The rocket that wrought carnage in London during the Blitz - and took us to the moon: Hitler's V-2 is 70 years old

Missile developed in Nazi Germany first demonstrated on October 3, 1942

V-2 was fired at Britain more than 1,400 times

Weapon was progenitor of rockets used in space programmes

It was one of the most significant advances in technology of the 20th century, but its anniversary will not be celebrated and may bring back horrific memories for some.

For tomorrow it will be 70 years since the first V-2 rocket was launched - the weapon developed by Hitler's scientists which brought terror to British cities during the Second World War.

The rocket - the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and the first known human artifact to enter outer space - was demonstrated for the first time on October 3, 1942.

Lethal: The first V-2 rocket was launched on October 3, 1942. Developed during the Second World War in Germany, it was the world's first long-range combat missile

By the end of the war less than three years later, the V-2 had been fired at Britain more than 1,400 times, causing devastation wherever it landed.

The attacks on Britain and other targets, including Antwerp in Belgium, are estimated to have killed 7,250 military personnel and civilians.

A further 12,000 forced labourers were killed producing the weapons, which were made at the German Mittelwerk factory site by prisoners from a nearby concentration camp.

The liquid-propelled rocket, which could reach a height of 50 miles, was used frequently by the Wehrmacht from September 1944.

The first to be fired at Britain landed at Chiswick, west London, killing a 63-year-old woman, a three-year-old girl and a member of the Royal Engineers on leave.

Bloodshed: The first V-2 to be fired at Britain landed at Chiswick, west London, killing a 63-year-old woman, a three-year-old girl and a member of the Royal Engineers on leave

Devastation: The scene of an explosion after a V-2 attack in Chiswick, west London

Horror: Rescue workers dig for survivors after a V-2 attack on a block of flats in Stockwell, south London

Destruction: Farringdon Street Market in London in March 1945, the day after a V-2 rocket landed killing 380 people (left), and the aftermath (right) of another missile attack



Attacks continued, but it was not until November 8 that year that the Germans formally announced they were using the V-2.

Two days later, prime minister Winston Churchill told Parliament that Britain had been under rocket attack 'for the last few weeks'.

Later that month, 160 people were killed and 108 seriously injured when a V-2 struck a Woolworth's department store in New Cross, south-east London.

With Germany losing the war, the V-2 was used extensively in the final months of the conflict.

London was the target on more than 1,300 occasions, and missiles were also fired at Norwich and Ipswich.

Advance: The German V-2 long-range missile, forerunner of the modern space launch rockets, pictured before launch at Cuxhaven in 1944 (left) and at take-off (right) Technology: Soldiers of the US Army at Bomskirchen, Germany, inspect the control mechanism of a captured V-2 (left). Another rocket (right) takes off from a military barracks in an explosion of smoke and fire



Ballistic: A V-2 rocket on display in Trafalgar Square, London, in October 1945

Many rockets landed in Kent, however. British intelligence officials leaked false information suggesting that the London-bound missiles were over-shooting their intended target by 10 to 20 miles, and the Germans redirected them accordingly.

Among the victims in Kent was Ivy Millichamp, 34, who died in her Orpington home on March 27, 1945.

She was the last British civilian to be killed by a V-2.

The V-2 was the progenitor of all modern rockets, including those used in the space programmes of the US and the Soviet Union.

After the war, Britain, the US and the Soviet Union all gained access to the V-2's technical designs and liaised with the German scientists responsible for developing it.

Pioneer: Werner von Braun, pictured in 1945 after his capture by Allied forces, developed the V-2 as director of Hitler's research station at Peenemunde but became an American citizen involved in the US space programme