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"I saw this flash during the day, but only once—while on a tram I just happened to look at the sky in the right direction. It was definitely not a contrail, but it was like a comet, as fast as a shooting star. It was a long, thin, white streak, more like a flash coming down to the earth. This was seen moments before the impact."

"For the V-2 rockets there usually were two bangs, separated by a split-second, this I clearly remember. They were usually accompanied by a violent tremor if the impact occurred nearby. "

—Antwerp resident Charles Ostyn

  The historic city of Antwerp lies 80 Km from the North Sea on the Scheldt River. The river Scheldt flows into the Dutch Schelde called Westerschelde. On the northern embankment of the Scheldt (Schelde) lies Noord Brabant, then the South Beveland and Walcheren peninsulas. The port is one of the Europe's great harbors, but it is not a natural harbor. Its docks were dug out and fitted with locks to regulate the water and allow transportation of goods further inland. Following D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allies had enormous resources while German materials were shrinking. During the early days of the assault in Normandy, the German forces had managed to limit the supplies and ammunition that could come ashore by keeping the front narrow and denying the Allies the use of any of the French ports. American forces captured Cherbourg on June 27, 1944, but the Germans had done such an efficient job of demolition that the port did not open until July 19, 1944.

   Following "Operation Cobra" the German positions in Normandy gave way. Racing to the Seine, the Allies were met at Mortain by a German counter-attack on August 6, 1944. The Allies used the opportunity to surround the German forces in the “Falaise Pocket,” destroying thousands of vehicles and killing or capturing more than 10,000 German troops.
By August 25 the battle was ended and Paris was liberated the same day. German resistance west of the Seine River collapsed. Allied armies pushed forward in pursuit, crossing the river before the Germans could reorganize. The rapid movement of the Allied troops meant they were getting farther away from their supply lines. These supplies were still offloading in Normandy, over 500 miles distant. This led to shortages in critical supplies such as fuel and ammunition. British and American forces were forced to ration the resources—something that was very disagreeable to both.

   The importance of the port to the Allies can be summed up in a message Eisenhower wrote to General Marshall on October 23, 1944 stating that "the logistical problem has become so acute that all plans had made Antwerp sine qua non to the waging of the final all-out battle." At the time, US Army doctrine called for the use of railways to transport large amounts of cargo whenever possible. However, because Allied bombers had destroyed so much of the French rail system during 1943-44, this wasn't possible. As the Allies worked to repair the railroads, supplies were being landed, but they were being stockpiled on the beaches and docks in Normandy. This backlog led to the implementation of a short-term fix using trucks to operate one-way circular routes to supply US troops. Several trucking operations were formed, one of which was the famous "Red Ball Express." In total, 141 truck companies were called, but there were not enough trucks available.

"The capture of the approaches to Antwerp was a very difficult operation. But after the job was done, the end of Nazism was in clear view when the first ship, the Canadian-built freighter Fort Cataraqui, moved unmolested up the Scheldt."

"The brave citizens of Antwerp sustained the attacks of the German V-1 and V-2 missions unflinchingly. Despite the serious destruction and civilian deaths, they assisted wholeheartedly to transform the Port of Antwerp into the northern bulwark of entire Allied logistical system."

—Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower


  
The vehicles had to be stripped from other units and what's more, most of the available trucks were only the 2.5-ton variety, not 10-ton tractor trailers, which would have been much more expeditious. The operation, which was supposed to end in September, was extended to November—a total of 81 days. All toll during the operation, over 400,000 tons of cargo were transported. The British had supply problems as well. A vehicle shortage reduced the supplies to Montgomery‟s troops. The next Allied objective became the capture of additional ports closer to the front lines. On August 30, 1944, the Allies captured Rouen, followed by Port of Antwerp on September 4, 1944. By September 12 Le Havre had been captured. However, it took quite some time to repair the ports because the German forces had systematically destroyed each one prior to retreating.

   On September 1, 1944, as the Germans retreated toward the Reich, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower assumed overall command of General Montgomery's 21st Army Group and General Bradley's 12th Army Group. Eisenhower ordered a broad front advance to hold the Germans at bay and not overstretch the Allied supply lines. North of the line, Montgomery's forces were to be given priority until the port of Antwerp could be secured. Capture of the vast port facilities could greatly improve the supply situation for the advancing Allied armies. The Second British Army (11th Armored Division) had seized the port of Antwerp with its installations virtually intact on September 4, 1944. Although the port was captured with little damage to its huge facilities, the British had failed to seize the bridges over the Albert Canal, and when the British troops tried to cross a few days later the bridges were blown by the retreating Germans.

   The Germans still had control of South Beveland and Walcheren. This would soon hamper Allied efforts to clear and open the port area. Hitler had ordered German General Gustov von Zangen's 15th Army, which occupied South Beveland and Walcheren Island, to block the Scheldt estuary and render the port useless for the Allies. German troops were urged to defend the Scheldt blockade position "at all costs." As long as the Germans held control of the sea approaches and the long winding estuary, Allied shipping to the port would be prevented.

   On September 12, 1944, the First Canadian Army was given the task of clearing the Scheldt of German occupiers. This was the largest army ever assembled under the control of a Canadian general—
Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds. North of the estuary lay South Beveland. Beyond South Beveland lay Walcheren, which had been fortified into a powerful German stronghold. The south bank of the estuary was flat flood lands enclosed by dykes, known as Polder Country. This area was below sea level and was easy to defend. The terrain would be very difficult for the attackers. The flooded muddy ground, open spaces, and heavy defended German positions would make the assault formidable.

   The operational plans called for four phases of battle. First, the area north of Antwerp was to be cleared to secure access to South Beveland. Next, behind the Leopold Canal, the area of Breskens would be attacked, followed by the capture of South Beveland. Finally, Walcheren should be assaulted and cleared. German General von Zangen was determined to make the Canadians pay a high price for opening Antwerp. The Battle of the Scheldt began on September 13, with little success. Efforts were renewed in October as the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division advanced north of Antwerp, while the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, supported by the 4th Canadian Armored Division, began the assault over the Leopold Canal. In both areas the fighting was heavy. The German forces were dug-in and made it difficult for the Canadian forces to advance. It was a grueling time for the soldiers of the First Canadian Army. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, attacking over open flooded ground, made good progress against the enemy paratroopers close the eastern end of South Beveland. Casualties were heavy on both sides, but by October 16 the Canadians had seized the town of Woensdrecht at the entrance to South Beveland. On October 16 Field-Marshall Bernard Montgomery ordered the securing of the Scheldt be made the army’s top priority.

    Lieutenant-General Simonds concentrated his forces on the area north of South Beveland. The 4th Canadian Armored Division, which had been engaged at the Leopold Canal, moved north of the Scheldt and drove hard for the town of Bergen-op-Zoom. By October 24, the entrance to South Beveland was breached and secured and the 2nd Canadian Division began the advance into South Beveland, assisted by an amphibious landing by the 52nd British Division. By October 31, 1944, the area was secured by the Allies. The fighting along the Scheldt’s southern shore was equally fierce. Here the 3rd Canadian Division encountered tenacious German opposition as it fought to cross the Leopold Canal and clear the Breskens pocket behind the canal. The attack began on October 6, 1944, against fierce opposition, and for three days a slender bridgehead was in constant danger of elimination.

