The Battle of the Scheidt

The Battle of the Scheidt

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Canada in the Second World War


The Liberation of Coastal Ports, August 22nd - October 1st,

1944

Vehicles of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division crossing pontoon

bridge over the Seine River near Elbeuf, France, August 28th,

1944.

Photo by Ken Bell. Department of National Defence I National

Archives of Canada, PA-113662.

In order to progress eastwards through Europe, the Allies had to

ensure a safe supply route. This meant seizing as soon as possible

the seaports along the Channel so they may ship in the equipment,

vehicles and supplies the men and the war machine demanded in

enormous quantities.

Once the Falaise Gap was closed, General Har[Y. Crerar received

the order to move speedily towards the Seine and capture Le

Havre. To the north, under command of the First Canadian Army, I

British Corps was marching along the coast to Honfleur. On its

flank, II Canadian Corps was headed for Rouen. On August 26th

and 27th, after cleaning up a pocket of fierce resistance in the

forest of the Londe, the 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions crossed the

Seine near Elbeuf and reached Rouen on the 30th.

In early September, II Canadian Corps was moving speedily

through northern France. On September 1st, it was in Diei:1~ .

where hundreds of Canadians had been killed two years earlier. Le

Treport was liberated the same day and the troops crossed the

Somme River on September 3rd. The French population, in cities

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and throughout the countryside, greeted them with noisy

enthusiasm.

I cannot possibly convey the cumulative effect of passing for hours

through a liberated countryside, with the wreckage of the beaten

enemy-his tanks and vehicles, his dead horses and the graves of

his dead men-littering the roadside ditches, and the population, free

once more, welcoming the oncoming troops with smiles and

flowers and the V-sign ...

The scene in a liberated town is quite extraordinary The place, of

course, is festooned with flags. They always have plenty of

tricolours; but the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes are in short

supply_ and had to be homemade for the occasion. (I even saw

some versions of/he Canadian Red Ensign, which would scarcely

have pleased the College of Heralds but must have pleased a good

many Canadians.) Everyone seems to be in the street, and no one

ever seems to tire of waving to the troops passing in their vehicles,

who likewise never tire of waving back (particularly at the female

opulation). The young people wave and laugh and shout; the

children yell and wave flags; the mothers hold up their babies to

see the troops, and wave their little paws too; the old people stand

by the roadside and look happy; and the Army rolls through ...

Letter of a Canadian officer to his family, September 2nd, 1944.

Convoys of 2nd Canadian Infantry Division speed through Rouen,

France, August 31st, 1944.

Photo by Harold G. Aikman. Department of National Defence I

National Archives of Canada, PA-131346.

The Canadians were not aware that on September 4th, Hitler had

ordered to shore up the defences of Calais, Boulogne, Dunkirk and

the Island of Walcheren, as he viewed Allied presence in those

cities as a major threat to Germany. As a result, he was ready to

keep them under control at all costs.

In Boulogne, as early as September 5th, the 3rd Canadian Infantry

Division faced a resolute garrison; the Canadians launched their

attack on the port city on the 17th after days of intensive air raids.

Battle raged for six days until the remaining German soldiers

surrendered on September 22nd. Some 9,517 prisoners were

made.

During their four-year occupation of Calais, the Germans had built

solid defences along the coast but did not consider the possibility of

a terrestrial attack. The city was therefore vulnerable on the inland

side and the 3rd Canadian Division approached it from that

direction . After eight days, from September 25th to October 1st,

1944, the Canadians finally overwhelmed the garrison of 7,500 who

defended the town.

Between Boulogne and Calais, the batteries on Cape Gris-Nez

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represented a serious threat to navigation with their big-calibre

guns that could fire shells over a considerable distance; they could

even hit the British coast. The 9th Infantry Brigade attacked the

position and silenced the guns on September 29th.

In September, while they were cleaning up the coast, Canadian

units came across and destroyed several V-1 flying bomb bases.

They were glad to eliminate that scourge which had been such a

threat to Londoners, with whom over years of training and waiting in

English bases, they had built many ties of friendship.

In early October 1944, the Allies controlled the harbours north of

the Seine but the supply issue was not yet solved: Dieppe, Le

Treport and Ostende had been opened but could not handle the

high volumes that Allied troops in Europe required . Le Havre,

Boulogne and Calais were not serviceable having suffered major

destructions. Further north, Antwerp had been liberated by the

Allies on September 3rd, but the city was located on the Scheidt

River, some 80 kilometres from the open sea and the river's mouth

was still under German control. The only way to make sure that the

supplies required by the campaign in Europe could enter the

continent was to capture the Scheidt. This was to be the mission of

the First Canadian Army.

The Battle of the Scheidt, October 1st- November 8th, 1944

Corporal S. Kormendy covers Sergeant H.A. Marshall, a scout of

the Calgary Highlanders, as he moves over open ground near

Kapellen, Belgium, October 6th, 1944.



The Scheidt flows to sea by a very wide mouth divided in two by a

long peninsula made of three separate islands, South Beveland,

North Beveland and Walcheren. Located in the Belgian-Dutch

border area, this is a region of polders, low-lying fields conquered

over the sea and bordered by a network of dykes and canals . The

roads are built on top of the four- or five-metre high dykes. In this

totally flat and wet countryside, no one can move without being

spotted. This was where the First Canadian Army had to fight and

dislodge the German defences, which knew nothing should be

spared to protect the access to Antwerp. Walcheren Island to the

north and Breskens to the south were the two most solid positions.

Lieutenant-General GUY. Simonds commanded the attack of the

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First Canadian Army against the Scheidt, in replacement of

General Harry Crerar who was recovering from a bout of dysentery.

Before giving the signal for the assault by ground troops, he

ordered aerial bombings to destroy the dykes and flood Walcheren

and some of the lowlands south of the river's mouth.

