BATTLE OF THE SCHELDT

Battle of the Scheldt: The Devil’s Moat

The Battle of the Scheldt covers the fighting between the First Canadian Army and the Fifteenth German Army in November 1944. The Canadians had to clear the area so that the docks of Antwerp could be used to supply the Allied armies, then still dependent on truck convoys from the Normandy bridgeheads. The Germans were attempting to delay this as long as possible, having set up formidable defenses covering the obvious approach routes, using pre-sited artillery, snipers and mines to break up the Allied advance even before it reached the main line.