THE SCHELDT

In the autumn of 1944, with the Allied supply chain stretching back to Normandy, First Canadian Army led the offensive to clear the Scheldt estuary and free the port of Antwerp

- ALEX BOWERS

The success of the 1944 Normandy Campaign had come at a heavy cost. Having sustained over 200,000 casualties, the battered and bruised Allies faced new logistical challenges as their advance took them further and further away from the beachhead secured months earlier. While Germany’s decisive defeat in the Falaise Gap had enabled sizable gains in France and across the Belgian border, the enemy had retained control of several channel ports, preventing the Allies from shipping supplies into these facilities. A crisis threatened if war materiel could not be brought to the continent and then transported to the liberating forces on a far larger scale.

Located on the left flank closest to the French coastline, First Canadian Army was allocated the unenviable task of besieging the channel ports. Unfortunately, the German defenders would fight with stubborn tenacity to hold Boulogne, Calais and other seabound fortresses (Dunkirk would not fall until 9 May 1945), leaving their much-needed harbours either out of reach or otherwise extensively damaged when the Canadians broke through to them. Hope appeared to rest on Antwerp, situated in Belgium near the border with the Netherlands and boasting the largest port facilities in Europe.