   Finally, on October 9, an amphibious assault broke the enemy’s hold on the canal, and the bridgehead was deepened. Troops and tanks crossed the canal and the Germans withdrew into concrete bunkers along the coast. More fighting followed, but by November 3 the south shore of the Scheldt was secured. This left the island of Walcheren as the last obstacle to securing the port of Antwerp for Allied use. However, the Germans had fortified their position on the island and the only land approach was the long narrow causeway from South Beveland. To make matters worse, the flats that surrounded this causeway were too saturated with sea water for movement on foot but with too little water for an assault in storm boats.

   Walcheren, where only weeks before V-2 rockets had been directed towards England, was attacked from three directions: across the causeway from the east, across the Scheldt from the south, and from the west by sea. To hamper German defense, the dykes were breached by heavy Royal Air Force bombing, which flooded the central area and allowed the use of amphibious vehicles. The Canadians attacked the causeway on October 31 and, after a costly struggle, established a foothold. Then, in conjunction with the waterborne attacks, the 52nd British Division continued the advance. On November 6, Walcheren's capital city Middelburg was secured, and by November 8, 1944, all enemy opposition ended. At the end of the five week offensive, the victorious First Canadian Army had taken 41,043 prisoners, but suffered 12,873 casualties (killed, wounded, or missing), 6,367 of whom were Canadians.

   After Canadian troops drove the Germans out of the Scheldt Estuary, mines had to be cleared from the harbor and facilities repaired. Later, on November 28, the first allied convoy of 18 ships reached the Antwerp docks. However, by the time the Antwerp port was finally operational, bad weather had set in. Gone were the hopes of ending the war in Europe by end of 1944. The failed Market Garden offensive and the delayed opening of coastal ports had allowed the German forces to take up strong defensive positions all across the battle front.


The Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery is located in southwest Holland. It contains the graves of 968 Canadians, most of whom fell fighting to open the sea approaches to Antwerp and make that port available to Allied forces.




V-Weapons on Antwerp

   On September 3, 1944, Montgomery ordered General Dempsey, head of the British 2nd Army, to occupy Antwerp. The 11th Armoured Division captured Antwerp on September 4. There was some enemy resistance but, with the help of the Belgium Resistance fighters, this was crushed easily. The citizens of the city, along with the organized resistance forces, hampered the hurried efforts of the retreating Germans to sabotage the port facilities. Residents watched the German soldiers pour through the underground "big tunnel" from the 
west-bank of the Scheldt making their retreat into the city center. Soon this access would be cut off when the Germans demolished the west-bank entrances for both the underground motor vehicle tunnel (Waaslandtunnel) and the pedestrian tunnel (Sint Annatunnel).

   The British advance was swift—but even so, the night before the Germans had sunk two large ships in the port and set fire to a small dry-dock, but the large dry-dock was left untouched. The next morning, September 4, three more ships were sunk in the port as an impediment to the Allied operations. When the Germans were setting explosives to damage the Scheldt quays the Belgian port workers offered their help—only to sabotage the explosives. The Germans brought in an ammunition ship loaded with 35 tons of explosives with the intention of detonating the ship in the port. However, the Belgians foiled this plan by scattering all available tugs and sabotaging all the bridge mechanisms to make movement impossible in the port.

   Unlike the harbors at Brest and Cherbourg, which had been totally wrecked, The Port of Antwerp with its modern berthing facilities was in good condition. 592 cranes, dry docks, along with storage capacity for 120 million gallons of fuel, Antwerp needed very little to become operational. Antwerp had a peacetime discharge capability of 80,000 to 100,000 tons of cargo per day, but the planned rate of discharge by the Allies was much lower because of limited storage facilities.

   Even before the port was opened, the Germans had launched sporadic V-weapon attacks against Antwerp. Occasionally, the German Luftwaffe sent over bombers to attack the harbor. Defenses for the all-important harbor soon became a priority for Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF).
Major General A.M. Cameron, an experienced British Anti-aircraft officer, was appointed on October 4, 1944, to conduct the setup of air defenses of the liberated Belgian cities. Air Defense Great Britain and an advisory team was assigned to his headquarters to assist in countering the flying bomb attack.

   The first V-2 to impact in the Antwerp area was actually a stray intended for Maastricht on October 7, 1944. It fell in the community of Brasschaat, about eight kilometers to the northeast, without any casualties but causing minor damage. A few days later, residents of Antwerp heard a tremendous explosion on the morning of Friday, October 13, when the first V-2 actually targeted at the city destroyed several buildings on the corner of Schildersstraat and Karel Rogierstraat. There were reports of many citizens being crushed under the tons of rubble. The infamous V-2 had just claimed its first victims in the Belgian port city. Later that same day, another rocket impacted in the city. The local residents came to the scene of the impacts for a closer inspection. Fears among the city's population were increased, but at this point no one was in panic.

   The first V-1 attack on the city was recorded on October 11, ten days before the campaign ordered by Hitler began. The new anti-aircraft defenses were barely in place when the heavy V-1 bombardment began on October 21. Other cities such as Ghent and Brussels were also targeted. Ghent escaped serious damage but fifty-five flying bombs landed in Brussels in a four day period causing considerable damage and frightening the inhabitants. Antwerp was destined to take the brunt of the bombardment. By October 25 a total of 79 flying bombs had been launched. By the end of the month the number rose rapidly to 337. These attacks proved very effective both in terms of damage done and as a device to range the various cities for concentrated attacks by the various launch sites.

   The defense of Antwerp against the V-1 was more difficult than the defense of London because the weapons were closer and the Germans had more flexibility in launching sites. Because of the short flight times and low altitude of the approaching V-1s, aircraft could not be used to intercept them in the same way they did in England. The newspapers of the day gave no real hint to the actual cause of the blasts, but they did urge the Antwerp residents to take certain precautions if they encountered the German flying bomb.

   On October 19, a V-2 rocket impacted the Kroonstraat at Borgerhout destroying 25 houses, killing 44 people and injuring about 100. The explosion on October 28 at Bontemantelstraat (one of the most densely populated parts of the city) was the first real massacre of the V-weapon campaign.






ABOVE: FIRES SET BY RETREATING GERMANS IN THE PORT OF ANTWERP

   Greg Hayward was an 18-year-old airman with the Royal Air Force during the invasion of Europe. He served with the 146th Wing, equipped with fighter bombers supporting the British and Canadian forces during their advance from Normandy to the German frontier. Hayward arrived in Antwerp on October 2 and was based at Deurne, a prewar civilian airport just three and a half miles from downtown Antwerp. During the following days, Hayward and his comrades witnessed the increase of V-weapon attacks.

    Hayward recalls a harrowing experience at Deurne:  “The closest shave I experienced was on October 25 when a V-2 exploded on the airfield where, along with some 20 of my comrades, I was working on one of two aircraft dispersed for servicing. The incident left five airmen dead and a dozen or so injured. The rocket landed only 50 yards away but fortunately missed the concrete roadway and hit an area of soft ground—otherwise, I would probably be dead. I was standing on the wing of an aircraft at the time, waiting to climb into the cockpit. All I remember was a brilliant crimson flash, but no actual recollection of an explosion. Then, I was on the ground, the air around me black with smoke and dirt thrown up by the impact.” Hayward recounted, “By the time I sorted myself out and realized that I was still in one piece, the smoke and dirt had dispersed, revealing a scene of devastation and a still-smoking crater where the rocket had landed. Rescue teams were immediately on the scene and ordered me back to our workshop to clean up. One of the dead airmen was a friend of mine, we had been at training school together. He was only 18!”

