Plan B Forum

I caught a documentary about the V-2 rocket on The Military Channel last night, and learned something new...

What city had the largest number of V-2 rockets land on it?

(No Googling!)

Here's a hint:

I found the answer quite surprising, until I started to think about the strategic logistical implications; then it made a lot of sense...

My guess without using a search engine would be.......Antwerp?

The V-2 rocket was actually called the A-2 by the Germans.

Give that man a cookie!

It was indeed Antwerp that received the largest number of V-2 attacks...

It's not immediately apparent why this obscure Belgian town would have received more rocket attacks than London...

During World War II, the city was an important strategic target because of its port. It was occupied by Germany in May 1940 and liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on 4 September 1944. After this, the Germans attempted to destroy the Port of Antwerp, which was used by the Allies to bring new material ashore. Thousands of V-1 and V-2 missiles battered the city. The city was hit by more V-2s than all other targets during the entire war combined.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp

It was the recipient for this German rocket largesse for the same reason it was the goal of the The Ardennes Offensive:

The port could handle 1,000 ships at a time weighing up to 19,000 tons each. Antwerp had 10 square miles of docks, 20 miles of water front, and 600 cranes.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/an ... ar_two.htm

(Yeah, I know that's a kiddie site, but the info is accurate)

Prior to the seizure of Antwerp, The Allies' supply lines stretched all the way back to the beaches at Normandy....

If Antwerp could have been retaken, or at least severely disrupted as a supply line, it would have greatly slowed the Allied advance, and put the Germans in a better position to reach a negociated end of the war (with the Western Powers) short of Unconditional Surrender....

At least that was their thinking...

The Antwerp campaign was yet another example of what a conniving, calculating, glory-seeking bastard Montgomery could be. He used British troops to capture Antwerp itself - a relatively simple operation, which was, however, completely useless without clearing German troops and mines from the Scheldt estuary, a task he delegated primarily to Canadian and Polish troops and which was far more challenging and ended up taking several months after the capture of Antwerp. As a result, over half the casualties in the Antwerp campaign were Canadians - one of the reasons why the Dutch have had such long lasting admiration for the Canadian military effort in Holland.