Operation Infatuate

Operation Infatuate
Part of Battle of the Scheldt
British assault troops on Walcheren advancing along the waterfront near Flushing with shells bursting ahead - 1 November 1944.
Date 1–8 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 Allied Victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  Canada	Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Bertram Ramsay Guy Simonds	Gustav-Adolf von Zangen Wilhelm Dasser
Units involved
4th Special Service Brigade 52nd (Lowland) Division 2nd Canadian Infantry Division	German 15th Army
Strength
3,082 Canadians, French (commando KIEFFER) and Royal Marines	5,000 troops
Casualties and losses
489 killed 925 wounded 59 missing	1,200 killed and wounded 2,900 captured

Operation Infatuate was the code name given to an Anglo-Canadian operation during the Second World War to open the port of Antwerp to shipping and relieve logistical constraints. The operation was part of the wider Battle of the Scheldt and involved two assault landings from the sea by the 4th Special Service Brigade and the 52nd (Lowland) Division. At the same time the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division would force a crossing of the Walcheren causeway.

The city of Antwerp and its port was captured by British 2nd Army in early September 1944. While 21st Army Group's priority at the time was Operation Market-Garden, no sense of urgency was placed in securing the approaches to the port facilities there. Walcheren Island, at the western end of the Beveland Peninsula, overlooked the Scheldt Estuary, and was strongly garrisoned by the German 15th Army who had emplaced strong concrete fortifications and large calibre guns which made it impossible to transit the waterway into Antwerp.

The First Canadian Army was tasked by 21st Army Group to open the Antwerp area, but in the meantime had been also detailed to capture the channel ports of Boulogne and Calais, in order to ease the logistical concerns associated with drawing supplies from the Normandy beaches. German tenacity in the channel ports meant that the Allied supply lines would continue to extend the further away the front line advanced. The channel ports were eventually "masked" when the Canadian army failed to take the ports, and attention turned to the Battle of the Scheldt. The 1st Canadian Army advanced north-west from the bridgehead in Antwerp and, after heavy fighting in early and mid-October, broke out onto the narrow isthmus which connected South-Beveland to the mainland.

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