They were the terrifying rockets that weren't unveiled until the final months of the Second World War, yet still killed thousands. Around 1,500 V2 rockets - the V stood for Vergeltungswaffe, or Vengeance Weapon - were fired at London and the south east of England, in what was seen as Hitler's last throw of the dice. As this interactive map shows, London bore the brunt of the V2 strikes, which began 70 years ago this week with an attack on Chiswick, in the west of the capital, and ended a year later, leaving more than 7,000 Britons dead. Scroll down for video
@highlight
First striking Britain in September 1944, V2 - V for 'vengeance weapon - was Hitler's last throw of the dice
@highlight
Around 1,500 'vengeance weapons'  were fired at London and the south east, ultimately leaving around 7,250dead
@highlight
The rockets used astonishingly advanced technology to shoot 50 miles into air, before arcing in a 120-mile trajectory
@highlight
Unlike the predecessor the V1, you could not see - or hear - a V2 coming as it travelled faster than the speed of sound
@highlight
The sophisticated technology from the V2s was later harnessed by the US and Soviet Union to pioneer space travel
The technology that went into the @placeholder was so sophisticated, that once the war was over, American and Soviet engineers picked the left over rockets to bits to understand how they worked.