   It wasn't until November, when the last German forces were cleared from the Walcheren peninsula, that the Allies were finally able to take advantage of the port's vast facilities. It took another two weeks for the Royal Navy to clear the mines left by the retreating Germans in the estuary. When the first Allied convoy sailed into Antwerp 7,000 dock workers immediately presented themselves for work in the harbor. Finally, on November 28, 1944, the port of Antwerp was opened. Unloading of supplies began immediately. Since the time the city had been captured, it had taken almost three months for secure the harbor. Eventually, close to 9,000 Belgian civilians worked daily in the port unloading equipment and supplies with the Allied troops.

   V-2 rocket batteries firing toward Antwerp were stationed at several places. In October, the first and third batteries of the Art. Abt. 485 and the newly activated SS 500 Battery were all firing at Antwerp from positions near Burgsteinfurt in Germany. The second and third batteries of the Art. Abt. 836 bombarded Antwerp from firing positions near the town of Merzig and the first battery also targeted Antwerp from positions near Hermeskeil. In November, all three of the Art. Abt. 485 batteries launched for a time from the Burgsteinfurt area against the Belgian port. The SS 500 battery had moved to new positions near Hellendoorn in The Netherlands. All three batteries of Art. Abt. 836 fired in unison from Hermeskeil until December, when they moved across the Rhine River to the area of the Westerwald frontier.

   An increased number of V-weapons fell on Antwerp throughout November 1944. There were six incidents alone in which thirty or more civilians had died. A V-2 fell in Broydelstraat on November 11 killing fifty-one and injured just as many others. Among these were some of the first military casualties. Fifteen soldiers were dead and six wounded.



PHOTOS ABOVE: CANADIAN FORCES ATTACK ACROSS THE SCHELDT;
ANTWERP & THE PORT; GERMAN PRISONERS FOLLOWING BATTLE




   Kenneth Hartman was a 23-year-old US soldier stationed in Antwerp during the 175 days of V-weapon bombardment. His unit, Headquarters Q-189, Headquarters Company, 54th QM Base Depot, arrived in the city during October of 1944, finding neighborhoods seemingly deserted. Only a few children were seen in the streets. The job for his unit was to get the harbor open and operational. He remembers the V-weapons bearing down as the symbol of the city—the bronze statue of mythical hero Brabo—held vigil in the old city center as the terror rained from the sky. “I would go to witness the result of the worst of the bombings. The V-2s did the most damage,” said Hartman. “On October 14 I went to Schildersstraat the day after a V-2 had killed 32 and wounded 45." A rocket fired by Battery 444 from Rijs had impacted at the corner of the Schildersstraat and the Karel Rogierstraat. Approximately 100 structures were damaged, including the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Forty-three houses were totally

   "A few days later, a V-2 impacted in the suburb of Borgerhout, at Kroonstraat, killing 44 and wounding 98. Three-story residences were literally sliced away from the next, leaving a common wall exposed to the weather,” Hartman remembered. “I stopped going to the tragic sites after November 17. That day I came upon the ruins of the Boy’s Orphanage at Durletstraat. The Belgian Red Cross had removed 36 dead children and another 125 wounded by a V-1 the day before.” Also on November 17 another V-2 struck the St. Joanna Institute at Ferdinand Coosemansstraat. Thirty-two of the nuns died there under the massive pile of debris.

   Since his youth, Charles Ostyn (April 2, 1926 – September 6, 2022) had been fascinated by the details of the terrible V-bombs that fell around his home when he was a young man growing up in Antwerp. In 1944, Charles was 18 years-old and living in Hoboken, which is a suburb of Antwerp. He lived in a house with his parents and one sister. He was working in the city as a young drafting apprentice at the time.

   Ostyn vividly remembered what it was like to live in Antwerp that winter, and he told V2ROCKET.COM about his experiences: "On November 6, 1944, I got a phone call in the office in the city telling me to go home 'pronto' as a V-bomb had fallen in our street, but that was about all they could tell me. It turned out that some 2 hours before, a V-1 had fallen into the park behind my house. The blast was not more than 30 meters from our house. It just so happened that a thick park wall shielded our home from the blast somewhat, the upper part and the roof were gone but my parents were unhurt except for glass cuts. I spent the next few days clearing away the rubble, moving furniture and looking for missing things, but it was clear the place was uninhabitable. That winter was one of the coldest we had during the war and certainly the most miserable for us having lost our house early on..."

   Ostyn could not forget the earth-shattering sound of the V-2s that rocked his city. "For the V-2 there usually (but not always) were two bangs, separated by a split-second, this I clearly remember," Ostyn recalled. "They were usually accompanied by a violent tremor if the impact occurred nearby. The approach of the rocket was only rarely observed..."

   Amazingly, Ostyn actually witnessed a V-2 plunging to earth; "I saw this flash during the day, but only once - I just happened to look at the sky in the right direction. It was definitely not a contrail, but it was like a streak from a cometas fast as a shooting star. It was a long, thin, white streak, more like a flash coming down to the earth. This was seen about 1-2 seconds before the impact." Many eyewitnesses have described what looked like a "shooting star."


PHOTO: TWIN-SHOT V-2 ROCKETS LAUNCHED FROM THE HAGUE HEADED FOR LONDON AS SEEN FROM THE NOORDERLAAN IN ANTWERP


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PHOTO: CHARLES OSTYN AND HIS FRIEND
GUS ON STREETS OF ANTWERP 1945

   "When a V-2 rocket hit in the city it was always followed by a huge black or brownish cloud of debris. If you dared to keep on watching (as I foolishly did many times), large pieces of metal and junk kept coming down all around you for several minutes. I always wondered if these twirling pieces of sheet metal were from the rocket itself. The only other time I saw a V-2 explode was on December 12, it was still dark outside and I was riding the tram to work. I didn't see a flash—just one hell of a bang and a yellow mass of flame lighting up the city. It hit about 500 meters away," said Ostyn.

   Ostyn was one of the few people in Antwerp that knew, on a daily basis, where the V-weapons had hit on any particular day. The office of his employer was on the fourth floor of a building on a narrow street in the old part of the city. Many times, after hearing the bangs, he would volunteer to climb to the roof and check on where the big brown cloud was billowing. He would stand in amazement looking at the junk and scrap pieces of metal fluttering down for several minutes. He later commented, "It is one of the silly things you do when you are 18 years-old I suppose."

   After coming down from the roof he would tell what he had seen and give the general direction of the impact. Everyone knew when a hit was very close because of the tremor, the falling of plaster and the breaking of glass windows. A slight vibration could be felt in the building a split-second before the two bangs.

   Greg Hayward described the V-2 descent and impact this way: “One puzzling feature of the V-2 arrival was on a clear day, a descending vapor trail was clearly visible in the sky, and the first explosion occurred several thousand feet above the ground. This explosion appeared to be the rocket casing as hundreds of pieces of debris could be seen seemingly fluttering to the ground above the point of impact. I have never heard an official explanation of this phenomenon in the years since. All this, of course, was only seen after the warhead explosion alerted one to its arrival.” In fact, what Hayward probably had witnessed was a midair breakup of the V-2.

