The Victory Campaign

Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War

Volume III

The Victory Campaign

The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944-1945

By

Colonel C.P. Stacey,

O.B.E., C.D., A.M., PH.D., LL.D., F.R.S.C.

Director, Historical Section, General Staff

Maps drawn by

Major C.C.J. Bond

Published by Authority of the Minister of National Defence

Roger Duhamel, F.R.S.C., Ottawa, 1966

Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery

©Crown Copyrights reserved

NOTE

In the writing of this volume the author has been given full access to relevant official documents in possession of the Department of National Defence; but the inferences drawn and the opinions expressed are those of the author himself, and the Department is in no way responsible for his reading or presentation of the facts as stated.

In the Falaise Gap, August 1944

From a watercolour by Major W.A. Ogilvie, M.B.E.

Men of the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade moving forward through the debris of the German armies.

In the centre is a 7.62-cm. self-propelled gun. Painted on the spot near Ecorches.

The German Reaction to the Assault 121
The 7th Brigade Advances to the Final Objectives 125
The 9th Brigade Thrown Back 126
The 8th Brigade on 7 June 134
The Attacks on the 7th Brigade: Putot-en-Bessin and Bretteville-l'Orgueilleuse 135
The Failure at Le Mesnil-Patry 139
General Montgomery Directs the Battle 141
The Battle of the Odon 147
The Situation at the End of June 150

VII.NORMANDY: THE BATTLES OF CAEN AND BOURGUEBUS BRIDGE, 1-23 JULY 1944

A Momentary Pause 152
The Capture of Carpiquet 153
Theatre Strategy and the Use of Heavy Bombers 155
The Action of the Orne: The Capture of Caen 157
The Situation After the Capture of Caen 164
Operation "GOODWOOD": The Battle of Bourguébus Ridge 166
Operation "ATLANTIC": The Capture of Colombelles and Vaucelles 170
Canadian Operations on 19 July 173
The Last Phase of "ATLANTIC" 174
The Results of "GOODWOOD" and "ATLANTIC" 176

VIII.NORMANDY: THE BREAKOUT BEGINS, 24-31 JULY 1944

Montgomery's Orders for the Breakout 181
Operation "SPRING": The Action of Verrières Ridge-Tilly-la-Campagne 186
Operation "SPRING": The 3rd Division Front 189
Operation "SPRING": The 2nd Division Front 190
The Operation Is Suspended 192
First Canadian Army in the Line 196
Strategic Policy in the Last Days of July 198

IX.NORMANDY: THE FALAISE ROAD, 1-12 AUGUST 1944

The Situation at 1 August 203
"Prodding" South of Caen 204
Planning the Breakout Attack 207
Air Support for "TOTALIZE" 211
The Führer Intervenes 213
The First Phase of "TOTALIZE" 216
The Second Phase of "TOTALIZE" 222

X.NORMANDY: VICTORY AT FALAISE, 12-23 AUGUST 1944

The German Counter-Offensive and the Allied Change of Plan 232
Preparations for Operation "TRACTABLE" 236
The Action of the Laison 238
The Drive Continues Towards Falaise 245
The Action of Chambois: The Closing of the Gap 256
The 1st British Corps Drives Eastward 265
Plans for the Advance to the Seine 266
The Landings in Southern France 268

XI.NORMANDY: THE BALANCE SHEET

The German Losses and Our Own 270
The Rival Strategies 271
On the Battlefield in Normandy 274
The Significance of Normandy 277

XII.THE PURSUIT ACROSS THE SEINE, 23-30 AUGUST 1944

Advancing Towards the Seine 279
The Infantry Reinforcement Problem Appears 284
The Forêt de la Londe 287

XIII.ANTWERP, ARNHEM AND SOME CONTROVERSIES, AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 1944

The Pursuit to the Somme and Antwerp 296
The Germans Lose Antwerp but Save an Army 301
A Difficulty with the C.in-C. 303
The Debate on Strategy 306
The Failure at Arnhem 310

