Battle of Walcheren Causeway 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 forming Operation Infatuate during the Scheldt battles . Strategic Importance . 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 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 . Prelude . 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 made possession of Antwerp irrelevant as far as easing Allied 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 . The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division had marched west down the South Beveland isthmus and by the 31st had cleared all German opposition from South Beveland . Walcheren Island was connected to South Beveland by a narrow causeway , 40 metres wide and 1600 metres long . Plans to employ assault boats over the Sloe Channel were thwarted by muddy conditions unsuitable for water craft . The Calgary Highlanders had been selected for this amphibious operation , as they had received stormboat training in the UK in anticipation of an opposed water crossing of the Seine River , which invasion planners had predicted would be necessary approximately 90 days after the landings in Normandy . In the event , the ground was too boggy to employ the boats , and the Highlanders were utilized as conventional infantry in a landward attack directly over the causeway . Battle . " C " Company of the The Black Watch ( Royal Highland Regiment ) of Canada took heavy casualties on the afternoon and evening of 31 October 1944 in an attempt to " bounce " the Causeway . During their attack , the existence of a deep crater on the causeway was discovered ; this crater had been blown by German engineers as an anti - tank obstacle . It was later utilized by the Canadians as a company command post during the battle as it developed . " B " Company of The Calgary Highlanders were ordered forward just before midnight and were similarly stopped halfway down the causeway . A new fireplan was drawn up and Major Bruce McKenzie ' s " D " Company inched forward under intensive gunfire , reaching the west end , and securing it , at dawn on 1 November . German counter - attacks were heavy and prolonged , and included the use of flame weapons on the Canadians . At one point , all Calgary Highlander officers in one company were wounded or killed , and the brigade major , George Hees took command of a company . Company Sergeant Major " Blackie " Laloge of the Calgary Highlanders was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions at Walcheren Causeway , at one point throwing back German hand grenades before they could explode amongst his men . Two platoons of Le Régiment de Maisonneuve took over the bridgehead on Walcheren Island on 2 November , but were forced back onto the Causeway . A battalion of Glasgow Highlanders were ordered to pass through , but they also were unable to expand the bridgehead on the island . Aftermath . Landings by British Commandos of the 4th Commando Brigade eventually sealed the fate of the German defenders on Walcheren Island , attacking from seaward at Flushing and Westkapelle . The battle for the causeway itself had been a costly , and ultimately unnecessary , diversion . The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division went into reserve in the first week of November , moving into the Nijmegen Salient for the winter . The Calgary Highlanders suffered 64 casualties in the 3 days of fighting at Walcheren Causeway . Le Regiment de Maisonneuve had one man killed and 10 wounded . The Black Watch suffered 85 casualties in the period 14 October to 1 November 1944 , the bulk of them suffered on the causeway . Legacy . The Battle of Walcheren Causeway is commemorated annually by The Calgary Highlanders and Regimental Pipes and Drums with a parade and church service on the Wednesday night or weekend closest to the anniversary of the battle . Representatives and members of the local Dutch community in Calgary are usually invited to attend the service . The battle was selected from among the Regiment ' s 20 Second World War battle honours as being most representative of the spirit of determination displayed by the unit ' s forerunners , the 10th Battalion , CEF , whose counterattack at St . Julien during the Second Battle of Ypres is also commemorated annually by the Regiment . A permanent monument was erected at the causeway and dedicated in the 1980s . The causeway itself 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 there in the autumn of 1944 . Other battles . Brief fighting had occurred in the vicinity of the causeway and Arnemuiden in May 1940 during the German invasion of the Netherlands .