OCTOBER 7, 2024 – The history of Chièvres Air Base recently came back to life as U.S. Army Garrison Benelux responded to the discovery and removal of a 1,100-pound unexploded ordnance.
The safe and successful response resulted from the collaboration between the garrison and their U.S. mission partners on base, local mayors, the Belgian Federal Police and the Belgian Explosive Ordnance Disposal team headquartered in Heverlee, near Leuven.
The presence of such objects on base was no surprise considering the military history of the base. Eighty years after war’s end, professionals are still prepared to handle such findings and take deliberate steps to remove and dispose of them safely.
From a single grass runway in World War 1 to one of the largest German airfields in Belgium during World War 2, to the Belgian 7th Aviation Wing in the 50s and 60s, and now the modern SHAPE airfield at Chièvres Air Base, aircraft of all nations have contributed to the small city’s nickname – the “City of the Aviators.”
In this town where cows now graze was once a prime location during World War II for occupying German forces to establish a military base halfway between Berlin and London. The interrupted rooflines adjacent to Chièvres Air Base’s control tower once ensured ample room for heavily loaded German bombers to gain altitude when launching bombing raids against Allied forces.
In 1940, the German Air Force drew its labor force from local villages, with more than 9,000 townspeople constructing hangars, runways, barracks, ammunition depots, bomb shelters, radar and anti-aircraft positions. For several years on a daily basis, trains filled to capacity brought thousands of workers, including electricians, builders, road workers and masons.
German troops surrounded the airfield with a net of anti-aircraft batteries, commonly referred to as flak. To detect and pinpoint enemy airplanes, the Germans also set up three powerful radar posts, including a Freya radar system at Lens in 1942 to detect distant airplanes.
At the base’s zenith of German control in 1942, 7,000 troops and nearly 300 bombers were stationed there. At Chièvres Air Base was once where German aircraft launched their bombing campaign against Normandy’s landing beaches during the monumental
battle in June 1944.
In late August 1944, shortly before abandoning the air base in retreat, German forces annihilated the base’s infrastructure and burned more than 27 tons of base records. Allied forces wrestled control of the air base Sept. 3, 1944. In total, Chièvres Air Base was the target of 31 bombings from the U.S. and U.K. Air Forces. U.S. Army engineers began rebuilding the air base, then named A-84, within a week of U.S. troops liberating Chièvres, becoming operational again by October.
For the remainder of the war, U.S. and British forces used the base to launch air support for missions, including the Allied crossing of the Rhine River during Operation Plunder and a vaunted campaign in the Belgian Ardennes that proved to the biggest and bloodiest battle Americans fought.
The Battle of the Bulge, which lasted from Dec. 16, 1944, to Jan. 25, 1945, was the largest land battle involving American forces of World War 2. More than a million Allied troops fought in the battle across the Ardennes, including approximately 500,000 Americans and 55,000 British. More than 19,000 American troops were killed in action. Air support was provided from Chièvres until the end of the war.
In January 1945, the 365th Fighter Group’s Hell Hawks flew from there in direct support of General Patton’s Third Army in and around Bastogne.
On December 31, 1945, the U.S. Army Air Corps turned the base over to the Belgian Air Force. It later became home to the 7th Aviation Wing until its deactivation in 1967, when the U.S. forces moved in.
With that history in mind, any construction work on Chièvres Air Base is planned and conducted with caution and with the right experts on the ground. The EOD team who reported to the scene knew exactly what to do. Their experts had been on base before for similar real life situations and for regular training with their garrison counterparts.
Since the end of World War 1, the Belgian Army ordnance disposal service has removed a yearly average of 250 tons of unexploded munitions through the country. The service answers approximately 3,500 calls per year.
Over the years, the service has garnered worldwide recognition. Teams regularly work in foreign countries, assisting Belgian troops deployed on NATO missions. The expert teams have also supported the United Nations in Laos, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Africa and Afghanistan.
Didier Lepouttre has been detecting and disposing of ordnances for twelve years. He, alongside his team have extended training and experience in handling such situations.
“The first thing we do is look at the UXO, to see if it’s armed or not armed; then we see if it can be transported, if we cannot transport it, we come up with something else,” said Lepouttre.
Lepouttre and his team were able to remove the fuse from the ordnance, blow the fuse in place, then transport the UXO to a safe location for further disposal.
With Belgium being the scene of intense combat during both world wars, many pieces of unexploded ordnance are found here every year. The important thing to remember is to never touch a suspicious object; instead call for assistance from professionals such as Lepouttre and his team.
As other similar objects may need their involvement, the teams will continue to share their U.S. partners’ commitment to providing our teams and neighbors the safe environment they deserve.
Courtesy Story
U.S. Army Garrison Benelux