Armstrong of Antwerp

by Joe Armstrong

A bustling city it is. On a walk from the Centraal Station, I passed a great hole. The entire station is being rebuilt from within to keep the old frontage, which is magnificent. Only one side of it is in use so the trains have to queue up to get in to unload, like aircraft 'stacking', but the Belgians, too, have to progress. Wandered slowly through dense crowds and past a monument to Van Dyk. It marked the site of his house and told how he was pupil and friend of the great Reubens. Onward to the great square next to the town hall, where the statue of the legendary Brabo is.

The story goes that a giant terrorised the region and stopped the good folk developing the town. Brave Brabo tore off the giant's hand and hurled it across the river, thus paving the way to prosperity in posterity for Antwerp. That is one legend, but I was there with a purpose. To seek evidence of another, a more modern and very real one.

In September 1944, the British Army liberated Antwerp. Soon thereafter, it became the most crucial element of the continuing Allied Invasion. The port was soon in operation again and was so important that Nazi forces tried desperately to obliterate it. At first with constant raids to damage or destroy vital dock facilities. They used waves of V1 bombers, changing the launch points often to prevent the Allies second-guessing them. The destruction was dreadful when the doodlebugs struck. Anyone in the south of England can confirm that. In June 1944, at the end of the first week of V1s on London, the Guards' Chapel was hit, killing 189 people.

One man was the hero of the hour in Antwerp. He'd commanded an anti-aircraft brigade in defending Paris from air attack and was also given a top secret job. "Antwerp X" was the codename, and it was so hush-hush, that many years were to pass before it became publicly known how critical it was to the final outcome of the war. Brigadier General Clare Hibbs Armstrong graduated from West Point in 1917, missing the war when he and his men fell victims to the great influenza pandemic. He nearly died, but half his men did.

The American was destined for great things in World War Two, though. General Armstrong was put in command of a joint British and American force of 22 thousand anti-aircraft gunners. The British force included a regiment of artillery of the Free Polish Army. The job of those gunners was to defend Antwerp and its docks. Field Marshall Montgomery told Armstrong if he achieved a 50 percent success rate, he'd be doing a grand job.

Armstrong was not a man to settle for partial success. He was known as a fanatic for accuracy and would not do half a job. That's probably why they chose him. They chose well. He began his campaign with a 60 percent rate of kill. And, as the expertise grew, he upped it to an incredible 98 percent of kills. Thousands of the Vergeltungswaffe Eine bombs were launched at the docks and city. They would have made Antwerp a smoking crater, had it not been for those 22 thousand men commanded by Armstrong.

The official book "Antwerpen 50 Jaar Bevrijd" says 4,883 V1s were launched and only 211 got through. 2,394 would have hit Antwerp, had Armstrong's men not stopped them. The docks supplied 80% of the Allied invasion force supplies. The attack lasted 5 harrowing months. I arrived at the town hall just in time to join a guided tour. Eventually we came to a room where there was a magnificent old fireplace and in front of it, a high pedestal bearing the instantly recognisable features of General Armstrong.

(I have photos of him receiving a citation from General Patton and he also got a personal note of thanks from 'Monty' the overall commander. … "for hard thinking and hard fighting"). The guide gave her spiel and after the tour was finished, I spoke to her again and she gave me a copy of a book of Antwerp's liberation and defense. She also told me the story I'd heard about his bust standing alongside that of the King was not true. I asked if it had ever been true, and got the same reply, no!

Ah well. Anyway, he has pride of place - and deservedly so. It was his decision where to place his guns each day and night to outguess the enemy that saved Antwerp and decided the final outcome of the war. Had he failed, the price would have been ghastly - and for him, unbearable. However, he was an Armstrong and lived up to his clan motto and his principles and gained the victory. Not in a blaze of glory, though. For his was the kind of devotion to duty that does not seek plaudits. His story should be told more widely.

Coming out into the sunshine I went to seek a place of refreshment, (have you ever tasted Duvel?) It is Belgium's prime beer and at 8 and a half percent alcohol very, very potent. I also went in a cellar and had a Kwack, that's how they spell it. It is a beer with a wooden framed glass. It has a bulbous base and a very narrow neck which flares out to the size of a normal glass at the top. The trick is to drink past the narrow part without the beer going "Kwack-kwack-kwack." I was told I'd made it - only one tiny, lapping cluck. Later I went to the home of Reubens, the painter. It is well worth a visit. To walk in the very rooms he lived in is a thrill. His works hang on the walls, now that it is a museum. There is a grand courtyard to the rear but I did not have a lot of time (nor energy), to see much of it. The muggy sapping heat was more than this north country laddie could handle.

Walking slowly back through the city, I got back to Centraal Station and boarded a train back to the region where I was staying. Had a fizzy mineral water in the Notelaar Hotel, then got a rackety sounding bus back to the village of Wintam by Bornem. It was a very exhausting day, but a rewarding one. Sitting in pavement cafes sipping Spa water with ice, or a beer, is a way of life while awaiting buses. I am getting to like it. [Ed]. Sequel. One of the prime exhibits in the clan museum in Langholm, is a chart of the daily records kept by General Armstrong's men. They presented it to their commander - and his son, our American Patron, Brig. General DeWitt C. Armstrong III, presented it to the Clan Armstrong Trust.