WALCHEREN 1 9 44 Storming Hitler's island fortress RICHARD BROOKS ILLUSTRATED BY GRAHAM TURNER ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR RICHARD BROOKS is a freelance military historian with a BA in Modern History from Oxford University and an MSc in International Relations from Southampton University. With numerous published books and articles, his recent work includes Cassell's Battlefields of Britain and Ireland (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2005), The Royal Marines: 1664 to the Present (Constable & Robinson, 2002) and Campaign 207: Solferino 1859 (Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2009). GRAHAM TURNER is a leading historical artist, specializing in the medieval period. He has illustrated numerous titles for Osprey, covering a wide variety of subjects from the dress of the 10th-century armies of the Caliphates, through the action of bloody medieval battles, to the daily life of the British Redcoat of the late 18th century. The son of the illustrator Michael Turner, Graham lives and works in Buckinghamshire, UK. CAMPAIGN • 235 WALCHEREN 1944 Storming Hitler's island fortress RICHARD BROOKS ILLUSTRATED BY GRAHAM TURNER Series editor Marcus Cowper First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Osprey Publishing, ARTIST'S NOTE Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford 0X2 OPH, UK 44-02 23rd St, Suite 219, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the colour plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. E-mail: [email protected] The Publishers retain all reproduction copyright whatsoever. All enquiries should be addressed to: OSPREY PUBLISHING IS PART OF THE OSPREY GROUP Graham Turner, P0 Box 568, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP17 8EX, UK The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon © 2011 Osprey Publishing Ltd this matter. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be The author would like to thank the following for their invaluable assistance: reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form John Ambler and Matthew Little of the Royal Marines Museum; Major or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, J. C. Beadle MBE MC; Kate Brett and Jenny Wraight of the Naval Historical photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission Branch; Ken Brooks; David Carson; Paul M. Crucq; David Fletcher of of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers. the Royal Tank Regiment Museum; J. N. Houterman; Jeff James; Roger Mountford; Dick Pool; J. Ruissen; Hans Sakkers; Colonel W. Townend RA; Alison Wareham, Margaret Newman and Stephen Courtenay of the Royal A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Naval Museum; the Reading Room staff at the Imperial War Museum; the Zeeuwse Bibliotheek/Beeldbank, Middelburg. ISBN: 978 1 84908 237 2 E-book ISBN: 978 1 84908 238 9 AUTHOR'S NOTE Allied military operations in Walcheren were conducted by First Canadian Editorial by llios Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK (www.iliospublishing.com) Army and II Canadian Corps, which included units of many nationalities. Page layout by: The Black Spot The terms British and Canadian, therefore, refer specifically to units of those Index by Mike Parkin nationalities, and Allied to mixed activities or formations, including the Typeset in Sabon and Myriad Pro whole Allied Expeditionary Force. Maps by Bounford.com The Dutch name is used throughout for the river Schelde, also known 3D bird's-eye views by The Black Spot as the Scheldt or Escaut, and Vlissingen, referred to as Flushing in older Battlescene illustrations by Graham Turner English accounts. Originated by PDQ Media 'Commando' with a capital means a unit; 'commando' means a member Printed in China through Worldprint of such a unit. Commando units used cardinal numbers, e.g. 48 (RM) Commando, pronounced four-eight. Army units are identified in full by 1011 12 13 14 1098765432 1 ordinal numbers, e.g. 7th/9th Battalion The Royal Scots, or cardinal numbers when abbreviated, e.g. 4 K0SB. www.ospreypublishing.com THE WOODLAND TRUST Osprey Publishing are supporting the Woodland Trust, the UK's leading woodland conservation charity, by funding the dedication of trees, www.ospreypublishing. Key to