''Battle of the V-1'' (also known as ''Battle of the V.1'', ''Battle of the V1'', ''Missiles from Hell'' and ''Unseen Heroes'') is a British war film from 1958, starring

Michael Rennie Michael Rennie (born Eric Alexander Rennie; 25 August 1909 – 10 June 1971) was a British film, television and stage actor, who had leading roles in a number of Hollywood films, including his portrayal of the space visitor Klaatu in the s ...

Patricia Medina Patricia Paz Maria Medina (19 July 1919 – 28 April 2012) was a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the films ''Phantom of the Rue Morgue'' (1954) and ''Mr. Arkadin'' (1955). Early life Medina was the daughter of Laure ...

Milly Vitale Camilla "Milly" Vitale (16 July 1933 – 2 November 2006) was an Italian actress. She was the daughter of Riccardo Vitale (Rome Opera House Director, deceased 1979) and choreographer Natasha Shidlowski Vitale (deceased 1994). She appeared in n ...

, David Knight and Christopher Lee. It is based on the novel ''They Saved London'' (1955), by Bernard Newman.BFI Database: Synopsis for "Battle of the V-1"
Retrieved 2011-11-27

Plot

The film tells the story of a Polish Resistance group, which discovers details of the manufacture of the German

V-1 V1, V01 or V-1 can refer to version one (for anything) (e.g., see version control) V1, V01 or V-1 may also refer to: In aircraft * V-1 flying bomb, a World War II German weapon * V1 speed, the maximum speed at which an aircraft pilot may abort ...

'Flying Bomb' at

Peenemünde Peenemünde (, en, " Peene iverMouth") is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is part of the ''Amt'' (collective municipality) of Usedom-Nord. The commu ...

in 1943. Liaising with service chiefs in London, the group manage to pass on enough information to convince them to launch a

bombing raid Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systemati ...

and, in the climax to the film, are able to steal a V-1 which lands in a field during testing and arrange for its transport back to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Messages are got out from the camp via the dentist (at the loss of one tooth). The Poles are warned that a British bombing raid on Peenemünde is imminent and that they should prepare to escape during the raid. Following their escape, the second part of the film looks at the attempts to find an entire V-1 to send back to Britain. They are eventually rewarded by an unexploded V-1 landing in a field which they quickly conceal from the German search team. Through convoluted means, they send the dismantled weapon back to Britain just before the critical first use of this terrible weapon.

Cast

as Stefan *

as Zofia *

as Anna *

David Knight David or Dave Knight may refer to: *David Knight (American football) (born 1951), former American football player *David Knight (CND), chair for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 1996–2001 *David Knight (cricketer) (born 1956), Australian cric ...

as Tadek *

Esmond Knight Esmond Penington Knight (4 May 1906 – 23 February 1987) was an English actor. He had a successful stage and film career before World War II. For much of his later career Knight was half-blind. He had been badly wounded in 1941 while on active ...

as Stricker * Christopher Lee as Brunner * John G. Heller as Fritz *

Carl Jaffe Carl Jaffe (21 March 1902 – 12 April 1974) was a German actor. Jaffe trained on the stage in his native Hamburg, Kassel and Wiesbaden before moving to Berlin, where his career began to develop. In 1933 Jaffe changed his stage name to Fra ...

as General * Peter Madden as Stanislaw *

George Pravda George Pravda (19 June 19161 May 1985) was a Czechoslovak theatre, film and television actor. Early life He began his career in Czechoslovakia, where he was credited as Jiří Pravda, and then emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1956. Career H ...

as Karewski * Gordon Sterne as Margraaf *

Carl Duering Gerald Percy Fox (29 May 1923 – 1 September 2018), better known as Carl Duering, was a German-born British actor whose best-known role is as Dr. Brodsky in Stanley Kubrick's ''A Clockwork Orange''. He died in London in September 2018 at the age ...

as Scientist * Harold Siddons as Wing Commander Searby - Master Bomber *

George Pastell George Pastell (13 March 1923 – 4 April 1976) was a Cypriot character actor in British films and television programmes. Sources vary as to whether his real name was Nino (IMDb) or George Pastellides (BFI). His marriage record gives his name ...

as Eryk * Henry Vidon as Konim * Jan Conrad as Wlodek * Tom Clegg as Anton *

Geoffrey Chater Geoffrey Michael Chater Robinson (23 March 1921 – 16 October 2021) was an English film, television and stage actor. He appeared in the crime drama series '' Callan'', ''Foyle's War'' and ''Midsomer Murders''. Biography Geoffrey Michael Chat ...

as Minister of Defence *

Julian Somers John Julian Somers (12 November 1903 – 11 November 1976), known as Julian Somers, was a prolific English stage and screen actor. Career By 1934, Somers was appearing in rep at Croydon. In 1937, he was on stage in Jeffrey Dell's play ''Night Al ...

as Reichfuhrer *

Gertan Klauber George Gertan Klauber (5 March 1932 – 1 August 2008) was a British bit part character actor. Klauber was born in Czechoslovakia, and after training at the Birmingham Theatre School, his stage appearances included with the RSC and the Nat ...

as SS Guard - Dentist's surgery (uncredited) * Richard Pearson as Senior RAF Officer (uncredited) *

Frank Thornton Frank Thornton Ball (15 January 192116 March 2013), professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was known for playing Captain Peacock in ''Are You Being Served?'' and its sequel ''Grace & Favour'' (''Are You Being Served? ...

as British Scientist (uncredited) *

Patrick Waddington Patrick William Simpson Waddington (19 August 19014 February 1987) was an English actor, educated at Gresham's School at Holt in Norfolk. He was born and died in York, England. Biography Waddington was the grandson of William Waddington, the p ...

as Air Marshal (uncredited)

References

External links

* 1958 films Films about the Royal Air Force British World War II films Films directed by Vernon Sewell World War II spy films Films shot at British National Studios 1950s English-language films 1950s British films Films about Polish resistance during World War II {{WWII-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links