   The port workers were constantly halting their duties to take cover from the endless amount of V-bomb warnings and by rescue and repair crews. It didn't take much damage to divert valuable labor for repairs to buildings and facilities. Because of the destruction caused by the V-1s, V-2s, and German jet aircraft, the port personnel were constantly being diverted to repair the workshops, roofs, doors, and walls. It was estimated that over 90 percent of all glass in port installations had been shattered and replaced
temporarily with plywood blinds.

   Workers and transport drivers described the constant nervous tension felt by many of the port personnel. Close calls were frequent. The continual drone of buzz bombs overhead caused this nervous-dread, waiting for the engine stop, diving for cover. It was the soldiers and dock workers that first coined the phrase "City of Sudden Death." Indeed, the daily onslaught of V-bombs created a common theme for any first person accounts of life in Antwerp during 1944-45.

Teniers Square

   On November 27, a terrible incident occurred at a major road junction near the Central Station. Teniers Plaats (Square) was the busiest intersection in town (as it still is today). Military policemen were always regulating the heavy traffic for an Allied convoy passing through the square.

   It was on the main north-south axis for the supply columns. From the docks, American troops were heading south to the US supply bases near Liege and British columns were heading north to the front lines in Holland. There were four tram lines crossing the square in both directions, plus there were many autos and pedestrians moving throughout the busy intersection.

   "I often went there after lunch to watch the military activity..." said Charles Ostyn. "and the British MP, right there in the middle, regulating and directing both military and civilian traffic. On very busy days there were two MP's."

   A V-2 came down at ten minutes past noon and exploded in the middle of all this activity. A British convoy was moving through the intersection and was caught in the blast. This particular rocket was believed to have exploded just above ground possibly having struck the overhead tram lines just where the traffic policemen stood. A city water main burst, water bubbling up from the ground. Soon, the whole square was filled with water.

   "I heard and saw this explosion from a short distance away while riding in the back of an open truck and approached the scene about 2 hours later," Ostyn remembered. "There was water running everywhere and the whole place was cordoned off and guarded by US soldiers. There was a massive crowd of onlookers and many people with bandages on their heads walking around. It must have hit something above ground first because no crater was ever found."

   The result was total devastation. The water began to pool on the street. Floating on the water were dismembered corpses, various body parts, clothing and large amounts of debris. Several of the vehicles in the convoy exploded or caught on fire, their occupants lay burning. The glass windows of the passing trams near the intersection were all shattered causing injuries to those riding on the trams.

   One of the MP's was completely disintegrated and the charred body of another was found sometime later on the roof of a nearby hotel, about 60 meters away. Soon, the story of the unfortunate MP who was blown to bits was infamous among the locals. In all, the dead were 126 (26 were American & British soldiers) and another 309 injured. The sight of the ever-present horse-drawn hearse during following days was a regular occurrence as the many dead were laid to rest.


HORSE-DRAWN HEARSE WAS REGULAR
OCCURRENCE FOR THE MANY DEAD

   On that same bitterly cold November day, Simone De Ceunynck happened to be walking home from her place of employment. She worked as an assistant bookkeeper at a local insurance agency in Antwerp and was on her way home to Deurne for her lunch break. Simone had recently decided to alter her normal route because of all the V-weapon blasts occurring near the old path she walked before. Simone was in a hurry to get home, so she went ahead of her friends from the office. After walking about two blocks, she was approaching the city crossing at Teniers Square when suddenly she felt uneasy. She quickly darted in front of the Army convoy, trying to get across the street as fast as she could. She heard the loud voice of the nearby MP yelling at her just as she reached the other side of the street. It was at that moment that the rocket struck.

   All of a sudden the noise of the city stopped, there was a split second of silence, then a low rumble followed by fire and screaming. Simone found herself standing between many broken and bleeding bodies. The gloves she had been carrying were gone. Dazed, she looked around and saw them lying on a dead British soldier. Simone reached down to retrieve the gloves and was greeted with the awful sight of the soldier’s brains spilling out of his skull.

   She began to panic, screaming as the horror of the scene overtook her. Another British soldier calmed her down and escorted her to the nearest Red Cross station. Simone was bleeding but alive. Shrapnel had entered her leg and breast; however, she was one of the lucky ones. Although she did not know it until she returned to work days later, two of her coworkers had died in the attack.

   Leaving the Red Cross station, Simone walked home, wondering if her mother had heard the blast. As it turned out, she had not. Walking into her home, the first comment from her mother was that Simone was late. Then she saw her daughter standing there, hair full of debris and glass, her clothes stained and bloody. They immediately traveled to the family doctor in Deurne.

   This V-2 was targeted at central Antwerp rather than Antwerp Harbour. Teniers Square just happened to be the geographical center of Antwerp. It is therefore highly probable that it was the nominal aiming point for many V-2 rounds.

PHOTOS: GHASTLY SCENES OF DESTRUCTION OF THE TENIERS SQUARE V-2 INCIDENT


    First Lieutenant Verne W. Robinson just happened to be traveling near Teniers that day. Robinson was in a vehicle with Private Herbert L. Moyer and Private Marcel Snauwaert—all three members of the US 604th Engineers. Driving from Namur, they were on a routine errand to a railroad station in Antwerp to pick up some supplies. As they approached the intersection at Teniers, they were slowed by the heavy traffic bustling through the crossing. In a flash, the mayhem of the rocket explosion left Lieutenant Robinson lying on the cobblestone street mortally wounded, as shrapnel pierced his temple. In the aftermath he was cared for by pedestrians, but to no avail. A tragic illustration of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, Lieutenant Robinson was the only soldier from the US 604th Engineers to be killed during the war.

   Earlier, Greg Hayward was delighted to be off duty that day, and he was preparing to spend the afternoon in the town center. He was hoping to pay a visit to an American Red Cross canteen, where coffee and doughnuts were available. “At midday an explosion signaled a V-2 arrival, and it was apparent from the smoke and debris in the sky that it was somewhere near the center of the town,” said Hayward. “After lunch I took a tram into town and as I walked from the terminal toward the Keyserlei, it was obvious that the site of the incident was very close. On reaching the area of Teniers Square, I saw a scene of utter devastation. My own lasting recollection is of street gullies running red as water from the broken main and fire hoses mixed with the blood of victims. Realizing that the area was closed and that there was nothing I could do, I returned to my base.”


PHOTOS: TENIERS SQUARE 2016 © ED STRATEN
   The V-bombs continued to fall throughout the Greater Antwerp area and on the west side of the Scheldt River. Following the tragic incident at the Boy‟s Orphanage on Durletstraat, the US 350 Dispensary was set up to assist with the evacuations and care for the victims. Several Belgian Agencies, including the Belgian Red Cross praised their efforts. The 350th answered calls at any time, day or night, to render assistance. They were also in harm's way, as two officers and 11 enlisted men were wounded during their duty in Antwerp.

   It was becoming apparent the conditions were so dangerous in the port that SHAEF raised concerns in November 1944. They issued a report about the dangers of bringing ammunition into the port. It was recommended that ammunition be excluded entirely, and proposed that all Class V ammunition and explosives continue to be off loaded at Cherbourg and Le Havre. This was not a popular decision, as the British 21st Army Group felt that ammunition ships could be brought into the port if their numbers were strictly limited and they were adequately dispersed. Later, the port Executive Committee asked that all ammunition ships be temporarily excluded from Antwerp. Exceptions were granted to some of the British ammunition ships for the 21st Army Group. Some quantities of ammunition were brought in for the needs of the anti-aircraft batteries that defended Antwerp, and at times, ammunition cargo from other ports had to be rushed in for the defenses.

