Harwich: Bomb disposal team remove German rocket from mudflats

BOMB disposal experts have removed the remnants of a German war-time V2 rocket which was found submerged in mudflats off the English coast.

The 4ft-long section of the Second World War missile was pulled out at low tide from the River Stour between Harwich, Essex, and Felixstowe, Suffolk.

It had been discovered nose down and was projecting about two feet out of the mud, around 300ft from the shoreline, a Royal Navy spokesman said.

It was lifted from the mud onto a barge following a delicate operation by a six-man Navy team who worked with the Army’s 101 Engineer Regiment bomb disposal team.

To begin with, they excavated around the lowest part of the missile to discover the warhead section missing, meaning it posed no safety risk.

The venture section of the rocket, named after a scientific reaction that happens when fluid passes through a narrow pipe, may now be donated to the nearby sailing club.

Members of the club have unwittingly passed the rocket in the mud for decades.

Lt Dan Herridge, officer-in-command of SDU 2, said: “This was a successful result to the operation and means people using the waterways and living locally can have confidence that this was not a dangerous piece of ordnance.”

The V2 rocket was developed by scientist Wernher von Braun who went on to be a key figure behind the American effort to put man on the moon.

Built by concentration camp prisoners, more than 3,000 V2s were launched from the Continent at South East England and the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The missile attacks resulted in the deaths of an estimated 7,250 people, mostly civilians. Of these, more than 2,750 were killed in London, and another 6,523 injured.