From 13 June 1944, London was enduring deadly V-2 missile attacks, and there was an urgent need for as much intelligence on these new and terrifying weapons as possible. England had already experienced sustained terror bombing by the earlier V-1 rockets. Approximately 10,000 of these were fired towards the country, of which 2,419 reached London, killing over 6,000 people and injuring nearly 18,000. The British developed countermeasures to the V-1, utilising anti-aircraft guns, barrage balloons and fighter plane interceptors. But the V-2 was different: it couldn’t be intercepted or shot down because it arrived at its designated target so fast that no warning could be given.
Meanwhile, the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) had managed to recover an unexploded V-2 rocket, and sent it to Warsaw for analysis. There, it was decided that the rocket and vital information should be delivered to the Allies in London. An ambitious and daring plan was quickly developed, but it would run into a number of unexpected difficulties. Operation
