Spaniard
Banned
This was a chapter of WWII that had, by and large, have been forgotten, with the exception of the Dutch Population who were liberated, and never forgot their heroic honourable gallant, sacrifice of those brave souls and the Canadian soldiers who fought and survived to tell the tail, of their exploits to endeavour to persevere against all odds. Against a better equipped, embedded and season army that had completely fortified all German occupied positions.
Montgomery and Eisenhower never gave “The Sceldt”, top priority until it was almost too late. Capturing and securing the port in Schedt and surrounding areas, would of aloud the Allies the so badly needed supplies and men needed, being transported much quicker then having all the supplies transported in by trucks, Trains from the artificial port in Normandy. Since every port had been blow up, heavily mined and rendered useless by the retreating Germans. In these battles the Canadians suffered 75% heavy casualties, during these port clearings and supplies and manpower were dwindling. The Allied commanders had estimated the Reserve was made in such a way that the infantry would suffer looses and figured a 50% ratio. The Scheldt was one of the most important and bloody campaigns Canadian soldiers ever fought in WWII, as high ranking Officers due to posturing, ignorance, arrogance made horrendous inexplicable decisions.
Paris was liberated On August 25th 1944, the celebrations had be gone in gay Paris, but not for the Canadians. US and British armies had advanced into German held territory which attracted most of the news, & the press. The Canadians were assigned a less glamorous task, of attacking and liberating minor ports along the northern coast of France. The Canadian Army was under the command of General Crerar. They encountered very serious German resistance, since the area that the Canadians were attempting to liberate had been heavily defended and fortified. Remember this was the location Hitler assumed the Allied landings of D-Day were to have taken place. On September 4th 1944, XXX Corps reached Antwerp, and with the assistance of the Belgian resistance the city was secured and the port facilities were captured intact. Then the advance was halted at Antwerp. By not advancing past Antwerp and liberating Holland, rendered the port of Antwerp unusable. “The Scheldt Estuary” which connects the North Sea with Antwerp, was 80km long in Dutch territory and the Germans held both sides of the estuary. This was a blunder made by “Monty”, and Canadian soldiers would now have to pay the highest price for his incompetence. Due to his obsession with the idea of a thrust deep into Germany, that would carry Montgomery all the way to Berlin and be glorified in the History books as being the conquer of Berlin. And beat the Russian and Patton to the grand prize.
At this same time Operation “Comet” had been revised by Allied command and was now to be called Operation Market-Garden or as many have know it as the movie “A Bridge to Far”. British units in Antwerp were to be used for operation Market-Garden therefore Canadian units replaced them in Antwerp. On September 17th 1944, Market-Garden was launched, but it ultimately met with failure and disaster, disappointments and the lost and sacrifice of so many Troops. By now the port had become the main priority for the Allies. While Eisenhower saw this, but Montgomery still wanted a push obsessively into Germany. Around September 26th 1944, Eisenhower told “Monty” to forget about this thrust into Germany, his first priority was to clear the harbour of Antwerp. Montgomery conceded after much grumbling and assigned the task to the First Canadian Army now under command of Lt. Gen. Guy Simonds of 2nd Division, as General Crerar was evacuated to England. Since LT. Gen Simonds had become very alarmed on September 4th, by the build-up of German strengths on both sides of the Scheldt Estuary. German soldiers who had escaped the Falaise pocket from "The 15th Army" which now had set up Shop on one of the Scheldt estuary banks, which was now a completely Fortified Fort.
