3/14/2024 0 Comments Battle islands![]() ![]() A paved road also ran the length of the causeway, which was about 40 metres wide and a kilometer long. The causeway carried a rail line from the mainland onto the island and to the port of Vlissingen (or Flushing, as it was known in English). A narrow causeway connected the two, known to the Dutch as the Sloedam (it literally dammed the Sloe Channel) and in English as the Walcheren Causeway. 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.Ī feature known as the Sloe Channel separated the island of Walcheren from the South Beveland isthmus. Because of its port capacity Antwerp became the immediate objective of the British 21st Army Group commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. 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. 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. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |