German artillery range at Lombardsijde, Belgium?

Not sure if this is totally the correct area of the forum to post this one, but it concerns vehicles from the 1940 campaign being shot at, so may interest someone!

I've seen a few photos of French and British armoured vehicles on a target range beside the sea, allegedly in Lombardsijde, Belgium. An intensive Google session has not yielded much, only that there was a Belgian army base there prior to WW2 and apparently there is one there again right now.

Can anyone shed any light on the possibility of a German range being at Lombardsijde?

I attach some epay photos which may (or may not) be the place - the stand-out features for me are the tall tower and the Fritures cafe (which makes me think this part of it was not part of the original military base). I'm sure I have some more photos of the place, but digging them out is another matter!

 

The water tower is part of the "Militair Domein" at Lombardsijde.

Leerlingen defensie en veiligheid op driedaags militair kamp in Lombardsijde

It's still there, but I don't think the frietkot is.

Google Maps

 

Just before the German invasion in 1940, Lombardsijde was indeed a Belgian military facility. There even was a small makeshift airstrip (military airfield N°40) which ran parallel with the Yser on the grounds that belonged to the local golf club. Due to the nature of the terrain, however, landing there proved to be extremely dangerous. Even so, it was from there that the Aéronautique Militaire, facing omnipresent Flak and Bf 109's, flew the last missions just before the capitulation with their remaining antiquated aircraft.



Renard R.31 N-10 of pilot Sgt Max Bruylants overturned on landing at the unprepared air-strip of Lombardsijde in the morning of 26 May 1940. Some days later a German Landser inspects the wreckage. Source: https://www.belgian-wings.be/renard-r-31/n10

The military camp was also briefly used as a prison where German PoWs, arrested politically dodgy individuals or assumed collaborators (fifth columnists) were held in custody before being transferred to France. When the Germans took over, they also briefly used the Lombardsijde camp as an improvised Gefangenlager. They basically used Lombardsijde as a transit camp on the way to Stalags in Germany for the many PoW they had captured at Dunkirk.

A while later, the Germans used the camp as a weapons testing ground IOT test the efficiency and effectiveness of their new AT-guns. As a result, they moved different types of captured tanks and armour to Lombardsijde for target practice. As far as I am aware, this ended in late 1940/early 1941 (TBC).

During the Cold War era, the camp was known for its seabourne shooting range and SHORAD AA-artillery. Incidentally, long before the war in Ukraine even started, these guys had developed their own home-made drones used for target practice. Unfortunately, due to defence spending cuts, all that know-how and experience was eventually flushed down the drain...

Nowadays, even though the seabourne shooting range is still in use, the camp now mainly houses infantry and combat support. Regularly, in order to boost recruitment, Open Door Days offer the opportunity to visit the camp. The camp is also in charge of the yearly international 'Four Days of the Yser' march.

As to the 'frietkot': traditionally, in Belgium, one of the best locations to successfully run such an establishment is just next to a military training camp.
This is still the case today Rich must surely have heard of the legendary 'Mie Tet' at Leopoldsburg.

KR,
Christian

 

Indeed, although in "my" part of the country, we have more of another form of commerce associated with military establishments. The world's oldest profession still keeps itself busy along the Chaussée d'Amour !

 

I shall try to get hold of some vintage plans and pictures of the camp in order to pinpoint where the vehicles seen on Nick's photos were located. However, since the touristic season is about to begin, I wouldn't get my hopes up too much - especially since I would need to consult the municipal archives of Middelkerke, which is 'indian country'.

 

Ah yes. A town famous for parking charges and one of Belgium's most rational and least impulsive town mayors !

 

Many thanks to Christian and Rich for the information about Lombardsijde and 'associated professions' ahem.

I found these two epay photos in my hard disc stash. They may be of the place (or not!):



I like the look of the long strip of concrete with what looks like gymnastic equipment - that may be in one or two of the photos.
and the building looks promising. I wish I'd bought these now!

Maybe the building is this one behind GIGGLE:



and this poor wreck may be there as well...



Interesting to see these old tanks were treated the same way as old tanks over here - anti-armour weapons' practice needs hard targets!

Nick

 

I can't say for sure as the place has changed quite a lot over the years, but having frequently visited camp Lombardsijde during the course of my career, I would say that these photos were indeed taken there. The building and the hangar behind GIGGLE look very familiar. The 'style' of these constructions do certainly match some of the older buildings of the camp.

I shall try to contact some of my old Army friends in order to perhaps get confirmation. Bear in mind though that - for obvious security reasons - it may not be possible to provide a present-day picture for a now-and-then comparison.

KR,
Christian

PS: I'd wish you had bought these too !

 

Thank you Christian for your ever-helpful attitude and great information.

I found another photo from epay of some old tanks in the sea:



Not especially clear photos as these were the scans on the epay seller's item but the top one shows the wreckage of an A12 Infantry Tank Mk II marked as Target 4 with a French H35 / 39 or R35 behind it (possibly!)
The lower photo shows an A11 Infantry Tank Mk I with, possibly, the A12 and French tank behind and to the left.

I wonder if there's anything left of them in the sand? along with a whole bunch of unexploded ordnance, no doubt!

These may be Lombardsijde or not - I recall there was a Hotchkiss tank in the sea at St Cecile, which is some distance from Lombardsijde.

Regards, Nick