   The V-bomb strikes also slowed rail and barge traffic. With Antwerp being a transportation hub, there were many railways coming into Antwerp and Liege. These lines were damaged by the rocket attacks. Trains were held up while waiting for repairs to the tracks. It was so bad that the Railway Service had to greatly increase its workforce. Thus, the V-weapons severely restricted usage of the port by the Allies.

REX Cinema

   On the first day of the German Ardennes offensive, December 16, 1944, the worst V-bomb disaster occurred. The "REX" Cinema on avenue De Keyserlei was packed full of people in middle of the afternoon, nearly 1200 seats were occupied, all watching the featured movie. At 15:20 hrs the audience suddenly glimpsed a split-second flash of light cutting through the dark theater, followed by the balcony and ceiling crashing down during a deafening boom. A V-2 rocket had impacted directly on top of the cinema. Charles Ostyn happened to be near the cinema that day and would later learn of a personal tragedy in his life caused by this particular rocket attack.

   "December 16, 1944, is a day I can never forget. It all really sank in on us after the massacre at the REX Cinema," said Ostyn. He told about his feelings at that time: "I still remember that Saturday as if it were yesterday. I had walked past the theater about 20 minutes before the impact
to think, at that very moment a V-2 was being tanked-up by members of the SS Werfer Battery 500 in Holland, it being destined to kill all those people in one blinding instant."

   The destruction was total. Afterwards, many people were found still sitting in their seats, stone dead. For more than a week the Allied authorities worked to clear the rubble. Later, many of the bodies were laid out at the city zoo for identification. The death toll was 567 casualties to soldiers and civilians, 291 injured and 11 buildings were destroyed. 296 of the dead & 194 of the injured were US, British, & Canadian soldiers. This was the single highest death total from one rocket attack during the war in Europe.

   "I heard the explosion while I was traveling home on the tram. The cinema was packed with more than 1100 people and I remember the movie playing was 'The Plainsman' * with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur (about "Wild Bill" HickockI was a real movie nut in my younger years). Later, I found out that my employer and his girlfriend were in the audience. Apparently, my boss took his girlfriend out to see the film on a spur of the moment decision."

   James Mathieson remembers the rocket struck the cinema just at the point in the movie where “Gary Cooper had captured an Indian who informed him that General Custer and his troops had been wiped out.”






PHOTOS: REX CINEMA WAS POPULAR WITH CIVILIANS AND SOLDIERS. THE DESTRUCTION WAS TOTAL

   Mathieson was a member of an RAF intelligence unit, one of the first permanent RAF units in Belgium, which was stationed at German Admiral Erich Raeder’s former headquarters in Antwerp. That day my CO decided he would allow a few men off to have a little break. We decided to go to the REX because the picture showing was The Plainsman, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur, who were two of my favorite actors,” said Mathieson.

   Upon entering the cinema, Mathieson and his buddy decided to sit in the back row of the smallest portion of the balcony. When the roof fell in, Mathieson felt bricks and mortar falling from above. He put his left hand up to shield his head, which was quickly sliced open from the falling debris. Another brick landed on the opposite side of his head leaving a large gash. In a state of semi-consciousness, covered in dust and blood, Mathieson remembers being rescued from the debris.

   “I was in a row where only three seats remained attached and I was lying over into space from the balcony.  If I had gone down into the pit I would have had no chance. I consider to this day that I have a guardian angel looking after me because I think it was an absolute miracle that I escaped with so little injury.”

   Mathieson was moved to a British Army hospital in the Belgian town of Duffel. When he awoke a few days later, he discovered his wounds had been stitched up and his head and arms were wrapped in bandages. Amazingly, he was told the building housing his unit was hit by another V-2 the very next day and practically everybody was wiped out. Even though the V-2 explosion at the REX almost killed the young Mathieson, the injuries he sustained may well have saved him from perishing with his unit.

   Survivors said that the rocket came through the roof and exploded on the mezzanine. The rubble and debris was up to 5 meters high and it took the rescue teams six days to dig out all the dead. American and British teams had to join in with Army cranes and trucks. The hospitals were swamped and health services couldn't cope anymore.


   "The news that something really terrible had happened in the city filtered to the suburbs later that evening," said Ostyn. "During the following week, it was finally confirmed that our boss and his fiancee were found dead under a thick layer of dust, both remarkably intact except for terrible head wounds."

   "Thinking back, my closest call of being blown to eternity was one week after the 'REX', we were at the funeral for my boss at Silsburg Cemetery at Deurne and just before the coffin went down into the ground, at about 14.30 hrs, a V-2 exploded at the other end of the cemetery, ploughing into a row of houses... as if to underline the tragedy of it all. It was a very weird episode, which I cannot ever forget."

   After this shock, all theaters and cinemas were shut down and no more than 50 people were allowed to gather in any one place. People who could afford it left the city for safer parts and Antwerp became a somber and semi-deserted city. The residents remaining really felt that they were under siege.




SCHOONSELHOF CEMETERY ANTWERP



   The area Schoonselhof is a former large estate converted into the largest cemetery in the city and is located in Wilrijk, a suburb of Antwerp. Found in the cemetery today is a large section covered with military and war graves. 

   Schoonselhof has war memorials for the graves of 1,557 British Commonwealth soldiers who died fighting in World War I and World War II. There is a memorial to the victims of the V-weapons in Antwerp and a special plot of commonwealth graves with a large number of them dated December 16, 1944. These are the victims of the REX incident.

 

   The first time the press referred to Antwerp as "The City of Sudden Death" occurred in March 1945 in TIME magazine. Reporters had spoken to many of the US soldiers working in the port area during the final week of the V-weapon activity. The soldiers told of the terror reigned on the city for the past 4-5 months.

   "There was never any real panic in the city but, tension and fear existed—especially after the 'REX' incident," said Charles Ostyn.

   There was a total news blackout about the bombardment in the papers and this went on until April of 1945. What made matters worse was that this included any news about how the war effort was going. Any reports about locations of V-1 or V-2 hits would have given the Germans data that they could have used to improve their aiming. So, the people of Antwerp never got any official information about what was happening.

   The V-weapon onslaught combined with the bad news from the Ardennes offensive in December made Antwerp residents realize that the war was far from over and that thousands more civilians and soldiers were going to die before Germany was defeated.
The psychological effect on the citizens of Antwerp was great. It made the population despondent and war wearyscared of what else Hitler had in store for them.

   Between December 10-16 about 761 civilians were killed by the V-weapons. The increased V-weapon attacks in December could not have come at a worse time for the citizens of Antwerp. The severe winter weather and the destruction of many houses caused great anxiety in the port city. By the end of 1944, greater Antwerp (city and port area, left bank and eight suburbs—population in 1944 was approx. 500,000) had recorded 590 direct hits, which had flattened 884 homes and caused around 1,200 others to be uninhabitable.

   Almost 6,000 buildings were badly damaged and more than 23,000 others were damaged in some manner. Casualty figures stood at 1,736 dead and another 4,500 injured. It seemed that no neighborhood had escaped the destruction, as piles of debris could be seen everywhere.

   The only surviving pieces of the V-2 were always the large combustion chamber and turbo-pump mechanism, which were found all over the city and the suburbs usually half buried in the ground. These would sometimes careen after impact, possibly killing many people in the path (combustion chamber weight = 600 Kg).

