The Battle of Antwerp - City of Sudden Death

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Terry Warner shared a scanned copy of the book "The Battle of Antwerp - City of Sudden Death", written by Theo Franssen, ca. 1945.

It is a first hand account of the city under siege with V-weapons, comparable to what happened to London. As the Allies pushed the Germans back they could no longer reach London with V1's, so the Germans turned their efforts on Antwerp that took a terrible beating over several months. Thousands of civilians were killed as well as servicemen.

"The Battle of Antwerp - City of Sudden Death"

[maple_leaf_eh]

I cannot claim any finder's good luck for this document. However, an old comrade from my reserve unit Jacques Béland sent me a message on Facebook,

"Terry, not sure of this is of any interest to you. Not HERBIE related but close. A friend of mine had in his possession two booklets: The Battle of Antwerp and "Memoirs 73 4 Canadian armoured troops workshop RCEME 1942-1945". I've scanned both to PDF if you want copies."

How could I refuse?

I would guess these two pamphlet type books were collected in Netherlands in 1945 not long after they were published. They came to Canada with a veteran, and have emerged from someone's bookshelf. Jacques converted them to *.pdf format and now the world is a richer place for them.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Thanks for sharing these documents, Terry!

Posted the Memoirs 4 Canadian Armoured Troops Workshop RCEME 1942-1945 in a separate thread.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

The "Passieve Luchtbescherming" (P.L.B. Antwerpen) or "Passive Air Defence" of Antwerp used a variety of vehicles to come into action after a missile had struck.

This early Chevrolet C15 is one of them:




See more info and pictures here http://www.bunkervliegtuigarcheo.com...fence-antwerp/ and here: http://www.bunkervliegtuigarcheo.com...-antwerp-1945/

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Jan Westhoeve of Battlefield Tours Zeeland shared another document showing the devastation the V1 and V2 rockets caused in Antwerp:

Antwerp under V1 + V2

[Hanno Spoelstra]

“Fordson truck with Canadians in Holland. Pte. J.E. Kirby of Queen's Own Camerons of Canada stands guard over a V-2 bomb motor near the Antwerp Docks, 15 Oct 1944. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 5180146)”