page_title: Battle of the Scheldt
section_title: Battle of Walcheren Causeway
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Scheldt / Battle / Operation Infatuate / Battle of Walcheren Causeway
caption_attribution_description: English: The Battle for Walcheren Island: Men of the 4th Special Service Brigade wade ashore from landing craft near Flushing to complete the occupation of Walcheren.
context_page_description: The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Canadian, Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Allies in north-west Europe. Under acting command of the First Canadian's Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds, the battle took place in northern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands from October 2 to November 8, 1944.
  The well-established Wehrmacht defenders staged an effective delaying action, during which the Germans flooded land areas in the Scheldt estuary, slowing the Allied advance. After five weeks of difficult fighting, the Canadian First Army, at a cost of 12,873 Allied casualties, was successful in clearing the Scheldt after numerous amphibious assaults, obstacle crossings, and costly assaults over open ground.
  Once the German defenders were no longer a threat, it was a further three weeks – November 29, 1944 – before the first convoy carrying Allied supplies was able to unload in Antwerp due to the necessity of de-mining the harbours.
context_section_description: The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division attacked the Sloedam causeway on October 31. Post-war controversy exists around the claim that there was a "race" within the 2nd Division for the first regiment to take the causeway to Walcheren island, implying that the failure to take the causeway on October 31 was due to reckless determination to win the "race". Colonel C.P. Stacey wrote about the "race" in the official history of the Canadian Army, a charge that was vehemently disputed by Copp and Vogel in the Maple Leaf Route.
  The 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division had advanced rapidly up to the causeway, which led to Brigadier Keefler giving orders to take the causeway while the task of taking the Beveland end of the causeway had been given to the 52nd Division. The Royal Regiment took the eastern end of the causeway in a night attack. As there seemed an actual chance of taking the entire causeway, orders were sent to the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division to launch an attack, to be led by the "jinxed" Black Watch who were to advance down the causeway while the Calgary Highlanders and Le Régiment de Maisonneuve were to advance by boat. An initial attack by the Black Watch was rebuffed while it discovered the waters in the channel were too shallow for the 2nd Division to cross it, leaving a company of the Black Watch stranded on the causeway under heavy German attack. The Calgary Highlanders then sent a company over which was also stopped halfway across the causeway. During a second attack on the morning of November 1, the Highlanders managed to gain a precarious foothold. A day of fighting followed and then the Highlanders were relieved by the Régiment de Maisonneuve, who struggled to maintain the bridgehead. The Régiment de Maisonneuve finally did secure the bridgehead, only to find that it was useless for an advance, since the German defenses in the polderland were too entrenched for an advance to be made.
  General Foulkes ordered Major-General Hakewill-Smith to launch the 52nd Division into a frontal attack on Walcheren, which Hakewill-Smith protested strongly. The "Maisies" withdrew onto the Causeway on November 2, to be relieved by the 1st Battalion, Glasgow Highlanders of the 52nd Division. Instead of launching a frontal attack as ordered by Foulkes, Hakewill-Smith outflanked the Germans by landing the Cameronian regiment at the village of Nieuwdorp, two miles south of the causeway, and linked up with the Glasgow Highlanders the next day. In conjunction with the waterborne attacks, the 52nd continued the advance. The battle for the causeway had caused the 2nd Division 135 dead in what has become of the most controversial operations of the 2nd Division, with much criticism centering on the decisions of Foulkes. Despite the fact that Lieutenant-General Simonds and Foulkes were both British immigrants to Canada, the two detested one another and Simonds often spoke of his wish to sack Foulkes, believing him to be incompetent.
  Because of port shortage, Captain Pugsley of the Royal Navy had to improvise heavily to provide the necessary shipping for the landings on Walcheren island. Despite the refusal of Bomber Command to strike various German fortifications on Walcheren, opening up the Scheldt was regarded as so important that during a meeting on October 31 between Simonds, Foulkes, and Admiral Ramsay, it was decided that the landings on Walcheren were to go ahead. Captain Pugsley, aboard the command ship HMS Kingsmill, was given the final decision, with orders to cancel the operation if he thought it was too risky. At the same time, Simonds ordered two Canadian artillery regiments to concentrate 300 guns on the mainland, to provide fire support for the landings. The amphibious landings were conducted in two parts on November 1.
caption: Royal Marines wade ashore near Vlissingen to complete the occupation of Walcheren on November 1, 1944.
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