Walcheren Causeway

On 1 Nov 1944, the British Special Service Brigade landed on the western end of the island in order to silence the German coastal batteries looking out over the Scheldt, which was the key to opening shipping lanes to Antwerp. The amphibious assault (Operation INFATUATE) proved a success and by 8 November all German resistance on the island had been overrun. In the meantime, all Canadian units were withdrawn in the first part of Nov and began their move to the Nijmegen Salient where they would spend the winter.

Detailed Account

At 0950 hours on the 31 October, Operation SWITCHBACK - the effort by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division and 1st Polish Armoured Division, to clear all Germans south of the West Scheldt - was completed. That same day, South Beveland was at last cleared of Germans. To the east, Canadian troops had taken Bergen op Zoom and the Allies were pressing north. However, the great port at Antwerp, so essential to easing the Allies' logistical problems, was still unusable because of the German batteries located on Walcheren Island.

The 40 yard wide Walcheren Causeway contained a road, a set of railway tracks, a bicycle path, and a thin line of poplars. While many Germans retreated over the causeway to Walcheren Island, others chose to surrender to the Allies instead; their losses in dead and wounded had been heavy.

Canadian intelligence maps, printed on 23 October, showed German defences east of the causeway in detail, but none at the western end. It was hoped that the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division could "bounce" the Causeway - take it in a lightning move from the confused and reeling Germans. Middleburg, the capital town on Walcheren Island, was only 4000 yards inland.

On 30 October, the Royal Regiment of Canada was only half a mile from the eastern end of the Causeway. The Division commander ordered them to prepare to drive over the narrow strip of land and enable another brigade to pass through onto Walcheren itself. The commander of 4th Brigade, however, saw that the Causeway was bordered on each side by mud flats, which were hidden at high tide. He though a water crossing would have a better chance of success than a charge down the causeway. The Second Division had trained in assault crossings in England, in anticipation of the need to do so at the Seine. Since his troops were tired, and since only two units of the 2nd Division had taken assault boat training (the Calgary Highlanders being one of them), the job was passed on to the Fifth Brigade.

The Calgary Highlanders found that boats could not cross the Slooe Channel (also referred to as "Sloe"), however, and last minute plans were drawn up. A company of the Black Watch went forward on the late evening of 31 October. Canadian guns of all calibres, including light and medium artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and mortars, bombarded the dykes along the far end of the Causeway. The Black Watch managed to get halfway across the Causeway before being stopped by heavy casualties.

"B" Company of the Calgary Highlanders went forward next, finding even the entrance to the Causeway under heavy enemy fire; the most alarming enemy weapon was the high velocity anti-tank gun that fired straight down the length of the Causeway. The Highlanders could see enemy shells bouncing off the pavement. The Company could go no farther than the crater in the middle of the Causeway. The crater, blown by German engineers, not only provided cover but also prevented any armour from crossing over. Any entry onto Walcheren Island would have to be by unsupported infantry.

A new fire plan was drawn up, and shortly before dawn "D" Company moved down the Causeway, managing to inch their way to a German roadblock at the far end. The leading troops rushed the roadblock, seized 15 prisoners, and radioed back their success. Soon the other three companies were coming forward to reinforce the bridgehead. By 9:33 am the objectives at the western end were reported secure.

The four companies fanned out on the eastern end of Walcheren Island, but the fighting was bitter and intense. "D" Company lost all its officers killed or wounded, prompting the Brigade Major of the 5th Brigade (a staff officer) to volunteer to take over. Permission was granted, and George Hees (future Minister of Veterans Affairs) went forward with an Artillery Forward Observation Officer as his second in command.

As the fighting raged into the afternoon on 1 November, German counter-attacks took a deadly toll of the Highlanders on Walcheren Island. Sergeant Emile Jean Laloge, of 18 Platoon, found himself picking up German grenades and throwing them back at the Germans. Laloge earned the DCM several times; when a Bren gunner was killed, Laloge repaired the gun and turned in on the Germans. When the PIAT man was also wounded, he turned this weapon on the enemy as well.

In the face of heavy opposition, however, the Calgary Highlanders were forced to withdraw from the island, handing over a small bridgehead to Le Regiment de Maisonneuve on the evening of 1 November.

Major George Hees was an artillery officer serving on staff of the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade when he was made aware of a shortage of officers in  the Walcheren bridgehead. He volunteered to go forward and take over "A" Company, along with Captain Walter Newman, one of the Forward Observation Officers. Hees was shot in the arm, but stayed put. The C.O. of the Highlanders, Lieutenant Colonel Ross Ellis, later said that "It took a lot of guts for a guy who had never been in action to go into a hell-hole like that one." Calgary Highlanders Archives Photo	John Moffat, shown above, was a 25 year old platoon commander when he was killed at the Walcheren Causeway – shot dead as "B" Company attempted to withdraw from the bridgehead on the 1st of November. Calgary Highlanders Archives Photo	Wynn Lasher took his "A" Company over the Causeway and was wounded along with all the officers in his company during the bitter fighting for the bridgehead. The Germans were determined not to permit an advance on Middelburg; for the first time the Calgary Highlanders experienced German flamethrowers being used against them. Calgary Highlanders Archives Photo

