My grandfather was in WWII and I have been sorting through some old photos. I have one marked with 'Jimippe' Belgium 1945 but I am unable to locate this city or province. Is it possible that the city could be mispelled or go by another name today?

Hello Vlesage. I immediately recognized a mispelling of the town of JENAPPES which is a Belgian Walloon town near Brussels. Jenappes is famous for at least three battles: 1792 during the French Revoluntionary war, an offensive during WWI and combats during WWII.

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Or change the I's with E's

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Is there another town called Jinappis in Belgium? Well then it would be interesting to compare the said towns by looking at "now and then" pictures. Vlesage would it be possible to post one or two pictures?

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Search "Jemeppe"

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Correct. With an English pronunciation "Jemeppe" could have easily been spelled "Jimippe" by anglophones. So now we have two possible towns.

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Indeed

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Jemeppe sur Sambre is near Namur

To be noticed Luftwaffe Ace Schnauffer got a Halifax that crashed at Jemeppe in 1943.

There are Commonwealth graves at the local cemetery too.

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If you mean the small village, now a virtual suburb of Mons, it is spelt Jemappes not Jemeppe or Jenappes. I have been there many times, and that is how it is spelt on all the road signs and Belgian IGN maps I have.

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Paul Reed
Webmaster - Battlefields of WW2- http://www.ww2battlefields.info
D Day Ancestors: The British Army in Normandy - http://www.ddayancestors.com

Google map link here:

Google Maps

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Paul Reed
Webmaster - Battlefields of WW2- http://www.ww2battlefields.info
D Day Ancestors: The British Army in Normandy - http://www.ddayancestors.com

Thanks Sommecourt. I meant Jemappes with an M. However jemeppe is a different place that also exists near Namur and I now believe this could be the one. I wish Vlesage would show us a picture so we could confirm which place we are talking about.

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Thank you for all of the replies. I see that there could be several options with the spelling. Here is the picture. Unfortunately it is a group shot with only a small area of viewable background.

Attached Images

Jimippe, Belgium 1945.jpg (187.3 KB, 11 views)

Thanks Vlesage. The shape of the house would be easy to recognize in a small place, but someone would need to go to the village for the comparison. Another option would be to send an email to a local administration and ask someone to recognize the picture for you. By googling with "Jemeppe" you will probably find the official town site .

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actually there are 2 jemeppe's.

one in the province namur end the other in the province liege.
coloured areas are the provinces:


one is called jemeppe sur sambre (namur) the others is jemeppe sur meuse. (liege)

I could not find info in dutch about these cities and they're connection with ww2. so I really can't help you much further.

greet Arne

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Sixty-four bomber pilots and crew lie in the cemetery at Wevelgem Communal and today many locals still pay their respects to those brave men from high in the skies.

What Unit was he in?
That would help narrow it down by looking at the movements of said unit.

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Thanks Arneken, so now we have three possibilities, the more the merrier.

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The only information I have been able to find so far is: 514th Coastal Artillery A Battery and 363rd AAA SLBN (Searchlight Battalion?) 15CM. Not sure which he was attached to during my previous photo from 1945.

I's asume a searchligt battalion would be more likely to transit through the Namur area which is far from the coast.

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found some info but I'm not sure if it helps a bit?

World War II

The 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade traces its lineage to the 514th Coast Artillery Regiment (Antiaircraft), which was formed in Schenectady, New York in October, 1923. The Regiment was reorganized as the 108th Coast Artillery Group (Antiaircraft) in January, 1943, and again reorganized as the 108th Antiaircraft Artillery Group, in May of the same year.
The Group deployed to Europe during World War II, and participated in the landings at Normandy, going ashore at Utah Beach. The 108th then went on to provide antiaircraft defense for the city and port of Cherbourg, for eleven months, and then moved forward to the cities of Rheims and Rouen. The Group was deactivated in December, 1945, in Germany.

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Sixty-four bomber pilots and crew lie in the cemetery at Wevelgem Communal and today many locals still pay their respects to those brave men from high in the skies.

Interesting facts Arneken. This is precisely my point: with the exception of Rheims, all these places are coastal areas. Therfore the searchlight batallion would be a good lead.

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oké little question about that. I'm not good in those letters so AAA and SLBN any idea what that mean?

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Sixty-four bomber pilots and crew lie in the cemetery at Wevelgem Communal and today many locals still pay their respects to those brave men from high in the skies.