military symbols • • • X XXXX xxxx XXX XX • • • • Army Group QArmy • • Brigade Regiment 1 m ga • •Comp any/Battery Squad Infantry Q B H E3 P s Unit HQ Air transportable Amphibious Eg Ep E3 H o ED IP Headquarters BB DD m m EE .03 Medical Missile Navy Nuclear, biological, Parachute s o [®] EE EE @L Signal Supply Transport Rocket artillery Air defence artiller CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 CHRONOLOGY 8 OPPOSING COMMANDERS 10 Allied . German OPPOSING FORCES 13 Allied . German - Orders of battle OPPOSING PLANS 23 Walcheren and the Schelde . Allied . German THE WALCHEREN CAMPAIGN 27 Shaping the battlefield . Infatuate I: the landing at Vlissingen Infatuate II: the landing at Westkapelle . Storming the batteries I: Zuiderduin and Domburg Clearing Vlissingen . Storming the batteries II: Dishoek . Bridgehead logistics The surrender of Middelburg - Last stand in the north AFTER THE BATTLE 89 THE BATTLEFIELD TODAY 92 FURTHER READING 93 GLOSSARY 94 INDEX 95 Schouwen rt> O North Sea rt) S3 S3 QfQ /rouwenpolder® North Beveland Oosterschelde cr Naval Force I (Eastern Schelde) rD C/5 Operation Westkapelle Walcheren Roosendaal® 0 Infatuate II tr 1 Nov Middelburg ChLu Cb Bergen op Zoom Operation Oosterschelde C/5 Mallard rt> South Beveland r-K CD Sloe Channel I 3 Operation Infatuate I South Beveland a* Ostend 1 Nov Ship Canal Vitality I rD 14 miles (22km) Wielingen Channel Breskens Westerschelde 1 (Western Schelde) o Westerschelde < rD 3 jebrugge SOwpitecrhabtiaocnk arHD"t Terneuzen ^sO Zeeuwsch Vlaanderen (Breskens Pocke|^.^/ NETHERLANDS Leopold Canal Antwerp xxxx BELGIUM - - - • Allied operations preceding main assault < Main assault 10 miles 10km INTRODUCTION The liberation of the Dutch island of Walcheren in November 1944, and the opening of the river Schelde, was the most significant event of the war in North-west Europe between the Normandy breakout in August of that year and the defeat of the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes the following January. It was the last great amphibious operation conducted in European waters during World War II, launched head-on against the most strongly defended stretch of coastline in the world. For the first time since the ill-starred attempt on Dieppe in 1942, a fortified harbour was assaulted, and taken. The campaign was an epic of military professionalism and raw courage, set against one of the most bizarre backdrops of the war, a sunken island surrounded by sand dunes, 30-70ft (9-21m) high, encrusted with concrete bunkers. Today it is largely forgotten, outside Walcheren itself, a dwindling band of veterans and the Royal Marines. Without it, however, the Western Allies' campaign in Europe would have faltered, and might have died. Walcheren mattered because its coastal batteries and the minefields that they protected blocked maritime access to Antwerp, Europe's second-largest port and 70 miles (113km) from the open sea. Before the war, 11,000 sea- going ships and 44,000 river craft had entered Antwerp every year. Thanks to the Belgian Resistance, the British 11th Armoured Division captured the city intact on 4 September, with its numberless cranes and miles of wharves. A scene from the Pacific war transferred to North-west Europe: Buffalo amphibians loaded with Marines swim ashore from an LCT off the Walcheren landing beaches, * <2* - > , 1 November 1944. (Photo © Trustees of the Royal Marines Museum) 5 The ultimate objective of the assault on Walcheren: Antwerp's Kattendijk Dock packed with shipping before the war. Captured intact in September 1944, Antwerp was not open to seaborne traffic until December. (Postcard from Author's collection) At that time, Allied land forces were still supplied over the Normandy beaches. Allied bombing or German demolition had wrecked every port from Cherbourg to Ostend. As supply lines lengthened, the Allies faced operational paralysis, unable to nourish their existing formations with ammunition and fuel, or to bring fresh American divisions into play. Three US divisions and two British sat idly in Normandy, their trucks taken away to supply the front line. Landing craft, desperately needed in the Far East, were still occupied shipping military stores across the English Channel. At any moment autumn gales might wreck the fragile Mulberry harbour at Arromanches, cutting off the flow of supplies altogether. Opening Antwerp would cut 300 miles (480km) off Allied lines of communications. Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, whose 21st Army Group was responsible for clearing the Channel coast, was slow to take up the challenge of opening the Schelde. His own forces were better placed than the Americans to exploit what few supplies came through the Channel ports. He personally was more focused on ambitious plans for an airborne and armoured thrust across the Rhine, known as Operation Market Garden, to win the war by Christmas. The dangerous and less glamorous job of securing the approaches to Antwerp was left to First Canadian Army. Even after the failure of Market Garden on 26 September, 21st Army Group denied the Canadians priority for artillery ammunition, despite increasing pressure from General Eisenhower, the Allied Supreme Commander. Not until mid-October, following a bruising series of high-level exchanges, did Montgomery accept the overriding need to open the Schelde to Allied shipping. On the 5th, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay RN, Eisenhower's naval deputy, lambasted Montgomery's uncharacteristic improvidence at a conference involving Eisenhower and Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the most senior post in the British Army. On the 9th, Eisenhower forecast that all Allied operations from Switzerland to the Channel would stop unless Antwerp was operational by mid-November. Finally, Montgomery issued new directives to his army commanders on 16 October, recognizing that free use of Antwerp was vital to the Allied cause. Operations to open the port should take priority over all other offensive activity within 21st Army Group. Later Montgomery admitted he had made 6 The Allied command team off Normandy in June 1944: Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey on the left, with Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery. The Walcheren campaign was Ramsey's brainchild, fostered upon an unwilling Montgomery. (Photo © Trustees of the Royal Naval Museum) a big mistake in not paying the Schelde more attention. Had 11th Armoured Division pushed on immediately into the South Beveland Peninsula, which it had the petrol to do, Walcheren might have fallen two months sooner, with far fewer casualties. While Montgomery drove north-east instead of north-west, large numbers of German troops who had been defending the Channel coast got away. In the weeks following the loss of Antwerp, the German Fifteenth Army ferried nine divisions back across the Schelde: a total of 90,000 men, 625 guns and 6,800 vehicles (with their horses). One division remained on the south bank around Breskens. Another occupied Walcheren itself. The others helped form a new German line north of Antwerp. This had to be rolled back before Walcheren itself could be attacked, a task which took the Canadian infantry most of October. Meanwhile, despite 21st Army Group's obstruction, the Royal Navy, the RAF and First Canadian Army had taken the first steps towards the liberation of Walcheren. 7 CHRONOLOGY 1944 6 October Operation Switchback: 3rd Canadian Division Operation Overlord: assaults Leopold June 6 Allied armies land in Canal. Normandy. 7 October RAF Bomber Allies break out of Command breaches sea August 20 Normandy and pursue dykes east and west of the Germans Vlissingen. northwards. 11 October RAF Bomber September 4 British 11th Armoured Command breaches sea Division captures dyke at Veere. Antwerp. 16 October Montgomery gives September 17 Operation Market clearing the Schelde Garden: battle of top priority. Arnhem begins. 22 October Operation Switchback: September 23 German Fifteenth 3rd Canadian Division Army completes escape takes Breskens. across river Schelde. 24 October Operation Vitality: 2nd September 26 Operation Market Canadian Division Garden: battle of attacks the South Arnhem ends. Beveland isthmus. October 3 RAF Bomber 26 October Operation Vitality: Command breaches sea 52nd (Lowland) dyke at Westkapelle. Division lands in South Beveland. 5 October Admiral Ramsay 'lambastes' 27 October Operation Infatuate: Montgomery for not Naval Force T' clearing Schelde. assembles at Ostend. 8