3rd of January 2002

On a crisp sunny winter morning I take a train from Antwerp to Brussels, something I haven´t done
for at least 15 years. It brings back memories of my school days.
Runa and Peter Allan have invited me to lunch today. I get off the train at Brussels ”Midi” Station, take the “metro” and then a tram and ring their bell at exactly 12 noon. Didier Pontzeele,the author of the only Flemish book on Belgians in Colditz also arrived together with me. The apartment block where they live on Avenue Louise (one of the most exclusive addresses in Brussels ) is very famous indeed. During WW2 it was the headquarters of the dreaded GESTAPO. The most feared address in Brussels.
In the cellars ,Runa tells me, you can still see the graffiti of desperate prisoners.

On the 20th January 1943 the people of Brussels at last saw some retribution for their sufferings under the occupation. A Hawker Typhoon fighter piloted by Jean De Selys Longchamps swooped low over the Boitsfort horse racing track followed the Avenue de Nation (now the Avenue Franklin Roosevelt) until it joined the Avenue Louise. The fighter plane then flew straight at the Gestapo Headquarters building at number 453 Avenue Louise, as it did so letting rip a stream of deadly 20mm cannon fire right into heart of their evil organization. .

 

 
The people of Brussels cheered and the occupiers were given a taste of what was to come. Hundreds of Brussels' citizens came to see the damaged building while angry German sentries tried to drive them away.
Baron Jean Michel P.M.G. De Selys Longchamps D.F.C., Chevalier de l'ordre de Leopold, Croix de Guerre, was the son of Baron Raymond Charles Michel Ghislain de Selys Longchamps. Born in Brussels on the 31st May 1912 he was a Belgian Cavalry Officer at the time of the German attack on Belgium. After the surrender in May 1940 he came to England via Dunkirk and volunteered for military service. He joined the RAF and trained as a fighter pilot joining 609 Squadron at Manston in Kent.
Before the attack De Selys Longchamps had asked permission for the mission from his RAF superiors but had not received an answer. On the day of the attack he was flying with another Typhoon piloted by Flight Sergeant Bianco on a mission attacking rail traffic in Flanders, but left his colleague to pursue his solo attack.
It is said that just after the attack De Selys Longchamps threw out of his cockpit the Belgian tricolour and a Union Jack. The results for the Gestapo are also uncertain , some reports say thirty were killed in the building, others four including a senior Gestapo officer Muller. Another, perhaps unlikely, story is that a British agent working under cover in the building was killed. A list containing the names of many agents was found by the Germans on his body, supposedly resulting in many arrests.

It´s always good seeing Runa and Peter again. After an aperitif we have a very nice lunch (and that´s an understatement really ).
Peter tires very quickly these days so we say our goodbyes at 4pm.