PLB - Passive Air Defence

When “Antwerp X” was unable to stop a V1 or one of the unstoppable V2 came down, the PLB went into action.

During the 6 months in which Antwerp was under fire, the PLB stood by her and thus also kept the advance of the Allied armies on the Western Front going. Taking on this enormous challenge required major changes from the organization in a short space of time and under an increasingly heavy bombardment. In addition to an obvious increase in scale, procedures, equipment and training would also be adapted with the support of the Allied armies and experts from the British "Civil Defence". According to the latter, the situation of the Antwerp PLB could initially be compared with their own situation in Great Britain before the “Blitz”.

Veterans of that British "Blitz" came to Antwerp as volunteers in 1945.

After a request in November 1944 from Allied Headquarters S.H.A.E.F., in early January 1945 the newly established “No.1 Overseas Column” of the British Civil Defense arrived in Antwerp.

The 224 volunteers included veterans of the air raids on London, Manchester, Liverpool, Plymouth and Glasgow, but they too found themselves in a new kind of hell. Hundreds of V2s had already been fired at Antwerp since October 13, one of which had caused 567 deaths just 2 weeks before their arrival at Cinema Rex, not to mention the even more numerous V1s fired. In addition to instruction for the local services, they also assisted “the city of sudden death” with blood, sweat and tears in its darkest hour. They were able to rescue hundreds of wounded civilians and soldiers from the rubble or recover those for whom help came too late.

This dangerous work resulted in casualties and one fatality. Group Sergeant T.J. Parkinson lost his life during rescue operations in Lombardenvest 68 where a V1 landed on 18 February 1945.

C.D. Overseas Casualty, Antwerp Rescue Hero.

Killed in an attempt to save a number of persons buried in a blazing bombdamaged house in Antwerp last month. Group Sgt T.J. Parkinson, aged 44, of Albert-gardens, Fallsworth, Manchester, is the first casualty announced among the overseas column of the Civil Defense Reserve.

A wall collapsed and trapped him. He had been abroad only eight weeks. He was buried in a military cemetery.

Before he volunteered for overseas service he was attached to the North-West Regional Column and had previously served in the Manchester C.D. Rescue Service since 1939.

Parkinson, door collega’s beschreven als een van de meest gedurfde werknemers van de Service, redde een geestelijke uit Manchester uit zijn huis na een inval.

His wife said last night: "Jimmy was one of the first to volunteer for overseas duties. He always said nobody would ever be able to call him a coward."

Jimmy’s grave at the Schoonselhof, located in the CWGC plot V, row B. We received the newspaper article with photo from Niko Van Kerckhoven (Fort 2), who through years of research, has been able to give a face to many hundreds of soldiers. Click here for his website "Faces of Schoonselhof".

On May 14, 1945, the Civil Defense employees left for England with a ceremony on the Antwerp Grote Markt. Mayor Huysmans assured them that Antwerp would never forget their assistance during the terrible V-bombs period, a promise that we try to honor here. Many thanks to Craig Smith for sharing a wealth of information on the unit, find out more about them at his excellent website ww2CivilDefence.co.uk.

A unique witness of the entire PLB transformation was Major Theodoor Goemans.

Theo was born on August 31, 1905 in Antwerp and married Theresia Brillo in 1931. Before and after the war he worked as a clerk for Canadian Pacific at the office located on the Meir. Their ships sailed all over the world and, like the Red Star Line, had also carried many European migrants to North America. During the war, the office in occupied Antwerp naturally came to a standstill and in September 1940 he started working in the Municipal Slaughterhouse as a temporary employee “"For work related to the introduction of meat rationing measures'. 

Theo (left) at the office, 1933.

After working for the slaughterhouse for several months, Theo was transferred to the PLB on March 1, 1941, where he worked his way up. At the liberation he became acting commander after PLB chief Somers was deposed under suspicion of collaboration. Theo himself was also briefly under suspicion, but this was quickly cleared up according to a report from the British Civil Defense. It was noted that “Happily Cdt Goemans was soon cleared and proved to be an extremely hard working, conscientious and competent organizer.”.

PLB ID card, note the correction of the old grade "Block Leader" which was corrected in "Major".

Major Goemans with officers from American, Belgian and British services, including the Civil Defense Reserve Overseas Column.

Maj. Goemans in February 1945 with a Belgian delegation at “Cobham College”, a training center for staff members in Surrey, England.

On May 27, 1945 there was a parade and the air protection services were honored on the Grote Markt.
On this occasion Theo received a certificate from the city of Antwerp as a thank you for his work at the PLB.

Mayor Camille Huysmans extends his hand to Theo, in the other hand he holds the tube with the certificate.

As evidenced by his decorations, his efforts were highly appreciated nationally and internationally. From the United Kingdom he received the "King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom" and from Swedish colleagues ("Riksluftskyddsförbundeten") their medal of honor in silver. 

The last example in the row is a Belgian decoration of the National Federation of Agents in Air Defense, in gold.

Theo put together an interesting photo album about his service in the Antwerp PLB during WW2.
In addition to many photos, mainly about the PLB during the V-bomb period in Antwerp from October 1944 to the end of March 1945, he also provided the descriptions and decoration himself.

Click here to view the photo album (.pdf - 3.36 MB).

Also for PLB Lt. Col. Van Cappellen he made a similar but slightly more concise photo album that unfortunately was taken apart, cut through photos and text to size and perforated to fit in a ring binder. In this battered condition it eventually ended up in the Antwerp City Archives where you can consult it digitally as individual images via their website (inventory number 1448#17).

Although according to the Civil Defense there was initially some resistance, women were also employed of which one was Giselle Van Aken.

Her son, historian Hugo Lambrechts, contacted the museum in 2020 when he was working on an article about the PLB. He was kind enough to share some things in the family archive here, including the identification plate that she herself had made at a blacksmith friend. In the photo we see Giselle (right) with some colleagues from the PLB administration. In the middle is Deputy block leader-paymaster Picard and on the left J. Braeckmans who also added a memento in Giselle's poetry album.

Be sure to let us know if you have any documents or objects that could help this page show the people who rendered their important service in Antwerp's darkest hour. Given the important assistance provided by Allied personnel during the V-weapon offensive, any documentation regarding their contribution or experiences is of course also very welcome.