Unauthorized Revenge Attack on the Gestapo - The True Story of Baron Jean de Selys Longchamps 

I am a Belgian man of 78 years old. My whole family was killed by the Nazis. My grandmother, the only survivor, told me this heroic story several times when I was a child. I was already passionate about aviation. Now, I'm still flying on a simulator.

'Revenge, a dish best served cold' . . . especially a sudden, precise, & deadly 'hot lunch' . . . Well done Sir, well done.

fueled NOT by his "hatred of the Germans", but for his justifiable and correct hatred of the Gestap and desire to avenge his Dad....Hero...Legend.

I was born in Bruxxels, I know the bust of Longchamps. never thought to see this recreation. merci.

RAF Polish pilots did this every day for over a year. Many had already lost their wives and children to the Germans, often tortured. They flew without fear, or rather, did not care in some cases whether they lived or died, as long as they could kill Germans. The Polish pilots were amongst the most successful in terms of kills of any RAF group in WW2. Dziękuję Ci.

He was only given the title of "Baron" posthumously after the war by the king, his whole action was insprired by wanting to act to improve morale in occupied belgium at the time. In most reports it was stated that he made a pass of the building first, turned around and then carried out his attack, this had the effect of all the personnel present moving to the windows to see what was going on, because of this most of the senior officers present were killed. What was not mentioned in the video was that the archive of the Gestapo in belgium was also held on the upper floors of the building following the attack this was all burned to a crisp, including the ongoing investigations concerning the resistance in Belgium as well as a lot of names of suspected resistance fighters etc... it is widely believed that this saved a lot of lives in the long run.

Excellent Work, by the Baron - may he never cease to be, remembered! A true HERO !! ❤ Roland Singh, Canada 🇨🇦

I live in the vicinity of that building. It still shows some of the damage, which on purpose has never been repaired. Du bon boulot, mon excellence. EDIT: you can find accurate information with regard to the flight path on the Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Selys_Longchamps

Sometimes you have to handle justice yourself. Good for him.

I have to watch this whole video over again, and again. This is what 'hero' means!

What a beautiful story! I never heard even a hint of this Barron's valor prior in my life, and I am 55 years old. It seems a tragedy that such a story has been effectively kept secret! You told it well. I especially loved the low-volume, background theme music. The barron was brave, highly intelligent, and too noble to bring even a hint of shame onto his wingman.

Truly a hero, his father would have been so proud. Respect to this brave man.

They killed his old man, they had it coming.

I don't care what anyone else says...there is nothing sweeter than well deserved revenge.

He took the war to Heart! BLESS Him for His Services

Historical notes - First I may have slightly mispronounced his name. I actually practiced and still didn't get it perfect lol. Second, I just realized this is the Tempest in the video. Totally my mistake, they look so similar. Lastly, obviously I had to use a lot of images here because there is not a lot of footage available of things like the Belgian army, etc. Also, the Royal Palace may be a different looking building than pictured here, not entirely sure. Did my best. Hope you guys enjoy! Make sure to comment and subscribe!

Really good video about a great man. I wish men like this would live forever....rest in peace Baron.

Had never heard of him and his exploit. Thanks for presenting his story. His war experiences would make a good movie.

Great to see and hear of this great story of a very brave man who never faltered from his mission,, great to hear he gets a medal for it as well,,, from Northern Ireland greatly appreciated thank you for the video

Here's your Medal, there's your Demotion, can't have breaks in Discipline, Jolly Good Show Old Boy!!!!

You're doin' a great job teaching historical WWII missions. Great work!

the Belgium pilot demonstrated his ability to be "at the cause of things". Capable men get sh!t done, despite setbacks and interference. Game, old boy!

" He punched in a course..." A bit too soon for that, methinks.

WOW, what a guy, and what a pitty he died like that....

I was laughing my ass off at the thought of the gestapo guys crapping their pants. Makes you wonder why the brits didn't send ten planes to level that damned building.

That is such an AWESOME STORY. It's crazy I've never heard of this. My Great Grandma(Mama Spann was what I knew her by) had 2 brothers die in WW2. They were both Pilots. One died in the European Theatre the other in the Pacific. The one in the Pacific was buried at sea. The other, his body was never recovered.

The things that people do that get them awards and praises are frequently the same things that get them punished. Sometimes going outside the rules is the only way to do what needs to be done.

There was no "punching in a course" in WWII aircraft. You had to just fly in the right direction and be able to navigate.