XIV.CLEARING THE COASTAL BELT AND THE PORTS, SEPTEMBER 1944

The Advance Beyond the Somme 323
The Need for the Channel Ports 329
Operation "ASTONIA": The Capture of Le Havre 331
Operation "WELLHIT": The Capture of Boulogne 336
Operation "UNDERGO": The Capture of Calais 344
The Cape Gris Nez Batteries 352
Clearing the Flying-Bomb Sites 354

XV.THE BATTLE OF THE SCHELDT, SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER 1944 PART I: PLANNING, AND OPERATIONS NORTH OF ANTWERP

The Task is Assigned 358
Fighting on the Scheldt Outworks 361
Polish Operations South of the Scheldt 364
The 2nd Division in the Antwerp Sector 365
Planning the Scheldt Battle 369
Special Problems of Planning 373
The Final Plan for the Scheldt Battle 378
Fighting North from Antwerp 381
The Shortage of Trained Infantrymen 385
Strategic Discussion and a New Priority 386

XVI.THE BATTLE OF THE SCHELDT, SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER 1944 PART II: BRESKENS, SOUTH BEVELAND, WALCHEREN

Operation "SWITCHBACK": Clearing the Breskens Pocket 392
The Attack Across the Leopold Canal 393
The Assault Across the Braakman 395
Operation "VITALITY": The Clearing of South Beveland 401
The Fight for the Walcheren Causeway 403
Preparations for the Landings on Walcheren 406
The Final Plan and the Decision to Assault 412
The Assault on Flushing 414
The Assault at Westkapelle 416
The End of the Battle 421

XVII.WINTER ON THE MAAS, 9 NOVEMBER 1944-7 FEBRUARY 1945

Strategy for the Next Phase 427
Schouwen and the Salient 430
Life in the Line 434
Planning the Rhineland Offensive 436
The Ardennes Offensive and Its Results 440
The Other Side of the Maas 444
The Fighting at Kapelsche Veer 450
Planning for "VERITABLE" is Resumed 455
The Administrative Foundation 457

XVIII.THE BATTLE OF THE RHINELAND PART I: OPERATION "VERITABLE", 8-21 FEBRUARY 1945

The Battle Area 460
The Enemy's Defences 461
The Pattern of "VERITABLE" 464
First Canadian Army Goes Into Germany 467
The Siegfried Line is Breached 472
Through the Materborn Gap 474
Advance Through the Floods 479
The 2nd Canadian Corps Enters the Battle 481
Clearing Moyland Wood 482
The Goch-Calcar Road 486
The Capture of Goch 489

XIX.THE BATTLE OF THE RHINELAND PART II: OPERATION "BLOCKBUSTER", 22 FEBRUARY-10 MARCH 1945

Plans for a Renewed Offensive 491
On the Enemy Side 494
"BLOCKBUSTER" Goes In 496
The Fighting for Üdem 502
The Battle for the Hochwald 503
The Enemy's Plight 509
The Struggle in the Gap 510
Eastward from the Hochwald 514
The Capture of Xanten and Veen 516
The Rhineland Victory 521

XX.THE RHINE CROSSING AND THE 2nd CORPS' ADVANCE TO THE NORTH SEA, 23 MARCH-22 APRIL 1945

Strategy: Malta and Yalta 527
The 1st Corps Arrives from Italy 529
Planning Operation "PLUNDER" 530
The Watch on the Rhine 533
The Crossing of the Rhine: The Assault 534
The 9th Brigade Beyond the Rhine 537
Beginning the Northern Drive: Emmerich and Hoch Elten 539
Strategy for the Final Phase 543
The Re-Entry of First Canadian Army 545
Zutphen and Deventer 548
Operation "CANNONSHOT": Crossing the Ijssel 551
On to the North Sea 552
The Advance to the Küsten Canal 557
Preparations for the Final Phase 562

XXI.THE 1st CORPS IN THE WESTERN NETHERLANDS, 1-22 APRIL 1945

Problems of an Assault Across the Neder Rijn 564
Operation "DESTROYER": Clearing the "Island" 567
Intermission: Preparations for Further Operations 568
The Capture of Arnhem and a Revision of Strategy 570
The Capture of Apeldoorn 573
Operation "CLEANSER": The Drive to the Ijsselmeer 576
Operations on the Left Flank, 15-19 April 580
The Problem of Dutch Relief 581
The Halt in the Western Netherlands 587

