Canada in World War II - Part 7: The Scheldt and Dutch Liberation

Does it make sense to say that even Generals can get a little antsy to end a war?

The map of the battle. The river Scheldt is the lower river beneath the
peninsula. Or maybe an estuary. Wait, then what's an archipelago? I'm
sure it's not a rhombus, that's just a shape... anyway, the only thing
more complicated than figuring out what the area around the Scheldt is
is figuring out how to spell it.

That's certainly how it feels retrospectively looking back at Operation Market Garden. With Normandy taken, the idea was to plunge the dagger into Germany itself, quickly and decisively, ending the war once and for all. However, there were a number of problems: the Germans were far from done, they were set to fight much more aggressively since it would be the first time fighting on home turf, and soldiers and supplies were thinning dramatically for the allies (although, to be fair, for the Nazis as well). For all that Operation Market Garden was seen as controversial and perhaps needlessly risky, although much of that comes from historians looking back on it now. What perhaps would have worked better would be to free up the major port city of Antwerp in Belgium before committing so many forces towards Germany, as it would have been easier to support Antwerp - and the Dutch river Scheldt that leads to it - with a larger force. While Antwerp was in allied hands, without the river the city was largely ineffective. Market Garden resulted in a massive failure, and in many ways it was up to the beleaguered and half-strength Canadians to come in and clean up the mess, taking the river and the city which should have been done with a larger force and greater planning.

Geographically, Antwerp is far down the river Scheldt, and much of the German defences were centred around a jutting peninsula flanked by the Scheldt and another river. The peninsula itself was a fortress, protected not only by a large German force led by experienced eastern-front commanders, but also by one strong and rightfully feared enemy of all in the World Wars: mud. So much mud. Much of the area was flooded, and efforts to build trenches would find that they'd fill up with water almost instantly.

Soldier: "The Buffalo is a slow moving, loud, amphibious
transport. How should we use them, sir?"
Commander: "In a surprise attack!"
Soldier: "Did you hear the words I just said, commander?"
Commander: "Surprise! Surprise!"

The plan was to have a multi-pronged assault that would overwhelm the German defences. On October 9th they planned a surprise attack, with a main frontal assault and another coming from behind with an amphibious assault of Buffalos, an amphibious transport with an aircraft engine. You would think that to make it an effective surprise attack you would need speed and silence, but the Canadians and their Buffalos had neither. The engines - I mean, they're aircraft engines - were exceptionally loud, and the transports moved at the rip-roaring thrill-ride pace of 3 knots per hour. (5.56 kilometres per hour. Wikipedia doubles it for similar vehicles, but I trust my books.) They might as well have attacked in paddleboats, as those would have gotten there faster.

Video games have lied to me. Flamethrowers always
only shoot a few yards in distance. These things are lobbing
flames like they're shot out of a cannon. Flamethrower
tanks have range! Who knew?

Somehow - somehow! - the secrecy was kept and the surprise attack held some success. While on the way, Dutch children would ride by on bicycles shouting encouragement to the Canadian soldiers, as the people there were in the process of being starved to death.  Subsisting on a set amount of calories a day, the people were thrilled at the prospect of Canadian liberators. Fortunately for both the occupied and the liberators, the Canadians started defeating the Germans through slow, ditch-by-ditch or house-by-house fighting. Defending unconventionally, the Nazis would disguise pillboxes as small houses (complete with curtains and everything) and have fake trees and haystacks with machine guns hidden inside. In fact, much of the fighting in general was unconventional. With the water the way it was, dykes were often filled with mines, meaning nowhere was safe on the battlefield. Even tanks were rendered ineffective by the water as they would frequently get stuck.

What helped make the difference towards the eventual Canadian victory was once more the use of planes. Typhoons, a new plane that was proving to be exceptionally effective, helped provide air support throughout the campaign and with only anti-aircraft weapons to shoot them down with minimal actual aircraft to counter them. The Germans surrendered on November 3rd, the operation succeeding with over two thousand German casualties and 12,700 taken prisoner.

"Come tiptoe, through the tulips,[Defeat the Nazis,]
With me..."

With the estuary taken, that didn't mean the Netherlands was free of Nazis. Antwerp couldn't really start shipping until the Germans were forced out of the nearby fortified city of Walcheren. Battle fatigue and loss of personnel was beginning to take hold of the Canadian forces, but the mission still had to be completed. To ease their assault, they planned to bomb the many dykes surrounding Walcheren and flood the area, restricting the Nazis' movement and forcing them onto smaller patches of dry land - allowing them to be bombed from above more easily. This was met by the Dutch with more than a little sadness; they still had 30,000 people still living there, and that would put them not only in danger but it would severely devastate their town. However, war was war, and on October 31st the dykes were bombed. The ensuing battles were successes and by November 28th tons of cargo was being sent in to support the supply-starved allied forces through the Antwerp ports, a massive turning point in the war.

Although the Netherlands was still held by the Nazis in many areas and would remain so until the end of the war, the Canadians would continue to push through and free the starving people. To this day, the Dutch annually send thousands and thousands of tulips to Ottawa as a thank you for liberation. Add them to the list of cultures that likes plucky little Canada.