   V-weapon activity was normally much less at night than by day. Still, there was the occasional ear-splitting bang late at night or in the early morning announcing the arrival of another 'Whispering Death' in the city. Only the loudest of thunderclaps can match this sound in its intensity or volume," said Ostyn.

   The residents of Antwerp were witness to almost indescribable daily scenessuch as a horse and cart that was unfortunately close to a V-2 explosion, which meant the poor horse was terribly maimed and had to be dispatched with a hammer by a civilian soon after and was left lying in the street for many days after.

   There were scenes of funeral processions for victims as the V-1s buzzed overhead. As terrible as it sounds, it is these little sketches of a city under siege that show the reality and horrors endured by the people of the city during this time.

   Residents in the two northern suburbs of Antwerp, on very clear days only, could sometimes see V-2s rising in the air (launched from Hoek van Holland or Den Haag) on their way to London. The German V-2 batteries firing on London were only a little over 50 air miles from Antwerp's northern suburbs.



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ABOVE: LARGE QUANTITY OF ROCKET DEBRIS IN ANTWERP; REMNANTS OF MANY
TURBO-PUMPS AND COMBUSTION CHAMBERS EXAMINED BY ALLIED SOLDIERS










PHOTOS ABOVE SHOW THE WIDESPREAD V-WEAPONS DAMAGE THROUGHOUT ANTWERP AND SUBURBS. MORE THAN 1,500 CIVILIANS WERE KILLED BY THE END OF THE CAMPAIGN

ABOVE: FIRES BURNING ON THE OIL INSTALLATIONS AT HOBOKEN-KIEL FOLLOWING V-BOMB STRIKE
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ABOVE: ON JANUARY 19 A V-2 HIT THE OIL TANKS AND FUEL DEPOTS KILLING 8 PEOPLE AND INJURING 20 OTHERS


   The coming new year started no better than the previous. On January 1, just twelve minutes past midnight, a V-2 impacted Burgerhout killing 46 and wounding 33 others. That was followed by another flying bomb. On January 2 the city registered no less than 20 V-1 strikes.

   The heavy snow made rescue work almost impossible. Ever since the disaster at the REX cinema all theaters and public places had been closed down. The very center is Antwerp was now desolate. The municipal authorities had provided temporary housing for the bombed out residents of the city, but they were almost overwhelmed by those in need. With the help of Allied forces, including doctors, nurses and soldiers, they were able to cope. Rescue workers often had to deal with more than 50 corpses a day and the very real possibility that a wall or entire building, so weakened by the blasts, might suddenly collapse on top of them.

   On January 8 another V-2 hit Antwerp harbor at pier 123 about fifty yards from the freighter "Blenhiem" operated by the Waterman Steamship Company. The concussion cracked all the bulkheads in the cabins and the forecastle, blew off or damaged all the doors, broke water pipes, and ripped radiators and bunks from the bulkheads. The blast injured twenty of those on board and the ship needed nearly a month to make temporary repairs. She finally left for England in a convoy on February 2.

   Less than a week after the Blenheim was damaged, a V-2 hit berth 218 near the starboard quarter of the Michael De Kovats damaging the superstructure and causing blast damage below. The explosion injured three aboard the ship and reportedly killed a soldier standing on the pier.

   In the port of Antwerp itself, despite the bombardment, a constant flow of ships was still delivering supplies for the Allied war effort. Thousands of dock workers unloaded the ships in the midst of the raining V-weapon attacks. Seventeen ships were damaged in this period and the Kruisschans lock was damaged. Several marshaling yards were hit and the Hoboken petroleum installations were hit twice.

   Despite the attacks, the functionality of the harbor was never fully halted. However, the planned discharge rate was less than 25 percent of Antwerp's actual discharge capacity. There were some casualties but, it never took very long for repairs to be made to these installations. Even so, it was evident the V-bombs were hindering the productivity of the port.

   The proud civilians who worked at the docks received an extra bonus in their pay from the Allies. This bonus was called Bibbergeld, which literally meant—Shivering Money—for the risks of working in the port while the V-bombs were falling.



ABOVE: V-2 DAMAGE AT KIEVITSTRAAT



ABOVE: V-2 DAMAGE AT REGENT-WETSTRAAT



ABOVE: V-1 DAMAGE AT ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH (MERKSEM)



ABOVE: V-2 DAMAGE AT ST. JOZEFSTRAAT



Antwerp-X

   Increased V-bomb attacks against the port had Allied planners worried. Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) installed Major General A.M. Cameron to command the air defenses of the captured cities in Belgium. In May of 1944 Cameron was assigned to SHAEF. Previously, he held command of an anti-aircraft group under the Anti-aircraft Command and the War Office. On October 4, to protect the newly liberated Belgian cities, he was made Chief of the SHAEF Air Defense Division, with the duty of forming the defenses to counter German aircraft and flying-bombs.

   Cameron headed a joint command, with the responsibility for defending Brussels assigned to the British and the defense of Antwerp assigned to the Americans under the command of US Brigadier General Clare H. Armstrong. Cameron had little experience with flying bombs, but Armstrong, in command of the 50th Anti-aircraft Brigade, had  prior experience with the recent flying bomb attack on England.

   In October of 1944 General Armstrong's forces consisted of 11,500 men assigned to three anti-aircraft brigades. These were the 56th Anti-aircraft Brigade commanded by American General George M. Bader; the 80th Anti-aircraft Brigade commanded by English General H.W. Deacon; while the 50th Anti-aircraft Brigade remained under General Armstrong's personal command, along with several Polish anti-aircraft batteries. General Armstrong's total command was designated as "Anti-Flying Bomb Commando Antwerp-X."
Antwerp-X was headquartered near an airfield in the luxury hotel Le Grand Veneur in Keerberg, Belgium.

   The initial deployment was established on October 28, 1944. During its mission in Antwerp the number of men in the command doubled. At the height of operations Armstrong's forces fielded 208 US 90mm guns; 128 British 3.7" guns; 188 37mm and 40mm guns and 72 searchlights. It was the mission of the gun crews to protect a 14 mile radius around the port, day and night.


GERMAN AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE DECEMBER 26, 1944


   Charles Ostyn knew of the destructive power of both V-weapons. In his opinion, although terrible, the V-2 was not as terrifying as the drone of the V-1 coming overhead: "Although the V-2 was terrible, the most scary for us in Antwerp was the 'little dingbat' or the V-1. We could hear them come from a long distance when they crossed the Allied anti-aircraft gun belt around the city but, too many got through. They had a characteristic rattle or buzz and flew overhead at high speed clearly visible. When the motor stopped it came down in a long curve and delivered its one ton of explosives on our citizens.

   We had about fifteen or twenty seconds to dive for cover when the engine cut out, which saved many lives. In January and February the V-1s were a real scourge on the city. Later, in March of 1945 the Allied gunners got the upper hand and manage to bring down most of the incoming V-1s. I have to admit though, things would have been very different if Mr. Kammler had thrown double the amount of rockets onto our heads, it was more like a steady drizzle not a full-scale bombardment. I suppose the fear factor has a lot to do with this, with V-2 it lasted only a few seconds and it was all over, no time to think or do anything.