XXII.THE GERMAN SURRENDER

Canadian Tasks for the Final Phase 590
The Fight for Delfzijl 591
Across the Ems and the Leda 594
The Advance into the Emden-Wilhelmshaven Peninsula 597
The Advance to Oldenburg 601
The Parachute Battalion Marches to Wismar 603
Help for the Western Netherlands 606
The German Surrender 609

XXIII.THE AFTERMATH OF THE GERMAN SURRENDER

Implementing the Surrender 613
Morale and Repatriation 615
The Canadian Army Occupation Force 619

XXIV.ADMINISTRATION, AND SOME SPECIAL ACTIVITIES AND PROBLEM

Canadian Administration in North-West Europe 623
The 1st and 2nd Echelons 628
The Reinforcement Organization 630
The "Canloan" Scheme 633
Canadians and the European "Resistance" 635
Civil Affairs and Military Government Officers 638
No. 1 Canadian Forestry Group 639

CONCLUSION 641

APPENDICES

"A" Directive to G.O.C.-in-C. First Canadian Army 647

"B" Canadian Army Casualties-Normandy-6 June 1944 650

"C" Approximate Casualties of the Allied Armies by Sectors, Normandy, 6 June 1944 651

"D" General Montgomery's Directive to Generals Bradley and Dempsey, 30 June 1944 653

"E" Field-Marshal Montgomery's Directive, 16 October 1944 655

"F" Canadian Army Units in North-West Europe (8 May 1945) 657

"G" Officers Holding Principal Appointments in the Canadian Army in North-West Europe (6 June 1944-8 May 1945) 663

ABBREVIATIONS 669

REFERENCES (Endnotes are included at the end of each chapter) 675

INDEX

General 733

Formations, Units and Corps 758

MAPS

(in Colour)

Following page

First Canadian Army: From Normandy to the Scheldt (front end-paper)

1.German Forces and Defences, 716th Infantry Division Area, 6 June 1944 50

2.Canadian Assaults, D Day 114

3.The Battle of Bourguébus Ridge, 18-21 July 1944 178

4.Operation "TOTALIZE", 7-10 August 1944 226

5.The Closing of the Falaise Gap, 17-21 August 1944 266

6.Forêt de la Londe, 26-29 August 1944 290

7.The Capture of Boulogne, 17-22 September 1944 338

8.The Battle of the Scheldt, October-November 1944 424

9.The Ardennes Crisis, 16-26 December 1944 442

10.The Rhineland: Operation "VERITABLE", 8-21 February 1945 490

11.The Rhineland: Operation "BLOCKBUSTER", 22 February-10 March 1945 518

12.Advance on the Northern Front, 23 March-22 April 1945 560

13.The Western Netherlands: 1st Canadian Corps Operations, 2-25 April 1945 584

14.The Final Phase: 2nd Canadian Corps Front, 23 April-5 May 1945 608

First Canadian Army: From the Maas to the Weser (back end-paper)

SKETCHES

(in Black and White)

Page

1.Great Britain and Northern France 25

2.German Formations in the West, 23 October 1943 53

3.German Formations in the West, 6 June 1944 65

4.Plan Before D Day 86

5.The Invasion of Normandy, Allied Concentration and Routes, 6 June 1944 92

6.Operations 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, 6 June 1944 118

