The landing site as it is today (Image is from WOTW Woking website)
The Horsell Common Landing Site was the initial bridgehead of the Martian Invasion. Located between the Surrey villages of Woking, Ottershaw, and Horsell, the first projectile landed just a few seconds after midnight on a Friday morning in June. First discovered by an astronomer named Ogilvy just after dawn on Friday, the projectile rapidly became an object of local interest due to its size, and the crater it made on impact.
Initial Martian Appearance[]
The end of the projectile had been turning all day and shortly before 6 o'clock that evening, it fully unscrewed itself from within. By this time it had cooled down from the heat generated by its entry into Earth's atmosphere and a crowd of two or three hundred people had gathered to see the first Martian appear. The unfamiliar and (to most) repugnant sight of the Martian caused a general panic. One spectator who had fallen into the crater was captured and (evidentally) killed by the emerging Martians.
Initial Defense and Preparations[]
After the dispersal of the crowd, the Martians rapidly set up a defense, consisting of a parabolic mirror on a long rod. This mirror was the aiming point of the Heat Ray weapon, which was deployed for the first time at approximately 7 o'clock against a deputation of people who tried to approach the crater under a white flag. Their deaths at the hands of this weapon dissuaded any further attempts to make peaceful contact.
After nightfall, this mirror was used to project a beam of light that swept the common - catching a couple of adventurous persons who tried to use the cover of night to creep up quite close to the crater. The heat-ray was instantly ready to fire on anything caught in its light.
It was during this time that the Martians began assembling their Fighting Machines, which were first deployed on the afternoon of Day Two of the Invasion.
Countermeasures and first attack[]
Units of the British Army cordoned off the common from civilians in the morning of Saturday. Their positions were wiped out during the Battle of Horsell Common followed by the villages of Woking, Ottershaw, and Horsell. The two fighting machines then secured the area around the second landing site and started to transfer its occupants - and machinery - to the Horsell crater.
Day Three[]
Day Three was the last full day of the Horsell site being used by the Martians. After the third landing site - at Pyrford - was secured, the Martians transferred assets from the third site to Horsell and then started on their initial foray, destroying Chobham, Chertsey, Weybridge, and Shepperton (though at the latter site, one fighting machine was destroyed by artillery), before retreating to Horsell. It was there that the black smoke weapons were constructed, then deployed against the British Army units defending London, causing their destruction and resulting in the disorganized evacuation of the city. After this, the Horsell Encampment was abandoned.