![]() He was an old man, tall and lugubrious, almost sinister. I was sent to the home of Ignace Kennis, a well-known local artist. ![]() Since there was insufficient accommodation for all of us to sleep there, some were billeted at houses in the town. It was an eerie feeling, being in a building so recently vacated by our enemies. Our headquarters were in the Banque Nationale in Louisastraad and our Mess in a building opposite, still bearing the name "Soldatenheim" where German soldiers had been quartered. We arrived on a chilly mid-November day in this old Flemish-speaking town with its mixture of Spanish and Flemish buildings, its old butter market and its principal industry of quality furniture making. We were being sent toģ3 Wing, Malines, for plotting and interpreting the rocket trajectories. It transpired that we had been selected for our mathematical ability and speedy reactions. The next few weeks passed in feverish activity, learning about our new duties, packing our kit and having special inoculations. It was many years later before I was able to tell him what I had been doing. ![]() Normally no married WAAF was chosen and he could not understand why I had to go. ![]() We had already signed the Official Secrets Act on joining the Filter Room and therefore I was forbidden to explain to my new husband why I was being sent overseas. We were to be sent to Belgium to work on rocket detection there. Almost immediately I, together with eleven other WAAF officers, were called aside and told to prepare for special training for an overseas posting. I was married at the end of September 1944 and after a few days honeymoon, I returned to duty. After several more of these attacks, we became used to them and things slipped back into the usual routine. The reaction was incredible, all hell was let loose. Immediately, I had to stand on a chair and shout out "Big Ben" three times. We had been warned of some new form of air attack and I happened to be the person who received the code word "Big Ben" from one of our RADAR stations. It was during one of my periods on duty that the first V2 landed on the London area. This eventually became 33 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force.Īt that time I was working as a Filterer Officer in the 11 Group Filter Room at Fighter Command HQ, Stanmore where we handled and interpreted the RADAR information and early warning systems for Britain. Subsequently they set up a headquarters at Malines (or Mechelen in Flemish) to handle the information received and pass it on to Fighter stations in the vicinity. Thus when the first rocket landed at Liege on September 14th, 1944 and Intelligence advised that the German Command was intending to target Belgian ports, they installed 8 of these mobile units inland from Antwerp. Meanwhile SHAEF HQ at Versailles had already made plans to install mobile RADAR units known as Type 9, in Belgium to assist in tracking the launch sites of the V2's destined for Britain. In addition it was the intention of General Von Runstedt when he attacked in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes, to continue on to Antwerp and split the advancing armies. By targeting them, the enemy hoped to disrupt the advance of the Allies. But few people realise that 1,610 of these devices were aimed at Antwerp in Belgium, once the Allied Forces had liberated that countryĪntwerp was the port where all the supplies and armaments were being landed and warehoused for use by the Services as they advanced into Germany. They caused great terror and many casualties, landing indiscriminately and without warning. The very first of these, code-named "Big Ben", landed in the Croydon area of London on September 8th 1944 and was followed by over one thousand more. Most British people have heard of the V2 Rocket - Hitler's ultimate secret weapon during World War II.
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