Great story, great video. Great man!!!!! Loved it, thank you so much.

Wow, amazing guy. I feel for him, the pain he must have had to live with was very great.

You should read the stories of the Polish Pilots. Those guys had balls of titanium!

Wow, this is the most epic case of revenge I've heard since Olga of Kiev burned down a whole town and even before that, killed 5,000 (yes five thousand) of her late husband's enemies when they tried to pressure her into stepping down. They heard about his death and didn't like the fact that a woman had inherited his place at the throne.

it was men like him that won victory. thank you Sir fo what you did.

Very very good story! Spectacular video, well done!

Well plan and executed attack with his wingman,one never gets much information about the gallent Belgians after the their surrender in1940.

Never forgotten! My bucket list to visit this building in Brussels

Our military command hasn’t changed. You still get into trouble for blasting the hell out of the enemy.

Guy says "Hawker Typhoon",but the plane in the video is Hawker Tempest. Yes,those two are alike,but it is not hard to tell them apart once you see the two planes side by side.

nicely done! a great tribute! Thank you!

brilliant story, makes you proud of the men who gave everything. .

Tempest V Dude! Great History thank you!

Great channel, especially the story of the Typhoon pilot tearing apart a gestapo building in Belgium. Would love to watch an animation about a Hellcat pilot who attacked Tirpitz in Northern Norway. A bit of a daredevil from New Zealand. I have the details on the pilot and his missions. If interested, let me know and I will email more.

Hey, I’ve been watching your videos for sometime now. I just want to say this was very well done. Thanks so much for posting it.👍🏻🇺🇸

I never heard about that a true legend who got revenge for his father 👍 but a very sad ending rest in peace

The production of this video is great. Animation is an expensive form of media. Kudos!

Absolutely brilliant.

This was awesome! I'd never heard of this hero. Thanks for sharing!

Great graphics and great recreation! Many thanks.

Thank you for this. I was not aware of this incident. I would rather learn of this incident and read your corrections than never learn of it. Again, thank you.

I can't understand why this wonderful piece of WW2 history was never made into a film.

Of all your video's this may be my favorite. How where and why he did what he did and your depiction of it makes for a great 10 minutes. Moral of the story: you only live once, go for it. Good show of yourself Jean from Belgium and right on TJ!!

Thanks for the video.A hero to be remembered.May he rest in peace.

Your videos are absolutely fantastic and inspiring. Please keep them coming!

When your enemy has a typhoon and a personal reason to get revenge its a bad day to be the gesopo. Lol fr

Thank you very much, TJ3-History, for your extensive research and this nice video ! As a Belgian, a veteran and a pilot, I do share some corrective remarks (Typhoon vs. Tempest and others), which other viewers made, but those are not really relevant. Important and valuable is that you brought this incredible piece of belgian history back into attention. Thank you ! I would like to add some additional information which, I believe, has not been added by other viewers (I did not read all comments). His name Sélys is pronounced "selly". He was a member of a centuries old nobility family, so the king didn't need to make him a baron after the war, he had been one since birth. His attack run on this building number 453, Avenue Louise, was executed by flying in low over the Avenue Émile de Mot (a side street) , which happens to point almost directly upon the building. So, he was able to deliver a long and steady cannon strafing, starting from the ground floor all the way up to the 11th floor, as he was pulling up his aircraft, so as not to collide with the building. Since the Typhoon was equipped with 20mm cannon (exploding grenades instead of bullets), he not only managed to kill several german intelligence officers (Sicherheitspolizei/Gestapo), but also destroyed important SIPO archives on belgian (civilian) Resistance fighters, which presumably saved many lives. As far as all historical reports go, there was no single civilian victim of his attack to be deplored, he even did not damage the neighbouring buildings, while his flight path over Avenue Émile de Mot was so straight head-on. Contrary to the your animation in the video, these lanes (above all the Avenue Louise) were, even in those days, not empty field roads with grassy trails. Instead, the Avenue Louise was (and still is) comparable to the Champs Élysées in Paris or Times Square in New York ! He deserves highest respect to have achieved this attack without civilian casualties. However, the Nazi Germans managed to restore the building within six weeks and resumed their infame police actions. They also launched the "fake news" (as we would call this today) that a British spy had been killed in this action, so as to diminish the victory of Jean de Sélys Longchamps. The (restored) building still stands on the Avenue Louise. One more detail, rather an sidestep anecdote : about twenty years after WWII, his niece, Baroness Sybille de Sélys Longchamps, was having an eighteen-year-long affair with the married (future) king Albert II, which resulted 1968 in a daughter, named Delphine Boel (= the family name of Sybille's husband in those days). As an adult, Delphine went through heroic legal action, including DNA-tests of king Albert II, finally to become recognized nowadays as the official half-sister of the present King of the Belgians, Philippe, son of Albert II. Her present name is Princess Delphine de Saxe-Cobourg.

