Battle of the Scheldt

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The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations to open up the Scheldt river between Antwerp and the North Sea for shipping, so that Antwerp's port could be used to supply the Allies in north-west Europe. The operations were carried out by the First Canadian Army, with assistance from Polish and British units which had been attached. The action was under the acting command of the First Canadian's Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds. The battle took place in the vicinity of the Scheldt river in northern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands from 2 October to 8 November 1944. The Canadians had been delayed for more than a month, and the need to clear the Scheldt had not yet been addressed, due to Allied decisions to spend September focusing on Arnhem (Operation Market Garden), Boulogne (Operation Wellhit), Calais (Operation Undergo) and the opening weeks of the Siege of Dunkirk. By the time the Canadians were sent into the Battle of the Scheldt, the Wehrmacht defenders...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Donald I. Grant (Dept. of National Defence), Public domain