| Original caption: “Belgium. The Marshall Plan has helped repair the ruined docks and wharves of Ostend, one of Belgium’s principal fishing ports. Here a netful of fish is emptied onto the boat deck – a wonderful catch.” Destruction of Ostend happened in 2 main phases during World War II. The 1st was when Nazi German soldaten invaded Belgium and occupied the city after the Belgian capitulation on May 28, 1940. The Luftwaffe relentlessly bombed Ostend as Allied formations retreated through the town towards Dunkirk, causing extensive damage, including destroying the City Hall. The 2nd phase was the sustained Allied bombing campaign of 1940-1944. The Royal Air Force began bombing Ostend in June 1940, to interdict the Kriegsmarine’s ability to launch an invasion of the United Kingdom from the port. Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) ordered the construction of the Atlantikwall on March 23, 1942. RAF and United States Army Air Force (USAAF) raids destroyed houses and public buildings of Ostend. The city was the most frequently bombed Belgian municipality. As the Nazi Germans retreated in the face of the advancing Canadian Army in September 1944, they dynamited the docks and sank ships in the harbor to prevent the port from being used to supply the Allies. Besides stopping the Allies from using the port, it severely crippled the Belgian fishing industry and led to food shortages during and after the war. Operating from its passage on April 3, 1948, until 1951, the Marshall Plan, officially the European Recovery Program (ERP), provided funds to rebuild the Ostend fishing industry. “The Marshall Plan in Action – News Roundup” Number 39 reported on May 18, 1951, that the Marshall Plan provided 24,000 dollars to Les Frigoriferes du Littoral (“The Coastal Refrigerators”) for new machinery for quick-freezing fish fillets from the Niagara Blower Company of Buffalo, New York. It also provided 2,000 dollars for a cellophane wrapper from the Miller Wrapping and Sealing Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois. The 4 new freezers allowed Ostend to process a 125 tons of fish per day for 50 tons of wrapped fish fillets. The Marshall Plan also installed storage for 2,000 tons of wrapped boneless frozen fish. The terms of the Marshall Plan allowed United States companies to sell to Europe usually in American dollars, for any commodity for which there is a market in Belgium. Belgian companies paying with Marshall Plan funds could secure an import license from any 1 of 2,000 backs, or declare “in lieu of license” for ERP programs, or if they were paying in dollars, according to the January 1951 Volume 13, Number 1 Commercial Fisheries Review. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0682.jpg |
| Image Size | 623.40 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2904 x 2176 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Agency for International Development |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1952 |
| Location | |
| City | Ostend |
| State or Province | West Flanders |
| Country | Belgium |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-286-ME-3(2) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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