This battle could have been won easily, it would have been better to seal the ports off and isolate them instead, as they were all very well defended with German Troops and fortified. LT.-Gen. Simonds being arrogantly incompetent and irresponsible for many needles high casualties in WWII Battles, one being the carnage for Verrières Ridge, believed strongly this assignment was a waste of time and resources. He came up with a new plan to move the Canadians north along the coast towards the Dutch town of Breskens, then head east towards Antwerp and clear out the Scheldt Estuary. Due to Allied indecisiveness and since General Crerar didn’t get along with Montgomery in which a rift now existed between the two. It was the delay that gave Hitler, all the time he needed to turn the Scheldt into a fortress. At the end of September 1944, the Canadian Army was ready for its advance into the Scheldt, and Lt.-Gen. Simmons plan was approved undermining “Montys” Plane, by General Crerar, Utter sheer madness by today’s military tactics. Without Montgomery knowing his original orders where ignored and changed. The battle of the Scheldt would start on October 1st and be the largest infantry battle under Canadian command in WWII. The British and Polish units would join the attack. For the Canadians, it was not an inviting prospect to attack these positions with six under strength infantry battalions, a squadron of artillery regiments and tanks, that had to ration supplies towards the approaches to the port of Antwerp. It clearly showed the unqualified reckless arrogant behaviour of Lt.-Gen. Guy Simonds while demanding the advance continue, “Get Cracking”. It’s to be noted; Monty and Lt.-Gen Miles Christopher Dempsey Aka, “Lucky” or “Bimbo” where alarmed contacting Canadian high command concerning Simonds actions in past operations since D-Day, as the needless high casualty rates, using daylight open field attacks were ill-conceived nor part of WWII tactical procedures.Bernd “Monty’ was not pleased when his Canadian Division Commander fired Brigadier Howard Graham, commander of the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade. “Monty” wrote to Corps Commander Oliver Leese: “This is a great pity. Graham is an excellent fellow and much beloved in his brigade. I expect Simonds lost his temper. Simonds is a young and very inexperienced divisional general and has much to learn about command. In my highest opinion of Simonds...[although he] tried to go off the rails once or twice when he first went into action with his Div. Simonds must therefore be handled carefully and trained on. On October 3rd 1944, the RAF dropped more than 1,000 tons of HE bombs on the Westkapelle dike, breaching the Walcheren island enclosure in three places. The sea rushed in and virtually flooded the island. Now the land battle was set to begin. The 2nd Canadian Division would attack up the Beveland peninsula, and the 4th Armoured Division would be there protecting the flank. The terrain was quite difficult, with all that muck and mud. Troops had difficulties moving cross-country, and were confined to the roads. The first attacks, codenamed Switchback, were designed to clear the south bank of the river (The Breskens pocket). Canadian troops crossed the LeopoldCanal as the German defenders were lined up facing the LeopoldCanal. The Germans where caught of guard by the attack from the rear by Nova Scotia Regiment, launched an amphibious assault from the sea and landed behind the German lines. While the Canadians succeeded in the attack. The second part of the operation was code named “Vitality”. The Germans paratroopers offered solid resistance, and the Canadians gained little ground.
Montgomery and Eisenhower never gave “The Sceldt”, top priority until it was almost too late. Capturing and securing the port in Schedt and surrounding areas, would of aloud the Allies the so badly needed supplies and men needed, being transported much quicker then having all the supplies transported in by trucks, Trains from the artificial port in Normandy. Since every port had been blow up, heavily mined and rendered useless by the retreating Germans. In these battles the Canadians suffered 75% heavy casualties, during these port clearings and supplies and manpower were dwindling. The Allied commanders had estimated the Reserve was made in such a way that the infantry would suffer looses and figured a 50% ratio. The Scheldt was one of the most important and bloody campaigns Canadian soldiers ever fought in WWII, as high ranking Officers due to posturing, ignorance, arrogance made horrendous inexplicable decisions.
Paris was liberated On August 25th 1944, the celebrations had be gone in gay Paris, but not for the Canadians. US and British armies had advanced into German held territory which attracted most of the news, & the press. The Canadians were assigned a less glamorous task, of attacking and liberating minor ports along the northern coast of France. The Canadian Army was under the command of General Crerar. They encountered very serious German resistance, since the area that the Canadians were attempting to liberate had been heavily defended and fortified. Remember this was the location Hitler assumed the Allied landings of D-Day were to have taken place. On September 4th 1944, XXX Corps reached Antwerp, and with the assistance of the Belgian resistance the city was secured and the port facilities were captured intact. Then the advance was halted at Antwerp. By not advancing past Antwerp and liberating Holland, rendered the port of Antwerp unusable. “The Scheldt Estuary” which connects the North Sea with Antwerp, was 80km long in Dutch territory and the Germans held both sides of the estuary. This was a blunder made by “Monty”, and Canadian soldiers would now have to pay the highest price for his incompetence. Due to his obsession with the idea of a thrust deep into Germany, that would carry Montgomery all the way to Berlin and be glorified in the History books as being the conquer of Berlin. And beat the Russian and Patton to the grand prize.
