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Antwerp V1 and V2 attacks - Fall of shot on Arrondissement of Antwerp from 7 Oct. 44 to 30 March 1945

The Operation Antwerp X was a World War II military operation conducted by Allied forces to protect the Port of Antwerp, which was vital to the supply of the Allied armies in North-West Europe from October 1944 to March 1945.[1][2][3][4][5]

Memorial plaque in the former hotel Le Grand Veneur in Keerbergen

Description

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The allies' most advanced anti-aircraft warfare technologies were showcased by the anti-aircraft defence against the German V-1 cruise missiles (V stands for Vergeltungswaffe, "retaliation weapon") during the Diver and Antwerp X operations.

The 419th and 601st Anti-aircraft Gun Battalions of the US Army were first allocated to the Folkestone-Dover coast to defend London, and then moved to Belgium to become part of the "Antwerp X" project coordinated from the Le Grand Veneur [nl][6] in Keerbergen.

With the liberation of Antwerp, the port city immediately became the highest priority target, and received the largest number of V-1 and V-2 missiles of any city. The smallest tactical unit of the operation was a gun battery consisting of four 90 mm guns firing shells equipped with a radio proximity fuse. Incoming targets were acquired and automatically tracked by SCR-584 radar, developed at the MIT Rad Lab. Output from the gun-laying radar was fed to the M9 Gun Director, an electronic analogue computer developed at Bell Laboratories to calculate the lead and elevation corrections for the guns. With the help of these three technologies, close to 90% of the V-1 missiles, on track to the defence zone around the port, were destroyed.[7][8]

General Clare Hibbs Armstrong was the commanding officer of the 50th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade during the air defense of Antwerp during World War II. The 50th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade destroyed 97% of all V-1 flying bombs aimed at the docking facilities that supplied the 12th and 21st Army Groups.

In October 1944, Armstrong was tasked with executing the Operation Antwerp X , which sought to protect the port of Antwerp and its residents against flying-bomb attacks. He formed a special defense anti-aircraft force, which included his own brigade, another U.S. anti-aircraft brigade, a British brigade and a Polish regiment—a total of 22,000 men designated for the defense of Antwerp. The port served as important operating logistical center, where most of the supplies from the United States were redistributed for Allied forces on the Continent.[9]

On Oct. 26, Antwerp X was operational: six battalions with sixteen cannons each and three battalions with lighter anti-aircraft guns in the Lier area began to open fire at overflying V1s. The next day, an American battalion detected two V1s coming in from the southeast and were able to shut them down. On Nov. 10, the Americans took over from their British counterparts, who were ordered to defend Brussels. General Armstrong retained supreme command, but moved to the luxury hotel Le Grand Veneur in Keerbergen, which was ideally located between Brussels and Antwerp and did not have to fear V-strikes.[10] The hotel's dining room became the nerve center of operation Antwerp X. In February, a second headquarter was established in Antwerp, this time in Rubenslei.[11]

Armstrong and his troops were deployed in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and destroyed 97% of all V-1 flying bombs aimed at the docking facilities in Antwerp.[12][13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ King, Benjamin (1998). Impact : the history of Germany's V-weapons in World War II. Rockville Centre, NY : Sarpedon. pp. 265–267. ISBN 978-1-885119-51-3.
  2. ^ Hogg, Ian V. (1978). Anti-aircraft : a history of air defence. London : Macdonald and Jane's. pp. 132–133. ISBN 978-0-354-01163-1.
  3. ^ Cull, Brian (2008). "The assault on Antwerp and Liège - October 1944 - March 1945". Diver! Diver! Diver!. London : Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-904943-39-6.
  4. ^ De Maeseneer, Guido (2001). Peenemünde : the extraordinary story of Hitler's secret weapons V-1 and V-2. Vancouver, Canada : AJ Publishing. pp. 365–366. ISBN 978-0-9699542-1-7.
  5. ^ "The Story of Antwerp X". 2016-03-28. Archived from the original on 2016-03-28. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  6. ^ "Le Grand Veneur Keerbergen operation Antwerp X". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  7. ^ Cruise Missile Defence: Defending Antwerp against the V-1, Lt. Col. John A. Hamilton
  8. ^ Backus, R. J. (1971-06-15). The Defense of Antwerp Against the V-1 Missile (PDF) (Report). Southern Colorado State College.
  9. ^ Bergstrom, Christer (2014). The Ardennes, 1944-1945. Casemate. p. 178. ISBN 978-1612002774. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  10. ^ Serrien, Pieter. Elke dag angst (in Flemish). horizon. ISBN 9789492159588.
  11. ^ Serrien, Pieter (2019-10-17). "75 jaar geleden… een V2 op Keerbergen, vlak bij het hoofdkwartier van Antwerp X". Pieter Serrien (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  12. ^ "Clare H. Armstrong Papers – C.I.A. Websites" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017. Retrieved October 29, 2017.
  13. ^ "The commendation for the defense of Antwerp". diplomacy.state.gov. diplomacy.state.gov Websites. Retrieved 12 April 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

Further reading

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