Chapter Nine

     Many more V2s continued to fall on London. By November Belgium was liberated and Antwerp a vital port was able to be used for landing Allied soldiers and arms. Immediately Hitler launched an attack.V2s bombarded the port, threatening the landing of Allied troops and supplies. Few people realise that over 1,600 V2s were aimed at Antwerp, 500 more than against London, causing devastation in that port. Many missed their target and landed in surrounding areas. They were responsible for killing both allied troops and local inhabitants whilst also destroying much needed vital supplies.

     Due to the lower flight path of these V2s to a nearer target than London, the RAF were able to employ mobile RADAR units capable of tracking part of the flight of these rocket. This had not been possible for those directed at Britain due to the greater distance and higher trajectory.

     Because of our specialised training, eight Filter Room WAAF Officers and 8 other ranks were chosen to go to Belgium and join a special unit at Malines (Mechelen) in Belgium together with Flight Officer Ann Richmond, one of our Scientific Observers. It was essential those going were able to understand logarithms. This unit later became 33 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force and came under the supervision of SHAEF headquarters in Paris. I was told I was to be one of the eight.

     Now I had to telephone Peter at RAF Northolt to tell him the news I was being posted overseas. Normally married women were never posted abroad but we had already signed an agreement that due to our training, we could be sent anywhere at a moment’s notice. I was not able to explain either what I did, where I was going or the importance of the work we were going to do. I recently found the following note Peter wrote, trying to understand why.

     We were then told of the purpose of this unit. It was to calculate the ever-changing position of the mobile rocket launching vehicles and destroy them. They consisted of a lorry and trailer which carried two rockets which would be winched to upright position ready for launching. They would leave their base and find suitable terrain to hide prior to the launch. This could be in the woods or near high buildings, anywhere they could find cover. The vehicles would then return to their base after firing and launch of both rockets.

     Our unit, 33 Wing, was linked to No. 9 mobile RADAR stations which would move freely around Belgium. They were able to make fixes on part of the launch trajectory. This information was fed to our unit at Malines. There as soon as our team learned the site of the fall of shot, they would make the necessary calculations, extrapolating the flight curve to find the launch area. Five minutes was the maximum time allowed for this. These calculations would be fed to Intelligence for instant checking and the information obtained would be coupled with readings from sound equipment of the Survey Regiment. The final information was then used to destroy the launch vehicles by patrolling RAF fighter aircraft, before the launchers moved back their base. The RAF used fast moving Mosquitoes equipped with torpedo bombs for this task. They flew in sections over the anticipated areas of launch.

     Our calculations had to be made at top speed as the launchers would move off in under 30 minutes after the rockets were fired, to return to their base. You have to remember there were at that time no calculators or computers. All our calculations were made solely with slide rules and pencil and paper!

     I, together with the seven other Filterers chosen, was to go to Malines, 10 km from Antwerp to set up and man this unit and attempt the calculations. Thus three weeks after getting married, I, and my colleagues flew in a Dakota to Ghent and then travelled by Jeep on to Malines. I was to spend eight months overseas, apart from my husband. But this was the exigency of war and it never occurred to me to complain or consider it unusual. Peter found it very hard to understand.

     Life in Malines, a Flemish-speaking town, was very busy and intense for us. We had to master the calculating techniques swiftly. I was billeted with Ignace Kennis, a well-known artist and his wife in a very old house, full of heavy furniture, dark velvet curtains and walls covered in religious paintings and metal crosses. At that time, all Belgians were desperately short of food. They were collecting acorns and grinding them to use in place of coffee. It was a common sight to see people of all ages ransacking dustbins in search of something to eat.

     The Officers’ Mess, shared with members of the Survey Regiment, was previously a Soldatenheim for German troops. Initially it was feared the water may have been poisoned after their retreat so we were only permitted to drink beer, wine or tonic water. Furthermore we were not allowed to buy or eat locally grown fruit or vegetables since the fields had been fertilised with human excreta. Canned cabbage, beans and potatoes were our standard staples. Life was not easy but soon we became a very close and dedicated group, Army and Air Force working closely together.

     The Operations Room was in the Bank building opposite. It was here on a four watch basis, we carried out the work of estimating the launch positions from which over 1,600 rockets would be launched. The number of launches increased as the weeks went by. Many missed their target causing many civilian casualties. Others damaged the ships and destroyed their cargo. The V2 was not a precision weapon. Many landed in our vicinity. One which failed to detonate sat outside our bank premises during our time in Malines. However, as our calculations of the position of the launch lorries became more accurate and our fighter crews managed to destroy many of these vital launchers, we felt we were getting the better of the enemy

     Coming off duty at midnight to get to my billet entailed walking across the empty Butter Market. My heavy shoes echoed across the cobbled surface. During the first days there, it was suspected that a few German snipers were still hidden in the town so my late night walk alone caused me a lot of apprehension.

     Our only relaxation was playing hockey. We managed to muster a mixed team of Army Officers and WAAF personnel. As I had been playing for the Fighter Command team, I was soon enrolled. The games were pretty tough as we were a mixed gender team and the teams we played against were all male. The local Malines team included several members of the National Ice Hockey team, several of them over six feet tall. However, it gave us a chance to meet some of the local people.

     I made great friends with the Conrad family. They lived close to our Mess and owned a large timber business. They felled trees in the Ardennes forest and processed them into usable timber. This then provided wood for the still flourishing furniture manufacturing businesses for which Malines was famous.

     Christmas that year was an uneasy time. The Rundstedt offensive in the Ardennes, to be known as the Battle of the Bulge, had started. The weather was appalling and our aircrews were unable to fly to support our troops. The news we were getting was bad. General Rundstedt’s intention with this new offensive was to split the Allied forces, allowing his Panzer divisions to move north and re-take Antwerp. Malines and our unit were on that route. Fighting was intense. The US Army lost many men and tanks in the operation. Our own tank regiment suffered severe losses. For a time, we feared the worst, realising if the Germans made a breakthrough, there was the risk of their forces reaching Malines, en route for Antwerp. In the meantime, we had to continue our vital work. The rockets were falling daily on our troop landings. Christmas came and went and as soon as the weather improved, our air activities were able to recommence. Fortunately, by the end of January, Rundstedt’s offensive was defeated and we breathed again.

     On a rare day off early in the New Year, I went with Pierre Conrad in one of their lorries, to visit some saw mills near Bouillon in the South. As we passed through the Ardennes region, the snow was beginning to melt. All around us on the route were many bodies, revealed by the melting snow, of the troops who had taken part in the battle against Rundstedt and the Panzer divisions, together with the shattered remains of many tanks, German, American and British. I still get shivers down my spine when I remember the scene.

Posting Overseas

Bridging the Centuries 

By Eileen Younghusband