page_title: 50th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade (United Kingdom)
section_title: North West Europe
hierarchical_section_title: 50th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade (United Kingdom) / North West Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: V-1 during flight. Photo taken by my grandfather Jan B.H.A. Vervloedt, now in the family archives. The photo shows a V-1 during flight, possibly above Lint, a village near Lier and Antwerp. Most probably this is one of the V1s fired at the port of Antwerp. The Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 1) was an early cruise missile used during World War Two. The V-1 was developed at Peenemünde by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Between 13 June 1944 and 29 March 1945, it was fired at population centres such as London and Antwerp. Nederlands: De V1 was het eerste zogenaamde V-wapen en een Duitse uitvinding uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog. De naam V1 (Duitse afkorting) of V-1 (Engelse afkorting) was een afkorting van Vergeltungswaffe 1. Eigenlijk was de aanduiding Fieseler Fi 103. Het toestel was uitgerust met een explosieve lading in de neus en vloog door middel van een primitieve straalmotor aandrijving en een simpel geleidingssysteem op eigen kracht naar zijn doel. Volgens Duitse gegevens zijn 8564 V1’s naar Engeland en de haven van Antwerpen gelanceerd. Hiervan trof circa 57% zijn doel. Op de foto zien we vermoedelijk een V1 die over Lint (in de buurt van Lier) vliegt met als doel de haven van Antwerpen. De foto is door mijn grootvader Jan B.H.A. Vervloedt gemaakt en bevindt zich nu in de familie-archieven.
context_page_description: 50th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Britain's Territorial Army during World War II. It defended the North Midlands of England during The Blitz and later helped to protect Brussels from V-1 flying bombs during the Campaign in North West Europe.
context_section_description: 50th Searchlight Brigade HQ left 5 AA Group in AA Command in September 1944. 2 Searchlight Regiment was serving in the AA role with 21st Army Group (with its batteries under other brigade HQs) in late 1944, and 50 S/L Bde HQ was finally employed in early March 1945 when it relieved  101st AA Bde at Brussels.
  Brussels had been under bombardment by V-1 flying bombs (codenamed 'Divers') since October. To deal with this menace, an integrated system ('Brussels X' ) had been developed with warning stations and observation posts, supported by radar and searchlights. The system had been under the operational command of 101st AA Brigade while 80th AA Bde was responsible for all early warning and tracking for Brussels and Antwerp. The Brussels X operational units were as follows:
   
  103 HAA Rgt
  105 HAA Rgt
  116 HAA Rgt
  132 (Mixed) HAA Rgt
  137 (Mixed) HAA Rgt
  139 (Mixed) HAA Rgt
  4 LAA Rgt
  73 LAA Rgt (less one Bty)
  41 (5th North Staffords) S/L Rgt (one Bty)
  The HAA units were using the new No 10 Predictor (the Bell Labs AAA Computer) and No 3 Radar combination. The Mixed units arrived from England with static Mark IIC 3.7-inch guns equipped for powered gunlaying, loading and fuze-setting, all operated remotely from the No 10 predictor. This fire-control system provided complete automation of the process of engagement, apart from ammunition supply, and had proved very successful against V-1s in Air Defence of Great Britain's Operation Diver. 
  50th Searchlight Brigade took over units in the Brussels 'X' Defences under GHQ AA Troops in March 1945, but by the end of the month there was no serious threat remaining to the city, and the brigade began to withdraw the AA units. In April the brigade closed up to the Scheldt defences, where torpedo boats, midget submarines and aircraft dropping Parachute mines in the approaches to Antwerp Docks and the Ghent canal were still a problem. At the end of the month, just before hostilities ended on VE Day, 50th AA Bde's composition was as follows:
  155 (Mixed) HAA Rgt
  150 (Loyals) LAA Rgt (formerly 62 (Loyals) S/L Rgt)
  1 Independent LAA/SL Bty
  7 Bty, 1 S/L Rgt
  411 Bty, 54 (Durham Light Infantry) S/L Rgt
  On 12 May all AA positions in 21st Army Group were ordered to stand down, but this did not at first apply to those in coastal positions such as the Scheldt, because of uncertainty about the intentions of German naval units still at sea when the surrender was signed.
  50 AA Brigade was placed in suspended animation in British Army of the Rhine on 9 March 1946.
caption: V-1 in flight over Antwerp
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