Battle of Walcheren Island

Battle of Walcheren Causeway
Part of Battle of the Scheldt
Date 31 October 1944 - 2 November 1944 Location 51°30′11″N 3°42′18″E / 51.50306°N 3.70500°E / 51.50306; 3.70500 (Walcheren Island)Coordinates: 51°30′11″N 3°42′18″E / 51.50306°N 3.70500°E / 51.50306; 3.70500 (Walcheren Island) Walcheren Island, Scheldt estuary Result Indecisive
Belligerents
Canada  United Kingdom	Nazi Germany (15th Army)
Commanders and leaders
William Jemmet Megill	General von Zangen
Casualties and losses
64 killed and wounded	At least 60 troops killed.

The Battle of Walcheren Causeway (Operation Vitality) was an engagement of the Battle of the Scheldt between the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade, elements of the British 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division, notably the Glasgow Highlanders, and troops of the German 15th Army in 1944. It was the first of many conflicts on and around Walcheren Island that constitute Operation Infatuate during the Scheldt battles.

After the breakout from Normandy by the Allied armies, beginning August 13, 1944, the German forces held on stubbornly to the French and Belgian English Channel ports. This forced the Allies to bring all supplies for their rapidly advancing armies from the artificial harbor they had constructed off the beaches of Normandy, and from Cherbourg. Because of its port capacity Antwerp became the immediate objective of the British 21st Army Group commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. While Antwerp fell to Montgomery on September 4 no supplies could be landed there until the German forces holding the lower reaches of the Scheldt, between Antwerp and the North Sea, were removed. Because the Allies had to secure a port of the capacity of Antwerp before they could contemplate the invasion of Germany itself, the Battle of the Scheldt involved some of the most bitter fighting of the war.

By 31 October 1944, all lands surrounding the Scheldt estuary had been cleared of German control, save for Walcheren Island, whose coastal batteries commanded the approaches to the waterway. These guns prevented the Allies from making use of the port facilities of Antwerp to alleviate their logistical concerns.

The island's dykes had been breached by attacks from RAF Bomber Command: on 3 October at Westkapelle, with severe loss of civilian life; on 7 October at two places, west and east of Vlissingen; and on 11 October at Veere. This flooded the central part of the island, forcing the German defenders onto the high ground around the outside and in the towns.

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