V1
"Fi 103" - "FZG 76"
About a week after the first V2 also V1's started appearing over Antwerp from October 21, 1944.
In addition to the V1 technology through many parts, the museum highlights how the city survived the many launches.
On June 13, 1944, with the "V1" the retaliatory offensive was started against British cities.
Only 10 launches succeeded this first day, of which only one V1 reached London. Despite many remaining problems on the German side the impacts soon increased significantly. For the next 2.5 months London in particular would come under heavy fire with many launches from the catapults built in northern France.
With the advance of the Allies in northern France, Hitler also lost his launch bases and the V1 operations against England came to an end for the time being.
New launch bases that were now being built in Germany were aimed at a completely different kind of target. The hastily mass-produced retaliatory weapon against England, where accuracy was of less importance, would now eliminate strategic targets. Belgian cities like Antwerp and Liege had V1 launch catapults aimed at them and paid a heavy toll because of their great importance in Allied logistics. If this faltered, Hitler hoped to be able to strike back, as would become apparent in mid-December 1944 when he launched his major Ardennes offensive towards Antwerp.
In October the V1 offensive resumed but now Antwerp became the main target for nearly half a year.
Day and night and in increasing numbers the "flying bombs" descended on the city and its port.
However, the Allies were not surprised and had made preparations in the greatest secrecy for a defense with anti-aircraft defenses, Operation “Antwerp X”. Although valuable experience had been gained in the defense of London against the V1, the defense of Antwerp still proved to be a challenge.
Due to the shorter distance to the target, they had much less time to intercept the V1's and the latter also hit their target more accurately. There was no Channel to cross allowing to bring them down safely with fast fighters and the latter, despite their previous successes, were not used around Antwerp so as not to disturb the strong anti-aircraft defenses.
V1 statistics, of which initially a small part on Brussels, from a report by the US army. The launches at London are also indicated, which were resumed in March 1945 from the western Netherlands with a special long-range model.
(View the booklet at Skylighters.org)
The defense became very effective and succeeded in keeping a large part of the V1s out of the harbor and city.
However, this military success did not mean that these downed V1s no longer caused death and destruction, as people under the flight paths experienced. Of the more than 2000 disabled V1s only about a quarter exploded immediately in the air, most of them were only damaged by the flak causing them to crash prematurely. When such a V1 came down in a spin, the terror aspect may have increased as neither civilians nor soldiers could predict where it would land. Sometimes the detonators failed and a V1 took off after a belly landing and the anxious waiting started again…
These images from the aforementioned American report show the ordeal that people far outside the circle around the "Vital area" had to endure. As the launches at Antwerp became more numerous and started coming in from multiple directions, an ever larger area suffered from the terror.
During this ordeal in the line of fire of the V-weapons, close ties naturally developed between the soldiers of Antwerp X and the population of the city and the surrounding area. A separate page on this theme and its remembrance can be found in this “V-Weapons” section.
On the page “Antwerp and Armstrong” you can find more information about the relationship with the commander of Antwerp X, exuberantly honored as a symbol for the 22,000 men who had saved the city with him. The deeds and memories of these lesser-known defenders of Antwerp also deserve attention and are highlighted.
This beautiful photo from 1st Lieutenant William Wedemeyer's photo album shows the huge mounds of packaging that piled up near the batteries as the many thousands of shells were fired. His son Tom shared this photo and accompanying information:
“They were given to the population as fuel for heating. The packaging was made of cardboard and tar.”
The collection of V1 parts and remnants in the museum also paints a clear picture of the technology behind the weapon.
From the large pulse motor to the smaller autopilot, all kinds of parts can be viewed and many are discussed in more detail.