Friend and foe

Belgium fell victim to the infamous flying bombs, a German precursor to the rocket. Antwerp and its port were major targets. Surrounding municipalities such as Schoten paid the price. As many as 108 V-bombs struck the village. Around 120 Schoten residents lost their lives in the process. But not only German bombs caused damage during World War II

British destruction

Schoten 1943. On the night of 14-15 June, a German fighter plane shot down a British bomber returning from a bombing raid in Germany. Before the plane crashed in Ekeren, the pilot unloaded his deadly payload. His bombs hit the gas boiler - a storage facility for city gas - in Schoten, causing a huge stinging flame. This immense local blaze led to great underpressure in the gas boiler as a result of burning out. As a result, it sucked up a large quantity of water from the Dessel-Schoten-Turnhout canal. The water level between locks 8 and 9 dropped by 40 cm!