On October 2nd, 1944, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division marched

north from Antwerp towards the entrance to South Beveland it had

to capture , and then onwards along the isthmus. The division met

with unbreakable resistance near Woensdrecht and Hoogerheide.

On September 8th, German troops packed beyond Korteven

launched fierce counter-offensives. Woensdrecht, a strategic point

since it was the key to the peninsula, remained in German hands.

Bloody fighting went on until October 16th, as Canadian and

German soldiers fought for the access route to the peninsula. On

October 13th, the "Black Friday", the Black Watch regiment was

decimated for a second time within four months, losing 145 men

and all its commanders in an especially violent and merciless

engagement. On October 16th, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry,

supported by the 10th Armoured regiment and the whole artillery of

the division, fought its way up to the village of Woensdrecht and

held the mound that overlooks it. Thus they were able to drive back

counter-attacks and retain the position, again at the cost of many

lives.

company reported that they were attacked by a self-propelled

gun and that 9 platoon were being shelled severely. Hand to hand

fighting ensued and one of our 6-pounders section fired point blank

at the enemy before the gun was hit and put out of action ..

Royal Hamilton Light lnfant[Y., War Diaf')', 15-17 October 1944

A column of Alligators passing Terrapin amphibious vehicles on the

Scheidt River near Terneuzen, October 13th, 1944.

Photo by Donald I. Grant. Department of National Defence I


Meanwhile, the 3rd Division attacked an enemy pocket that

remained near Breskens. The crossing of the Leopold Canal in the

night of October 6th to 7th proved a difficult task. Once they

reached the side under enemy control, soldiers set up bridgeheads

hardly deeper than the canal's shores; the ground was soaking wet

and trenches filled up with water as soon as they were dug . The

whole area was under enemy fire including shells from big-calibre

coastal defence guns more than 15 kilometres away. Wounded

men filled the field care station. In spite of all this, the 7th Brigade

solidified its bridgehead and moved on.

l

ouring the night A and 8 companies crossed the LEOPOLD

CANAL over a heavily shelled bridge constructed by Royal

Canadian Engineers. While moving up from the bridge, 12 Platoon

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The Battle of the Scheldt

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of B Company were sent to assist a hard pressed platoon of 1

Canadian Scottish Regiment in repelling a determined enemy

counter-attack ..

ROY.al WinniQ.Eig Rifies, War Dia[Y., 6-13 October 1944

On the other side of Breskens, the 9th Brigade launched an

amphibious assault during the night of October 9th. Using Alligator

and Buffalo amphibious vehicles with tracks, infantry units landed

beyond the Braakman cove, near Hoofdplaat, and caught the

Germans unaware as they did not expect an attack from the

Scheidt side. The Canadians were able to set up a solid bridgehead

with mortars and heavy machine-guns before the enemy could

organize a serious response. For three weeks, 3rd Division units

harassed the German troops on soaked and muddy grounds.

Resistance was finally broken in the Breskens pocket and on

November 3rd, at 0950, the following entry was written down in the

Division's war diary: "Op Switchback now complete." Someone

added underneath "Thank God!"

Soon the beach was a hive of industry. The great motors roaring

and these huge amphibious monsters crawling like great reptiles

from the sea, out over the dyke and spitting flame from their

exhausts.. .

The 7th Brigade is moving through a village in the vicinity of

Leopold canal, October 18th, 1944.

Photo by Donald I. Grant. Department of National Defence I


Woensdrecht captured, the 2nd Division undertook to clean up

South Beveland. On October 24th, its units entered the isthmus

linking the island with the mainland . Two days later, more troops

crossed the Scheidt in amphibious Buffaloes and landing crafts. In

South Beveland Canadian and British soldiers were able to move

forward without meeting any serious opposition as the Germans

were by then trying to leave the island. On November 2nd, both

South and North Beveland were liberated.

The enemy's last post was Walcheren Island, a real stronghold

whose beaches were filled with heavy artillery batteries. There was

only one road access, the Walcheren causeway, a straight road,

some 40-metres wide and 12-kilometres long. The causeway

carried the main road as well as a railway line with only one track

left. On both sides only wide expanses of muddy marshes dotted

with reeds. The road afforded no protection whatsoever. Of

Walcheren Island proper, only remained the peripheral heights, the

centre being completely flooded .

The battle for the causeway started on October 31st. The Black

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Watch, the Calgary Highlanders and the Regiment de Maisonneuve

followed one another. A narrow bridgehead was finally set up in the

morning of November 2nd and the Regiment de Maisonneuve held

on to ii desperately for several hours until relieved. The Regiment

de Maisonneuve and the 5th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian

Artillery, were the last Canadian units to take part in the Battle of

the Scheidt. British units relieved the Canadians; exhausted troops

were pulled back from the battlefield to a rest area.

A gun-tractor skidded off the road on the flooded island of

Beveland, October 28th, 1944.



On November 1st, amphibious assaults were made on

Westkapelle, Flessingue and the last pockets of German resistance

fell on November 7th after some violent fighting. Walcheren Island

was finally captured and, once the river mouth was cleared of

mines, the Scheidt was opened to shipping. On November 28th,

1944, Antwerp harbour received the first supply shipment.

Canadians were not present at the opening ceremony but the first

ship of the convoy was a Canadian one, Canadian-made and

bearing the historical name Fort Cataraqui.

Suggested Reading:

• Terry Copp et Robert Vogel, Maple Leaf Route: Scheidt, 1984

• C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign, Volume 3 of the Official History

of The Canadian Army in the Second World War, 1960.

• W. Denis Whitaker et Shelagh Whitaker, Tug of Wa : The canadian

Victory that Opened Antwerp, 1984

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The Battle of the Scheidt