4th Special Service Brigade - Walcheren Islands

Walcheren Islands

On September 27 the Brigade was withdrawn to an assembly area in De Haan, Belgium. They then prepared for another amphibious assault, on the Dutch island of Walcheren. The island lay at the mouth of the Scheldt River, which ran from Antwerp to the sea. Until the island and the northern banks of the river were occupied, the port of Antwerp could not be used to support the Allied advance. On October 3 Allied bombers breached the dykes at Westkapelle, Flushing, and Veere, flooding the island leaving only a few dry areas around the perimeter of the island, greatly restricting the Germans’ freedom of movement.

The 4th Special Service Brigade formed the seaborne element of the attack while British and Canadian infantry attacked overland from the mainland. This time the commandos came ashore in Landing Vehicle Tracked, which had already proven their value in the Pacific campaign. 41 Commando was tasked with assaulting the town of Westkapelle then to move north along the causeway to Domburg. Just to their south 48 Commando took on a radar station and naval gun battery, while 47 completed the encirclement of the western part of the island by moving south towards Flushing.

The brigade would spend the rest of the war making raids across the Maas River in Operation Incalculable and Operation Bogart. After occupation duties in Germany the Brigade returned to the United Kingdom in 1946 and was disbanded.