What was the Battle of the Scheldt?

The Battle of the Scheldt was a First Canadian Army campaign from October 2 to November 8, 1944 to clear the Scheldt Estuary in Belgium and the southwestern Netherlands of German forces, opening the port of Antwerp to Allied shipping. About 6,367 Canadians were killed or wounded in the campaign (about 3,650 dead and wounded by specific dates and the rest from sickness and other casualties), making it one of the costliest Canadian operations of the war. The battle was essential because Allied supply lines from Normandy were stretched dangerously thin.

The strategic situation arose from the September 1944 Allied advance. After the breakout from Normandy in August 1944, Allied forces had raced across France and Belgium. British forces captured the port of Antwerp on September 4, 1944. However, the port was unusable while German forces controlled the Scheldt Estuary (the 80-kilometre waterway connecting Antwerp to the North Sea). General Harry Crerar's First Canadian Army was assigned to clear the estuary, while other Allied forces focused on the ill-fated Operation Market Garden (September 17 to 25, 1944) at Arnhem.

The campaign had four main components. First, the Battle of the Leopold Canal (October 6 to 16, 1944) saw the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division force a crossing of the Leopold Canal in Belgium against Operation Switchback. Second, the clearance of the Breskens Pocket (October 6 to November 3, 1944) cleared the south bank of the Scheldt. Third, the South Beveland operations (Operation Vitality, October 24 to 31, 1944) cleared the South Beveland Peninsula. Fourth, the assault on Walcheren Island (Operation Infatuate, November 1 to 8, 1944) cleared the island that controlled the mouth of the estuary.

The amphibious assault on Walcheren Island was particularly costly. The island was heavily fortified with about 8,000 German troops in concrete bunkers. Royal Air Force bombing breached the dikes (October 3 to 11, 1944), flooding much of the island and isolating German positions. The landings of November 1, 1944 included Royal Marine commandos at Westkapelle and the 4th Special Service Brigade at Flushing. The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada attempted to cross the Walcheren Causeway from October 31 to November 2, 1944 in some of the costliest infantry fighting of the entire war (the regiment suffered 119 casualties of about 600 men in 48 hours). The first Allied convoy reached Antwerp on November 28, 1944, dramatically improving Allied supply for the final push into Germany. The Battle of the Scheldt is sometimes called Canada's most strategically important engagement of the Second World War. The town of Westkapelle hosts a Canadian memorial.