Walcheren 1944

Walcheren 1944
Author: Richard Brooks
Publsiher: Osprey Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-06-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1849082375

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Osprey's study of the Walcheren campaign of World War II (1939-1945). Walcheren is a saucer-shaped island in the estuary of the river Scheldt, commanding maritime access to Antwerp, the largest port in Western Europe. The Allies captured Antwerp intact on September 4, 1944, but their eyes were on the Rhine crossings at Arnhem, not the lower Scheldt. The failure of Operation Market-Garden later that month brought home the Allies' logistical weakness. As autumn gales drew near, every shell and petrol tin had still to be landed at Cherbourg or across the Normandy beaches. Complete US Army divisions were immobilized for lack of transport. It was vital to re-open Antwerp. The continued German presence on Walcheren, however, prevented Allied shipping from entering the Scheldt. In the fall of 1944, Walcheren had the most heavily fortified coastline in the world. Its seaward defences consisted of 30 coastal and field batteries, mounting 50-60 guns from 75mm to 220mm in caliber, manned by high quality naval personnel behind massive concrete emplacements. Supporting strongpoints had anti-aircraft guns, flame-throwers rocket-launchers and Goliath remote controlled demolition vehicles. The sand dunes protecting the low-lying island from the North Sea were laced with barbed wire, mines and dragon's teeth. Defending infantry came from Generalleutnant Wilhelm Daser's 70.Infanterie-Division, a 'white bread division' consisting of men with gastric problems. Allied intelligence estimated the total garrison at 4,000, but 8,000 eventually surrendered. On November 1, 1944, in a double-pronged attack, the men of 52nd (Lowland) Division plus No. 4 Army Commando seized Flushing (Infatuate I) while in the west 4th Special Service Brigade with three Royal Marine Commandos and No. 10 Inter-Allied Commando would take Westkapelle, and fight their way north and south along the dunes, taking the coastal batteries as they went (Infatuate II). All this was to be supported with HMS Warspite and two 15-inch gun monitors; the Support Squadron Eastern Flank (SSEF) with 25 specialized Landing Craft with guns and rockets; 350 Army guns south of the Scheldt, most of them heavier than 25-pounders; and the Typhoon and Spitfire fighter bombers of 84 Group RAF. In fighting described by one survivor as 'worse than Dieppe and D-Day put together' the Army and Royal Marines forced their way ashore, supported by specialized armour and tracked vehicles, and over the next eight days cleared the positions of their German defenders in bitter street fighting. The first Liberty ships unloaded at Antwerp on December 1, just over a fortnight before the Ardennes offensive began. If Walcheren had not fallen when it did, opening Antwerp just in time, the Allies would have been hard pressed to withstand the German attack, or replace the fuel stocks lost in its opening days, let alone cross the Rhine in the following spring, and meet the Russians on the Elbe. The Walcheren campaign was not merely a dramatic combined operation pulled off against the odds; it helped determine the course of the war and the shape of the post-war world.

Turning the Key

Turning the Key
Author: Paul M. Crucq
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2009
Genre: Walcheren (Netherlands)
ISBN: 908078544X

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Details the final phase of Operation Infatuate-- the Battle of the Scheldt Estuary and the full surrender of German Occupation troops, to liberate Antwerp, Belgium and return the port to Allied hands in November of 1944. The operation consisted of two parts. The first to attack Flushing and secondly, to storm the shattered dike at Westkapelle with units from the British and Canadian armies.

Cinderella Operation

Cinderella Operation
Author: Gerald Rawling
Publsiher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages: 164
Release: 1980-01-01
Genre: Scheldt River
ISBN: 030430641X

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The author reconstructs the battle for Walcheren, from the initial bitterly opposed amphibious landings to the final victory.

Walcheren

Walcheren
Author: Andrew Rawson
Publsiher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2003-02-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781473820401

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Describes the fierce campaign, codenamed INFATUATE, mounted in November 1944 to clear the way through to the port of Antwerp. The book describes the extraordinary courage of the Germans who fought to the bitter end.

We Never Blamed the Crews

 We Never Blamed the Crews
Author: Paul M. Crucq
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2000
Genre: Floods
ISBN: 9090143793

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Details the first phase of Operation Infatuate through personal recollections by men in units of the British and Canadian armies to liberate Antwerp, Belgium in October of 1944 by bombing the dikes on Walcheren Island and flooding it.

Aiming Point Walcheren

 Aiming Point Walcheren
Author: Paul M. Crucq
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2003
Genre: Walcheren (Netherlands)
ISBN: 9080785415

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Details the systematic bombing of gun emplacement by the RAF Bomber Command, 84 Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force, through personal recollections by men in the planes to liberate Antwerp, Belgium and use it as a sustained port in October and November of 1944. This was the second phase of Operation Infatuate.

Attack on the Scheldt

Attack on the Scheldt
Author: Graham A. Thomas
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1473850673

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* Graphic account of the battle for the Scheldt, Walcheren and Antwerp in 1944 * Focuses on the Allied attack on the German stronghold of Walcheren * Detailed description of the advance of 21 Army Group across France and Belgium * The first full-length study of a neglected aspect of the final offensive against Nazi Germany

Fortress of the Dunes

Fortress of the Dunes
Author: Anthony Lawman
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 264
Release: 1980
Genre: Walcheren (Netherlands)
ISBN: 0333272617

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