   During the initial months of the V-bombs, the tower of the cathedral was used as a lookout point. Staffed by volunteers from the fire department, the lookout was linked by telephone to every fire station in the city. When a bomb fell, the volunteers called the nearest brigades. Soon the Antwerp city council built a wooden observation room on Europe's first skyscraperthe 24-story Boerentoren building (Farmer’s Tower), the second tallest structure in the city. Observers were connected by telephone to the War Room, where the Red Cross, fire brigade and police were represented. When a V-bomb fell, the observers could direct emergency services to the site of the explosion.

   On January 6,1945, a V-1 hit De Boerentoren itself, leaving a seven-meter hole in the side between the 4th and 5th floor. The warhead and the moving impact of the flying bomb failed to budge the tower itself (built by Jan van Hoenacker) and the observers stationed on top of the tower, as well as people taking shelter in the basement, never even felt the impact. After the war, the observation room was replaced by the Panorama Hall, which occupies the top floor of the building.


   At the end of December the St. Bartholomeus church in Merksem was severely ravaged by the impact of a flying bomb. Of the collapsed tower only the lower part with the door framing and some parts of the first upper parts remained standing. Also inside the church building the situation was bad. The roof had been blown away.
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ABOVE: 24-STORY BOERENTOREN STOOD SENTINEL DURING THE V-BOMB ATTACKS
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   The Antwerp-X guns were stationed in consecutive belts far enough outside the city to prevent flying bombs from being downed over the population.  Forward observers were stationed ahead of the guns to warn of incoming V-1s. The gunners were directed not to fire at enemy aircraft—only firing at V1s—for fear their positions would be revealed. The numerous Allied airfields established around Antwerp also presented a problem for the gunners. Until November 5, the gunners of Antwerp X were restricted to firing at targets that could be visually identified as V-1s. Aircraft were instructed to stay out of the lanes of approach for the V-1s, but friendly aircraft regularly violated this ban. From November 26 to December 11, a total of 357 friendly aircraft entered the zone at their peril.

   By the middle November British units (except for the searchlight regiments) were withdrawn as the line was bolstered by additional US gun battalions. From left to right were the 740th; 184th; 126th; 125th; 407th; 405th; and 494th AAA Gun Battalions. Forward of the main line were the 789th and 788th Automatic Weapons (AW) Battalions armed with the 40mm anti-aircraft gun. An eighth gun battalion was added to the main defensive belt on December 6. When the Ardennes Offensive began on December 15-16 the Germans commenced firing of V-1s from The Netherlands. The new angle of attack was outside of the gun belt ring. A few of the existing gun battalions were forced to move to cover this new incoming track. Additionally, some of the gun battalions called up, as they were needed to blunt the German attack.

   During their deployment, Antwerp-X gunners utilized some of the most modern equipment in the world. The US 90mm M1 anti-aircraft gun was the most advanced anti-aircraft gun of WWII. Some of the SCR-584 radar-controlled anti-aircraft batteries were firing shells equipped with the newly developed proximity fuse. The SCR-584 radar units controled four 90mm guns per battery using an M9 director to electrically control the battery guns. The radar was effective from 28,000 yards, the M9 director predicted the target location position based on course, height and speed which combined with the gun, shell and fuse characteristics predicted an impact position, adjusted each gun and fired the shell. British gun batteries were each equipped with eight QF 3.7-inch AA gun and two radar units, preferably the US SCR-584 with M9 director as it was more accurate than the British system. Backup for the British guns was also automatic 40mm batteries. The V-1 was harder to see on radar than a normal aircraft and the muddled terrain of Belgium and The Netherlands reflected a lot of low-level ground clutter. The guns operated 22 hours a day with two hours a day for maintenance. The life of the barrel was 1,500 to 2,000 rounds and many batteries wore out three or four sets of barrels over the course of the campaign. Because of shortages of replacement barrels some were retained until they fired as many as 2,500 rounds.

   Once the German offensive had failed, the guns were called back in the middle of January 1945. The buzz bombs coming from The Netherlands had become a very serious problem for Antwerp. The number of V-1s launched had increased and the accuracy was improved because of the shorter flight time and distance. The gun defenses stationed on the southeast approaches to Antwerp were thinned out, while the northeastern approaches were augmented with four belts of heavy guns. By February the V-1 attacks had again increased to the point that the defenses had to be reinforced once again.


   
For almost six months the personnel of Antwerp-X were front-line in the defense of Antwerp. Field Marshall Montgomery had demanded that Antwerp-X Command to try and bring down half of all the V-1s launched at the city. This figure was reached in December (52%). In January 1945 they reached the 64% mark and by February 1945 they managed to bring down 72% of all incoming V-1s. They were required to perform professionally around the clock, at any time of day. Many times the crews were shorthanded because of their 24-hour days. 32 soldiers had been killed and 289 wounded by the end of the V-1 campaign. They exhausted 532,000 rounds of 90mm ammunition and succeeded in downing of 2,183 V-1s.

   Regardless of the intrinsic imprecision of both the V-1 and V-2, Hitler's decision to focus the continental weapons on large supply ports was essentially the right calculation. The Germans were able to limit the amount of supplies off loaded in Antwerp, particularly ammunition, which forced the Allies to continue to use other ports and transportation methods. The discharge rates in the port of Antwerp reached the planned level until flying bombs stopped falling after March 30. The V-bomb campaign demonstrated an alternative to a feasible bomber force and foreshadowed warfare in the future.

   In late January, early February, the number of flying bombs had increased to the highest point and then tapered off in the month of March 1945. As the V-weapon attacks on Antwerp came to an end and the German firing crews were forced to retreat by the advancing Allied troops, the last V-2 rocket was felt in Antwerp on March 27, landing in Mortsel killing 27 and injuring another 62 people. The last of the flying bombs occurred on March 30. Final numbers indicate: From October 1944 to March 1945, more than 4,800 V-1's were detected. Of these, only 4.5 percent fell into the protected area around Antwerp.
The effectiveness of the Antwerp-X defense meant that only 211 got through the massive defenses.

   The V-bomb campaign saw more than 850 V-1 and V-2 missiles rain down on the Antwerp city area over a period of 167 days. Another 1,300 fell on the 50 districts surrounding the city. Together the attacks took the lives of more than 3,400 civilians and 700 allied service personnel, and destroyed or damaged more than 90,000 properties. In almost six months of terror, there were just 12 days on which no bombs fell. At the end of March 1945, the people began to return to the city, and within a few years, most important repairs had been made to city infrastructure.





Dr. Kenneth Hartman (†)
Eugene, Oregon USA

"I served in the Port of Antwerp during many months of continuous enemy air and V-weapon attacks between October 1944 and March 1945.

I will always remember the ominous silence of the daily V-1s as fell from the sky.

Seeing my dead comrades, sitting in their seats, covered in plaster dust, because a V-2 went through the roof and exploded in a crowded movie theater.

I saw and photographed where a V-1 crashed into the fifth floor of the skyscraper (Boerentoren) on Meir.

I spent hundreds of hours alone exploring the unoccupied "Castle Steen" from top to bottom.

I remember mobs of mute mourners in the Gare Centrale (La gare d'Anvers-Central) holding up pictures of their missing loved ones, in vain hope that Allied soldiers had seen them."




