On Thursday March 8, 1945, at 11:30, a V-2 Rocket struck the Harts Corner part of Smithfield Market, on the corner of Charterhouse Street and Farringdon Road.
The rocket went through the Victorian market and penetrated the railway tunnels below, causing the market buildings to fall into the resulting crater, along with many of the workers and visitors to the market.
The market had been extra busy, that morning, as many women and children had been queueing in the hopes of obtaining a rabbit, from a consignment that had just gone on sale.
In total 110 people died, while countless others were seriously injured.
This attack happened just weeks before the last V-2 fell on London.
Harts Corner was originally a market for fruit and vegetables, then fish and then a part of the meat market. It had been designed by Sir Horace Jones, but was impossible to salvage after the rocket struck.
The V-2 Rocket was the world’s first ballistic missile, and the first man-made object to make a sub-orbital spaceflight.
The 13 ton rocket impacted at over 3000 miles per hour with little or no warning, as the missile descended faster than the speed of sound. Survivors would only hear the approach and sonic booms after the blast, which could be heard all over London.
Over 1,400 V-2 Rockets were launched against England, with over 500 hitting London.
On November 25, 1944, the worst death toll was recorded when a V-2 rocket hit Woolworths, New Cross, killing 168 people.
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