Le Regiment de Maisonneuve

The Maisonneuves were in reserve in a small village 500 yards east of the causeway, apparently having already been informed that the Division was warned to move to a rest area at Lierre, Belgium. At 2100 hours on 1 November the company and platoon commanders of "D" Company (now consisting of 40 all ranks, which included 8 Belgian volunteers) were summoned to an "O" Group and told that they had to renew the attack on the bridgehead. The plan was for "D" Company to attack at 04:00hrs on 2 November, with "B" Company to follow along, and be relieved by the 1st Battalion, The Glasgow Highlanders of the 52nd (Lowland) Division of the British Army. A platoon commander of the Maisonneuves later wrote:

Promptly at 0400 hours, preceded by a thunderous barrage by some 72 guns, Forbes' 18 Platoon, and mine, the 16th, moved up the causeway. It was like entering a giant blast furnace stoked with fireworks. The enemy was not taken by surprise, his fire power not diminished, nor indeed his will to resist. The Maisies ran forward, falling to the ground more by stumbling on the broken-up cobblestones than by a wish to find shelter in the water-filled shell holes. Moving shadows ahead of us were targeted until it was realized that, unknown to us, some Calgarians were still caught on the causeway. This moment of panic passed and we resumed our progress. For us, a zigzagging escape forward seemed our best protection. Indeed, so desperate was this thrust that it took the survivors some 500 metres past the western entrance to the causeway, this was realized when we reached a lateral road passing under the railway viaduct. Lieutenant Forbes and his underpass. I deployed a dozen men along the same road, facing south. Our best protection was a water-filled ditch. For a while, as dawn rose and we shivered from cold and exhaustion, in waist-deep water, the war was abnormally quiet. The peace was short-lived. From an opening in the dyke, some 500 metres south, a 20 mm gun on a mobile platform opened fire down the road and through the viaduct.  I told Private J.C. Carrière, accompanied by a Belgian volunteer, to wade up the ditch, with the PIAT, to see if he could silence the gun. On their second try, they were successful and Private Carrière thus earned the Military Medal.

 A new threat arose, this time from the north. A German tank was rumbling down the road heading for the viaduct. Thoughts of becoming a prisoner of war flashed through my mind until, miraculously, a rocket-firing Typhoon appeared on the scene. While the tank was not destroyed, it quickly reversed direction.

The promised relief by the British was not in sight. What was to be a one-hour excursion on Walcheren stretched to ten before we got word to withdraw regardless, at 1400 hours. We later learned that the British brigade commander of a force trained as mountain troops but who received its baptism of fire below sea level, had taken the view that he would not commit more troops to the relief operation that there were Canadians desperately hanging on the perilous bridgehead.

The word was passed to Lieutenant Forbes. It was a "sauve-qui-peut" - every man for himself. The race, in reverse this time was carried out in broad daylight, along the railroad bank from which the enemy could lob grenades and snipers, across the open field, had a clear view of moving targets. There were more Canadian casualties helping each other in the rearward flight.

I ensured that the last acknowledged member of my depleted platoon had passed by. One man, Private Fortier, was left behind because of his serious wounds. He was possibly cared for by the Germans before their capitulation, for he died later, having been evacuated to England. Lieutenant Forbes and his handful of men left later in the afternoon, suffering through the same gauntlet of fire. At the western end of the causeway, a platoon of British soldiers was deployed around the crater.

My mind numbed and physically exhausted, I finally reached the far end of this miserable causeway where our company quartermaster was mercifully greeting the survivors. I emptied the cupful of rum he handed me. I do not recall anything about the delayed move to the rest area at Lierre.¹

Aftermath

On 2 November 1944 the 2nd Division was pulled out of the line for a period of protracted rest, eventually joining the First Canadian Army in the Nijmegen Salient. The Calgary Highlanders suffered 64 men killed, wounded or missing during the Battle of Walcheren Causeway.

The battle is still commemorated annually by The Calgary Highlanders. Representatives and members of the local Dutch community in Calgary are usually invited to attend the ceremonies.

A permanent monument was erected at the site of the causeway itself and dedicated in the 1980s. The causeway no longer exists as such; land on both sides of the former railway embankment has been reclaimed and the Sloe Channel is now farmland. Remnants of German concrete fortifications still exist both on Walcheren Island and South Beveland.

In the 21st Century, the monuments were relocated due to rail and road construction. A large monument dedicated to the French troops that fought a battle there in May 1940 predominates, overlooking memorials to both the 52nd (Lowland) Division and the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade who fought in and around the island in the autumn of 1944.

Battle Honours

The following Canadian units were awarded the Battle Honour "Walcheren Causeway" for participation in these actions:

5th Canadian Infantry Brigade

• The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada

• Le Régiment de Maisonneuve

• The Calgary Highlanders

See also:

Battle of Walcheren Causeway depicted in Netflix film The Forgotten Battle

References

• Bercuson, David Jay Battalion of Heroes: the Calgary Highlanders in World War II Calgary Highlanders Regimental Funds Foundation,Calgary, AB, 1994.
• Calgary Highlanders War Diary
• Copp, Terry The Brigade: the Fifth Canadian Infantry Brigade, 1939-45 Fortress Publications, Stoney Creek, ON, 1992.
• Farran, Roy Alexander The History of the Calgary Highlanders, 1921-54 Bryant Press, Calgary, AB, 1955.  pp.174-175
• Holm, Frank P. A Backwards Glance: The Personal Story of an Infantry Signaller With The Calgary Highlanders in World War II Frank P. Holm, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, 1989.
• Kaufman, David and Michiel Horn. A Liberation Album: Canadians in the Netherlands 1944-45. The Bryant Press Ltd, 1980 ISBN 0070924295

Notes

1. Merlis, Guy "Walcheren Causeway Revisited" Canadian Military Journal Volume 3, Issue 2