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PHOTOS ABOVE: ANTWERP TODAY — THE CITY REMEMBERS © ED STRATEN
Summary

   Many people tend to associate the V-weapon campaign as one directed only against England; however, Antwerp was the recipient of even more V-2s than London, resulting in more than 30,000 killed or injured. For the whole of the V-bomb campaign, Antwerp received on average three V-2s per day in the city and its suburbs. The number of V-1s was on average four per day in December and January, climbing to 12 daily in February of 1945. In late January/early February, the number of flying bombs had increased to the highest point and then tapered off in the month of March 1945. More than 1,600 V-2s fell on the port city during a six-month period. The V-weapon attacks on Antwerp came to an end as the German firing crews were forced to retreat because of the Allied advance.


   The V-weapon campaign against Antwerp is often overlooked by military historians. The indiscriminate bombardment was certainly a terror for the civilian population of Antwerp, but it was also a monumental hindrance to Allied war planners. The Allies had six to seven armies in the field at the time that required food, petroleum, munitions, troops and all the other things needed to fight a war. It is short sighted to say the V-weapons were ineffective simply because the port of Antwerp remained open throughout the campaign. Not even the Germans believed the rockets would completely destroy the port, but it was hoped, by amassing their fire on this strategic target, they could severely inhibit the Allies’ progress toward Germany.

   In the weeks leading up to the Ardennes offensive, the V-weapons made it very difficult for supplies to reach the overstretched Allied lines. Hitler hoped to cut the American and British forces in half, with the capture of Antwerp being his ultimate goal. In the face of Allied air superiority, the V-bombs were Hitler’s only available means to stem to flow of supplies prior to and during the German offensive. Even though Hitler lost the Battle of the Bulge, the V-bombs continued to fall on Antwerp. Throughout the later portion of 1944 and well into 1945, the V-weapons severely curtailed the amount of supplies brought into Antwerp. The port never reached its expected goals, and the Allies were forced to divert ammunition and manpower to Ghent.

   During the V-weapon onslaught, over a period of 175 days and nights, the German launching crews fired more than 4,000 V-1s and more than 1,700 V-2s at greater Antwerp. Of those, 106 V-1s and 107 V-2s hit the heart of the city. During that period more than 3,700 civilians were killed and some 6,000 injured in the province of Antwerp. Many of these fell within the dock area killing 53 military and 131 civilians and severely injured hundreds more. Damage inflicted on the dock area included two warehouses that were destroyed, one taking a direct hit that killed many; twenty ship berths damaged; a 150-ton floating crane was sunk by a V-2 strike; and more than 100 ships was damaged. Only about 30 percent of the V-2s launched against Antwerp reached the city. The rockets that were off-target kept falling all around the Antwerp area and often very far away from the port area. Several factors come into play for the modest number of V-2s Antwerp suffered each day, but the main reasons were the German bottleneck in their alcohol and liquid oxygen supply and the dispersion of the still imperfect weapon.


STORY OF ANTWERP-X
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ANTWERP UNDER V1 + V2
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ABOVE: COURTESY JOHN PRIDIGE AND PUBLIC
RECORDS OFFICE LONDON
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Click on the image at left to view a detailed map showing the "fall of shot" related to the German V-bomb campaign directed toward greater Antwerp. The map was created by Antwerp city officials immediately after the end of the war in Europe.


Antwerp Impacts
V-1
V-2
October 1944 27
58
November 1944 64
126
December 1944 110
130
January 1945 117
155
February 1945 224
59
March 1945 86
42

Figures above may not be 100% accurate. However,  this is a good account from J. De Launay. For the whole V-bomb campaign on Antwerp on average 3 (three) V-2s per day impacted on the area of greater Antwerp. The number of V-1 was on average 4 per day in December and January, climbing to 12 daily in February 1945.

Related Links:


V-bombs City Guide & Walking Route Antwerp
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V-bombs Walking Route Hoboken Suburb
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ANTWERP CITY HALL, MEMORIAL TO GEN. CLARE ARMSTRONG, FALL OF SHOT V-BOMBS © ED STRATEN










BRUSSELS AIR MUSEUM, DEFENSE OF ANTWERP & BRUSSELS, GEN. ARMSTRONG'S UNIFORM © ED STRATEN
SOURCES: V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile, T. Dungan, 2005 — Kenneth Hartman, personal account, 2003 — Simone De Ceunynck, personal account, 2003 — V-Missiles of the Third Reich, Dieter Hölsken, 1994 — John Pridige, 2010, 2013 — Lynne (Robinson) Lawrence, personal account, 2004Charles Ostyn, personal account, 2001 — Peenemünde, Guido De Maeseneer, 2001 — Greg Hayward, personal account, 2002 — The Defense of Antwerp Against the V-1 Missile, Defense Technical Information Center, 1971 — Antwerpen Onder De V-bommen 1944-1945, Koen Palinckx, 2004 — James Mathieson, personal account, 2005 — De Slag om Antwerpen, T. Franssen, 1945 — Gemarteld Antwerpen, De Schuyter, 1945 — After the Battle 57, Achiel Rely, 1987 — Benjamin King & Timothy Kutta, Impact, 1998 — PRO WO.205/999, Defense of Antwerp and Belgium — The Scheldt, Veterans Affairs Canada, 2005 — Crusade in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1948 — Longshore Soldiers, Andrew Brozyna, 2010 — The Flying Bomb, Richard Anthony Young, 1978 — United States Army Logistics: The Normandy Campaign, Steve R. Waddell, 1944 — Battle of Antwerp, City of Sudden Death, FR. Claes, De Sleutel (Antwerpen) — Hammer of the Reich, Benjamin King & Timothy Kutta, Chapter 10

Special Thanks: Dr. Kenneth Hartman, Olivier Vilain, Ed Straten, John Pridige, Detlev Paul, Volker Pelz, Michel van Best, and Charles Ostyn


Groenplaats SHAEF Exhibition Summer 1945 Antwerp

   After VE Day, in June of 1945, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) set up an exhibition in the center of Antwerp at Groenplaats (Green Square). This large exhibition featured the display of prominent Allied and German weaponry used during the conflict. Of particular interest to many Allied servicemen were the captured V-1 and V-2 bombs. Many photographs of these artifacts exist because the exposition ran for 4 to 5 weeks in the summer of 1945. Thousands of Allied servicemen took photographs of these unusual German weapons. Note: The "Reichenberg" Re4 that arrived on June 23 was put on display in Antwerp at the "Castle Steen" and not at the expo itself.

   The Groenplaats is dominated by Our Lady's Cathedral. In medieval times the cemetery of the cathedral was located here. Today around the square are numerous restaurants and cafés where many famous artists spent their time. In the middle of the Groenplaats the statue of Rubens can be seen. It was crafted in 1843 by sculptor Geefs. The damage suffered during the bombardment was repaired after the war. My friend Olivier Vilain of the Antwerpen Bunker Museum has written an excellent article about the S.H.A.E.F. expo Antwerpen, 1945.























Bunker en Vliegtuig Archeo Antwerpen - Bunker & Air War Museum Antwerp

   During World War II this bunker village was built as the main command for the Atlantic Wall in Belgium and Walcheren (NL). The actual museum is located in the Sonderkonstruktion 1 (SK1) bunker and also the main command bunker of this Atlantic Wall section. In the museum are numerous archaeological pieces on display from several fortifications, a lot of documentation relating to the Atlantic Wall, the Air War, and Antwerp itself during the war. The museum is unique in and around Antwerp thanks to its engine room that is almost entirely complete and in which machines are made functional again. As well parts of the V-1 and V-2 rockets are free to visit, so you get a unique look at how these bombs worked.

  Photos below: V-weapon remains on display at the Bunker Museum Antwerp