7.The Canadian Front, 7-8 June 1944 127

8.Le Mesnil-Patry and the Mue Valley, 11 June 1944 139

9.The Normandy Bridgehead, 6-30 June 1944 148

10.The Attack on Carpiquet, 4 July 1944 154

11.The Capture of Caen, 8-9 July 1944 159

12.German Dispositions, British Front, 24-25 July 1944 184

13.Verrières Ridge-Tilly-la-Campagne, 25 July 1944 188

14.Operation "TOTALIZE": The Plan 217

15.Operations 28th Canadian Armoured Regiment, 9 August 1944 226

16.Clair Tizon, 11-14 August 1944 235

17.Operation "TRACTABLE": The Plan 239

18.Operation "TRACTABLE": 14-16 August 1944 242

19.Expansion of the Normandy Bridgehead, July-August 1944 253

20.The Pursuit to the Seine, 22-30 August 1944 281

21.The Seine Crossing, 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions, 26-30 August 1944 293

22.Advance to the Somme and Antwerp, 31 August-4 September 299

23.North-West Europe, The Front, 15 September 1944 311

24.Operation "MARKET-GARDEN", 17-26 September 315

25.The Coastal Belt, 4-12 September 325

26.Le Havre: Operation "ASTONIA", 10-12 September 1944 333

27.The Capture of Calais, 25 September-1 October 1944 347

28.Woensdrecht, 7-16 October 1944 382

29.The Leopold Canal, 6-13 October 394

30.The Walcheren Causeway, 31 October-2 November 1944 403

31.The Capture of Walcheren, 1-8 November 1944 415

32.The Northern Front, 16 October-10 November 1944 423

33.The Nijmegen Island, 2-7 December 1944 432

34.The Threat Across the Maas, Mid-December 1944 445

35.Kapelsche Veer, 26-30 January 1945 451

36.Attack by 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, 8 February 1945 470

37.Moyland Wood and the Goch-Calcar Road,- 16-21 February 1945 485

38.The Hochwald Gap, 27 February-3 March 1945 506

39.Xanten, 8-10 March, 1945 518

40.The Battle of the Rhineland, 8 February-11 March 1945 523

41. Closing to the Rhine, February-March 1945 525

42.Operation "VARSITY", Showing Situation 6th Airborne Division,

Afternoon 24 March 1945 536

43.The Battle of the Rhine, The Left Flank, 23 March-1 April 1945 540

44.Zutphen and Deventer, 5-12 April 1945 549

45.The Clearing of Groningen by 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, 13-16 April 1945 555

46.The Küsten Canal Crossing, 17-19 April 1945 560

47.The Advance Across Germany, 23 March-8 May 1945 589

48.The Fight for Delfzijl, 23 April-2 May 1945 592

49.March to Wismar, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, 27 March-2 May 1945 605

ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing Page

In the Falaise Gap, August 1944 (in colour) Frontispiece

Distinguished Observers at Exercise "TROUSERS", 12 April 1944 50

Infantrymen of the Assault Force in Training, 18 April 1944 50

The Royal Canadian Navy Lands the 9th Brigade 51

The Broken Atlantic Wall 51

Courseulles from the Air 82

Congestion on "MIKE RED" Beach, D Day 83

Strongpoint at St. Aubin-sur-Mer 114

The Abbey of Ardenne 114

Divine Service on Board H.M.C.S. Algonquin, 18 June 1944 115

Canadian Convoy in Caen 115

The Steelworks at Colombelles, 19 July 1944 146

Forward to the Laison 146

Clearing Out Snipers in Falaise 147

The Falaise Gap 147

St. Lambert-sur-Dives, August 1944 274a

The Railway "Y" in the Forêt de la Londe 274b

The Forêt de la Londe 275

Lancasters Over Mont Lambert, 17 September 1944 306

German Prisoners at Boulogne 306

A Letter from the C.-in-C. 307

The Leopold Canal, Looking East, 1946 402

Biervliet From the East, 1946 402

Atlantic Wall Defences Near Cadzand 403

The Walcheren Causeway, Looking East Towards South Beveland 403

The Scene of the Westkapelle Landing 434

On the Dyke at Kapelsche Veer, January 1945 434

The Supreme Commander Visits Canadian Troops 435

Commanders in Operation "VERITABLE", February 1945 435

Warfare in the Floods 466

The British Prime Minister Visits First Canadian Army 466

The Algonquins Moving Up 467

The Hochwald Gap 467

"Melville" Bridge Carries Traffic Across the Rhine 498

The Patricias Cross the Ijssel 499

House-Clearing in Groningen, 15 April 1945 499

Conquerors Meet on the Baltic 604

Surrender of the German Twenty-Fifth Army 604

Senior Commanders, First Canadian Army, Hilversum, 20 May 1945 605

Canadians in Berlin 605

--xi--

Preface

THIS is the third and final volume of the Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. The first and second volumes, dealing respectively with events in Canada, Britain and the Pacific and with the campaign in Italy, were published in 1955 and 1956. A volume dealing with military policy in the broad sense, and thus extending beyond the Army, is in preparation.