At this same time Operation “Comet” had been revised by Allied command and was now to be called Operation Market-Garden or as many have know it as the movie “A Bridge to Far”. British units in Antwerp were to be used for operation Market-Garden therefore Canadian units replaced them in Antwerp. On September 17th 1944, Market-Garden was launched, but it ultimately met with failure and disaster, disappointments and the lost and sacrifice of so many Troops. By now the port had become the main priority for the Allies. While Eisenhower saw this, but Montgomery still wanted a push obsessively into Germany. Around September 26th 1944, Eisenhower told “Monty” to forget about this thrust into Germany, his first priority was to clear the harbour of Antwerp. Montgomery conceded after much grumbling and assigned the task to the First Canadian Army now under command of Lt. Gen. Guy Simonds of 2nd Division, as General Crerar was evacuated to England. Since LT. Gen Simonds had become very alarmed on September 4th, by the build-up of German strengths on both sides of the Scheldt Estuary. German soldiers who had escaped the Falaise pocket from "The 15th Army" which now had set up Shop on one of the Scheldt estuary banks, which was now a completely Fortified Fort.
This battle could have been won easily, it would have been better to seal the ports off and isolate them instead, as they were all very well defended with German Troops and fortified. LT.-Gen. Simonds being arrogantly incompetent and irresponsible for many needles high casualties in WWII Battles, one being the carnage for Verrières Ridge, believed strongly this assignment was a waste of time and resources. He came up with a new plan to move the Canadians north along the coast towards the Dutch town of Breskens, then head east towards Antwerp and clear out the Scheldt Estuary. Due to Allied indecisiveness and since General Crerar didn’t get along with Montgomery in which a rift now existed between the two. It was the delay that gave Hitler, all the time he needed to turn the Scheldt into a fortress. At the end of September 1944, the Canadian Army was ready for its advance into the Scheldt, and Lt.-Gen. Simmons plan was approved undermining “Montys” Plane, by General Crerar, Utter sheer madness by today’s military tactics. Without Montgomery knowing his original orders where ignored and changed. The battle of the Scheldt would start on October 1st and be the largest infantry battle under Canadian command in WWII. The British and Polish units would join the attack. For the Canadians, it was not an inviting prospect to attack these positions with six under strength infantry battalions, a squadron of artillery regiments and tanks, that had to ration supplies towards the approaches to the port of Antwerp. It clearly showed the unqualified reckless arrogant behaviour of Lt.-Gen. Guy Simonds while demanding the advance continue, “Get Cracking”. It’s to be noted; Monty and Lt.-Gen Miles Christopher Dempsey Aka, “Lucky” or “Bimbo” where alarmed contacting Canadian high command concerning Simonds actions in past operations since D-Day, as the needless high casualty rates, using daylight open field attacks were ill-conceived nor part of WWII tactical procedures.Bernd “Monty’ was not pleased when his Canadian Division Commander fired Brigadier Howard Graham, commander of the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade. “Monty” wrote to Corps Commander Oliver Leese: “This is a great pity. Graham is an excellent fellow and much beloved in his brigade. I expect Simonds lost his temper. Simonds is a young and very inexperienced divisional general and has much to learn about command. In my highest opinion of Simonds...[although he] tried to go off the rails once or twice when he first went into action with his Div. Simonds must therefore be handled carefully and trained on. On October 3rd 1944, the RAF dropped more than 1,000 tons of HE bombs on the Westkapelle dike, breaching the Walcheren island enclosure in three places. The sea rushed in and virtually flooded the island. Now the land battle was set to begin. The 2nd Canadian Division would attack up the Beveland peninsula, and the 4th Armoured Division would be there protecting the flank. The terrain was quite difficult, with all that muck and mud. Troops had difficulties moving cross-country, and were confined to the roads. The first attacks, codenamed Switchback, were designed to clear the south bank of the river (The Breskens pocket). Canadian troops crossed the LeopoldCanal as the German defenders were lined up facing the LeopoldCanal. The Germans where caught of guard by the attack from the rear by Nova Scotia Regiment, launched an amphibious assault from the sea and landed behind the German lines. While the Canadians succeeded in the attack. The second part of the operation was code named “Vitality”. The Germans paratroopers offered solid resistance, and the Canadians gained little ground.
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