Operation Infatuate - Background

Background

The city of Antwerp and its port was captured by British 2nd Army in early September 1944. While 21st Army Group's priority at the time was Operation Market-Garden, no sense of urgency was placed in securing the approaches to the port facilities there. Walcheren Island, at the western end of the Beveland Peninsula, overlooked the Scheldt Estuary, and was strongly garrisoned by the German 15th Army who had emplaced strong concrete fortifications and large calibre guns which made it impossible to transit the waterway into Antwerp.

The First Canadian Army was tasked by 21st Army Group to open the Antwerp area, but in the meantime had been also detailed to capture the channel ports of Boulogne and Calais, in order to ease the logistical concerns associated with drawing supplies from the Normandy beaches. German tenacity in the channel ports meant that the Allied supply lines would continue to extend the further away the front line advanced. The channel ports were eventually "masked" when the Canadian army failed to take the ports, and attention turned to the Battle of the Scheldt. The 1st Canadian Army advanced north-west from the bridgehead in Antwerp and, after heavy fighting in early and mid-October, broke out onto the narrow isthmus which connected South-Beveland to the mainland.

On the 9 October 1944 Field Marshal Montgomery finally issued a directive giving priority to the clearing of the Scheldt and ten days later the Canadians began their approach to Walcheren Island along the isthmus. To the south of the Scheldt, the Germans had been cornered in Zeebrugge, surrendering the Breskens Pocket on November 2. Both South and North-Beveland had been virtually cleared and the time was right for the assault of Walcheren itself. For the Allies, failure to take Middleburg after the Battle of Walcheren Causeway was a disappointing prelude to Operation Infatuate.