The Liberation Of The Netherlands
The Liberation of Netherlands was started by the British and American armies in the September of 1944, and completed by the 1st Canadian army on May 5, 1945. The Canadian army was assigned to clearing the Schelt to allow the use of the Antwerp port. After that was completed, it launched an offensive on the Rhineland, a major German defence spot. Then they liberated the rest of Netherlands while the Allies finished off the Germans.
The small country of Netherlands had been occupied since May 15, 1940. It had surrendered after the bombing of Rotterdam the day before. The Dutch population had been through many hardships such as starvation, the attempt at eliminating the Jews, and the conscription of their young men to the Germany army. The Netherlands had felt the full force of the German's hunger plan during the war.
The Liberation of Netherlands was given in part to the 1st Canadian army, commanded by Lieutenant General Guy Simonds. The 1st Canadian army was an international army which consisted of the 2nd Canadian corps, the 1st British corps, 1st Polish armoured division plus other American, Belgian, and Dutch troops. The entire army consisted of 200,000 to 450,000 soldiers, 105,000 to 175,000 of them being Canadians.
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The first task that the 1st Canadian army was assigned to was to clear the Schelt. The Schelt is the land and channel around the Antwerp port. It had been previously liberated by the 1st British army but was of no use until the channel and land around it was cleared of the German army. The south was secured on November 3rd after an amphibious attack where they used many amphibious vehicles such as the British 'Terrapin'. The next part was to liberate the island of Walcheren. The lowlands of the island were too flooded to go by foot and were too shallow to take boats, causing the battle to be tedious and slow. The island's capital, Middleburg was liberated November 8. The battle of the Schelt lasted from October 1st to November 8. There were 12, 873 casualties, 6,367 of them Canadians.
After the Schelt was cleared the 1st Canadian army was assigned to the Rhineland, where they had to hold 360 kilometres of land, from the south of Nijmegen to Dunkirk in France. The Rhineland itself consisted of the land between the Mass River and the Nijmegan Salient. On February 8, 1945, they launched the offensive under the code name “Veritable”. The attack was mostly amphibious and sometimes the men had to wade through over one meter of water, earning them (the 3rd Canadian infantry division) the nickname of “Water Rats”. Once the Rhineland was secured British troops crossed the Rhine (river) along with the 8th Canadian infantry division, but the 1st Canadian army stayed behind to finish the Liberation of The Netherlands. Throughout the battle of the Rhine there were 15,634 causalities, 5,304 of them being Canadian.
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The Final Phase, Securing North West Europe. The 1st Canadian army was assigned to finishing the liberation of The Netherlands. On April 14th the first concentration camp, called Westbrook, was liberated by the 2nd Canadian division. As they slowly liberated The Netherlands it was revealed how harsh the Germans hunger plan had been. “I experienced the liberation of Holland with the Canadian troops, and we saw all the good reasons why we were in there to save the people, and all the bad stuff that the Germans had left for us to clean up. Getting the people fed and all that.” said William Booth, a Canadian soldier when describing the liberation. The fighting ended May 5, 1945 and the official surrender of Germany was on May 7.
The Liberation of Netherlands took over a year to complete, started by the British and American armies in the September of 1944 and finished only 2 days before the war ended on May 5 1945. Over 7,600 Canadian soldiers were given to the cause. The Canadian army made great sacrifices for the liberation of Netherlands, for they displayed much valour and bravery and deserve to be remembered till the end of time.
Allan Robert Peter, a Veteran of the scheldt
Allan Robert Peter was a young man when he joined up. He was a brother to one sister and had no brothers. He was a corporal with the 17th Duke of York Royal Canadian Hussars. His father also served in WWII and for a while they were together on the front. They also took their leave together. Both Allan and his father survived the war.
Works Cited:
--, Canada-Netherlands Pays. Canada, veteran affairs Canada. 2005. Print
Bishop, Chris. The encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Ontario, Orbis Publishing ltd, 1998. Print
Sturgeon, Alison. Word War II, The definitive history. New York. DK Publishing, 2009. Print
--, Canadian War museum. Ontario. Canada museum of history. http://www.warmuseum.ca. Webpage.
--, The Memory Project. Historica Canada. 2014. http://www.thememoryproject.com. Webpage.
--, Vetrans Affairs Canada. Canada. 2014. http://www.veterans.gc.ca Webpage.