use in the shadowing of E-boats, which helped the
Royal Navy to intercept many of these craft at an early
stage. In February, March and April the Swordfish
were frequently followed by so called 'fool lights',
mysterious lights that followed them long lasting and
finally passing them at great speed and disappear.
In addition to the Royal Air Force, the British Army
was also involved in the defence of the Scheldt Approach
and Estuary. Their defences consisted of the so-called
Fixed Defences or light and heavy anti-aircraft artillery
(40 mm Bofors and 3.7" Vickers guns), searchlights,
and Coast Observation Detachment. The unit respon
sible for the anti-aircraft and coastal defence was 202
Fixed Defences. Their headquarters was established at
Nieuwe Sluis with under their command the 13 Fire
Command Post (Flushing), 14 FCP (Nieuwe Sluis), 15
FCP (Heyst) and 16 FCP (Ostend). Attached were four
Coast Observation Detachments who covered the con
voy route with their coast watching radars. Regularly
midget submarines were located and tracked in the
entrance of the Scheldt when their conning towers or
periscopes were just above the surface. The strategy of
the midgets was to float along with the rising tide into
the river without using their own engine in the hope
to avoid hydrophone detection. Once detected, they
became easy targets for the coastal defences. In this
way a reasonable number of them were sunk. The
Royal Navy also patrolled the entrance of the Scheldt
and further out at sea the patrols consisted of frigates
and motor torpedo boats, which had a direct VHF link
with the patrolling Swordfish.
At the end of January 1945 the Royal Navy laid six
Indicator Loops in the river mouth between the light
house of Nieuwe Sluis and Flushing. These cables/loops
lay on the seabed. When a midget submarine passed
over them, their current was detected where after Royal
Navy vessels searched the river mouth with ASDIC
and dropped depth charges when necessary.
Effective defence
On January 1 the Luftwaffe operated for the last time
en masse during Operation 'Bodenplatte'. The aim of
the operation was to destroy the Allied fighter force in
the Netherlands, Belgium and France. A part of the
strike force has the airfields of Maldeghem, Ursel and
St. Denis near Ghent as their targets. Their route leads
them over Walcheren where 'Nelly' detects them on top
of the Westkapelle lighthouse. Cpl Geoffrey Coucke
recalls that it was just after breakfast when he happened
to be in the Operations Room and had a grandstand
view on the tightly packed formation when they passed
the lighthouse on both sides. Their height was about
130 feet, which they quickly reduced to fifty when flying
over the Scheldt in the direction of Knoklce. Although
the airfield was not a prearranged target, some of the
German pilots open up with their machine guns. When
the Germans return from their mission, some came
in over Flushing and others return via Westkapelle.
However after having received a hot reception over St.
Denis airfield, the enemy is heavily depleted and only
stragglers come within sight of the radar crew at
Westkapelle. In all the Germans lost 24 fighters.
From the end of December 1944 till the last days of
the war the fight in the Scheldt Estuary drags on where
the midget submarines are slaughtered with over one
hundred of them lost. The Luftwaffe can't set up more
than five large-scale mine laying operations due to fuel
shortage. Junker 88 bombers execute all of these during
the months of December and January. To escape radar
detection they operate from very low heights which is
the main reason that only one of the estimated 100-150
aircraft detailed was detected by 15081 GCI radar and
shot down by a Mosquito night fighter, this happened
during the last operation on January 23. All lavishly
celebrated the German surrender of early May 1945.
Although the war was over, it lasted until early June
before the radar stations were withdrawn. On June 6 'Nelly'
and 'Paddy' left Walcheren for Diest-Schaffen airfield
near Leuven and 15081 GCI and AMES 66001 left the
Belgian coast near De Haan on June 19. Not long after
their withdrawal they departed for the United Kingdom.
The measures taken to protect the Thames-Scheldt
convoy route were effective with only a few midget
submarines that succeeded to penetrate the screen.
Despite this they were successful as well as the E-boats
in laying mines in the seaway with the result that 32
Allied merchant ships between England and the Scheldt
were lost. As a result of torpedo attack another 18 vessels
were sunk.
This article is based on Paul Crucq's book Code-name Nelly
(Vlissingen 2004). This is a limited cover edition of 100 (80 pages
and more than a hundred illustrations). It contains 45 recollections
of radar technicians, pilots, anti-aircraft personnel and civilians.
Price 28.45 (includes postage UK). Still available We Never Blamed
The Crews 33) and Aiming Point Walcheren 40). Books can
be ordered from the author: Paul Crucq. Pres. Rooseveltlaan 186,
4382 KX Vlissingen; The Netherlands (tel. +31-118-414402).
23 Zeeuws Tijdschrift 2004/6-7
