cries of people trapped in the rubble and my mother chastising my young brother for not putting his shoes on before he left the house.

Bill Smale

¹ According to the book Hitler v Havering the V-2 broke up in mid-air at 19:05 on 26th March 1945. The warhead fell in the centre of Mawney Road, on the corner with Forest Road. 16 houses required demolition, there were 2 fatalities and 34 people required hospital treatment.
² This is one of three accounts of this same event - the other two being witnessed from Birch Road and from North Street.