The first stage of the Historical Section's work on the Second World War was represented by the three booklets published in 1945-46 under the series title THE CANADIAN ARMY AT WAR. The second was the Official Historical Summary, The Canadian Army 1939-1945, published in 1948. For a variety of reasons, the completion of the History proper has taken much longer than was at first planned; but it is believed that the period spent in preparation has helped to produce a better book.

A description of the principles which have been followed with respect to documentation, etc., and acknowledgements to some of the many individuals and organizations, in Canada and elsewhere, whose generous assistance has contributed to this book, will be found in the preface to Volume I, Six Years of War. A few remarks should however be made with respect to the present volume in particular. It may be noted that in some quotations from documents abbreviated forms have been written out in full, to assist the reader, without the fact being indicated. In connection with German documents, it should be observed that comparatively few of these have been available to Western military historians on levels below the headquarters of armies. For the final weeks of the campaign, almost no contemporary German documents on any level are to be had. It has therefore frequently been necessary to have recourse to reports of interrogations and to the post-war writings of German officers.

The great campaign dealt with in this volume witnessed innumerable deeds of gallantry, some of which were suitably recognized, while others, as is inevitable in some cases, were not observed or not reported. It is obviously out of the question to speak of all the well-merited awards that were made. A few are mentioned, not necessarily as being the most distinguished, but simply so that they may stand as types and examples of the hundreds of other heroic acts which must necessarily pass unnoticed here.

I am grateful to many members of the Historical Section of the General Staff for help with the volume. Lt.-Col. G. W. L. Nicholson, C.D., the Deputy Director, and Lt.-Col. E. W. Cutbill, D.S.O., E.D., C.D., the Executive Officer, have given constant assistance in too many ways to enumerate. Colonel Nicholson drafted Chapters XVIII and XIX. Lt.-Col. T. M. Hunter, C.D., wrote the first drafts of Chapters I, IV, XIII, XIV, XVII, and XX-XXIII. Captain John Porter drafted Chapter III, and Major D. J. Goodspeed Chapter XXIV. To these

--xii--

gentlemen I offer my best thanks. They should not however be held responsible for the content of the chapters as now printed; for all of these have been considerably revised, for better or for worse, by the present writer, who also drafted the remaining eleven chapters. Other members of the Section staff who have made direct and distinguished contributions to the work are Major C. C. J. Bond, under whose most intelligent direction the maps were produced; Mr. A. G. Steiger, whose assistance in connection with the German sources was more valuable than words can express; Captain L. R. Cameron and Captain

A. L. Disher, C.D., who successively gave the author inestimable help as research assistants; Staff-Sergeant R. C. Wellstood, C.D., and Sergeant A. A. Azar, who did sterling work in checking quotations and references and preparing the index; and Q.M.S. (W.O.2) M. R. Lemay, C.D., who typed the successive drafts of this volume with the same cheerful and indefatigable efficiency which is acknowledged in Volume I. Other members of the staff have placed me under less direct but still important obligations. In writing a single volume devoted to so considerable an enterprise as the Canadian Army's participation in the North-West Europe campaign, and addressed primarily to the general reader, it has been necessary to be selective. Much detail which might appropriately have found a place in the story has had to be excluded, and in particular many technical and special matters have had to be left to corps and regimental historians. Those readers who discover errors or important omissions in the volume are asked to communicate with the Director Historical Section, Army Headquarters, Ottawa, Canada.

C. P. Stacey

--xiii--

The Victory Campaign

Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War

Volume III