I had heard about this brave attack on the Gestapo some years ago, but never knew the details. Thank you so much for presenting the whole story here!

Astounding.

This pilot is awesome can you imagine if he was on charge of ops !

VERY well done! Thank you for your work!

Another excellent episode. Your graphics are great. Thankyou.

No mention of the tragic outcome. One of the civilians who died was a resistance worker, with secret information in his pocket. The Gestapo obtained the papers and arrested a large number of resistance workers.

The four people who disliked this video are the ghosts of the Gestapo killed in the raid! Spooky SS men!

Thanks for sharing. The graphics were much better than any video games I've managed to play. Well done. LIKED, SUBSCRIBED, & DING!!!

Now that was a really great story of bravery, determination .....and JUSTICE.

This is some of the coolest shit i've ever seen. 2 of my loves, history, and gaming.

That's Karma for the evil gestapo! 🕯🌷🌿🌍💖🇧🇪

Beautiful annimation.Thank you!!

What an incredible morale booster that story is!!! 👍

People: “That’s not a Typhoon, it’s a Tempest!” Me: “ Shit, I can’t even draw a stick plane!” True story well told with awesome graphics.

Much... MUCH better than I expected! Hat's off to your great story-telling!

Awesome 👍 thanks for sharing this

What a great story, which I never heard of before... thank you, sir!

He was not killed in an accident. The Typhoon of that time had a serious design flaw. Not enough ribs in the tail section meant that the whole tail could break off due to metal fatigue. That's what killed him. Not bad flying. Later models had a long re-enforcing fin added to the tail.

Great story! Do more!

Excellent. Glad I found this.

This is such a great story...this should be made into a full length movie!

May he RIP. He brought justice to monsters, and in so doing, he gave hope to his beleaguered occupied city. The Gestapo used terror to control the population. He brought terror to THEM!

Great Job. Very informative of an event I knew nothing about! I would give it more than one thumbs up, if I could.

They need to make a film about this, what an amazing guy.

Great story, great history. Thanks.

Definitely badass

This will make a awesome movie 👍

Enjoyed this video very much

Outstanding !!

Sounds like a perfect target of opportunity.

a lot of foreign pilots were ultra aggressive, the uk was fighting a battle, the poles, czechs, belgians and so on were fighting to address the atrocities carried out by the nazi occupiers in their countries.. that's why despite coming late into the battle the top scoring squadrons of the battle of britain were poles and czechs. fewer than the FEW.

This is awesome! Thank you.

Man had some killing on his mind!.

Shame he didn't wait until they were armed with rockets. That would have been a spectacular.

I am not sure if "enjoyed" is the correct word for your video Sir, given the tragic outcome of the baron's life but I am sure you will understand how much I appreciated learning of this event and watching the animation. As for the comments about the wrong sort of aeroplane being depicted, in my case ignorance is bliss! Blessings and peace

Very interesting n awesome story. Kudos for upload.. Graphics were fantastic with much details. New subscriber because of this vid. Anticipating ur next vid.

Great video. 👍🏻👍🏻

Vengeance is a powerfull motive. Even if it kills the perpetrator.

Excellent story. Revenge may be the Lord's except during wartime. Just think of his potential if he had survived the war.

great video nice, informative and short and sweet, thanks for hard work, i have like and subscribed

Thanks for the great story!

Great story, and I look forward to visiting Brussels again to pay hommage. One detail sticks out, however: according to Wikipedia, and some other rapidly-Googled source, his father Raymond de Selys Longchamps died in 1966. Iff that's right, then perhaps he was avenging his father's torture (even if he didn't actually "[die] from violent and extreme methods of torture"), or perhaps he was avenging someone else? Or simply avenging his country, or other innocent but unknown victims of the Gestapo. It would be interesting to know what Jean de Sells himself said.

"Hello, my name is Jean de Selys Longchamps. You killed my Father. Prepare to die!" Repeat three times.

Excellent ! Thank you. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

Awesome video! Just found you! Keep it up that was great! :)