Battlefield Tours Zeeland

10/11/2024

08/11/2024

Bij werken langs de IJzerdijk in Diksmuide heeft een aannemer restanten gevonden van een Belgische soldaat uit de Eerste Wereldoorlog. En dat gebeurt niet…

06/11/2024

03/11/2024

03/11/2024

02/11/2024

During the morning of November 2, 1944 No. 48 Commando captured Zoutelande where No. 47 passed through them to assault the final major German battery, the four 150 mm guns four kilometres west of Vlissingen. The only approach was over an anti-tank ditch, then across some 2,000 metres of open country. They suffered heavy casualties. Two troops managed to work forward to the battery but Germans near the anti-tank ditch cut them off from the remainder of their unit. By nightfall the position by the anti-tank ditch had been cleared but every troop leader in the Commando had been wounded. Next morning the commando’s captured the battery, silencing the last guns which had made the landing beaches at Westkapelle a misery for the unsung members of the supporting units who worked there.

📸 Picture: German prisoners of war in Westkapelle are escorted to the beach by commandos from 41 Royal Marine Commando.

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02/11/2024

Monument onthuld in westkapelle bij herdenking van 80 jaar bevrijding

Met de officiële onthulling van het monument heeft Westkapelle herdacht dat het dorp op 1 november 1944 werd bevrijd.

01/11/2024

Four hours after the first landing at Flushing on November 1, 1944. Three troops of Royal Marines Commandos of No 4 SS Brigade, together with No 4 (Belgian) and No 5 (Norwegian) troops of No 10 (IA) Commando, commanded by Peter Laycock were due to touch down on the west coast of the Island near Westkapelle. The odds against Infatuate II, as the operation was called, were high but so were the stakes.

Success would speed the opening of the harbor of Antwerp and shorten the war. Around the rim of the Island, the Germans had constructed a series of coast defense batteries armed with weapons ranging from 22cm guns deadly to landing craft. The heavy guns of the battleship Warspite and the monitors Roberts and Erebus would engage the main German batteries before the landings.

No. 41 Commando’s touched down at 10:10 AM on the north shoulder of the gap. Twenty minutes later, the remainder negotiated the gap in Buffalo Amphibious Vehicles, dismounted and attacked Westkapelle supported by Flail Tanks of the 1st Lothian and Border Horse. In an hour they had cleared the village and found two nearby batteries unoccupied and under water. South of the gap, 48 Commando suffered casualties from artillery fire as they came shore. Swiftly they captured a radar station, then attacked the 120mm battery which had run out of ammunition. Its garrison was in no mood to surrender and beat off the first assault with machine-gun fire.

A second attack which followed with air strikes, shelling by Roberts and the artillery, convinced the Germans to change their minds. The battery surrendered with about 100 prisoners. By the end of November 3, 1944 the German resistance between Vlissingen and Westkapelle was broken. A few days later, on 8 November, the fighting on Walcheren came to an end.

📸 Picture: This LCT has just beached on the island of Walcheren at Westkapelle, the most western point of the island, during the final phase of the battle to free the Belgian port of Antwerp. Note the badly damaged buildings and sea defences in the background. IWM A 26268.

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01/11/2024

In the early hours of November 1, 1944, the soft rumble of 20 assault landing craft departing Breskens Harbor grew into a full roar as they set out across the Scheldt toward Flushing (Vlissingen), 5.5 kilometers away. At 4:45 a.m., artillery fire began, targeting port defenses and nearby German batteries. By 5:40 a.m., the artillery shifted to the flanks, clearing the way for the beach assault. In the pitch darkness, No. 4 Commando and French troops from No. 10 Inter Allied Command landed, swiftly overtaking German anti-tank guns and pillboxes before any defensive fire could begin.

Soon after, German defenses came to life as 20mm Flak cannons and machine guns swept the beach. Despite intense fire, the commandos pushed forward, followed closely by the 4th Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers, and the rest of the 155th Brigade. Fierce street fighting ensued in Flushing’s outskirts and port areas, with local resistance joining the battle. Clearing German bunkers and fortifications was especially challenging, with Typhoon air support from 84 Group and artillery proving essential.

📸 British troops landing on Walcheren at dawn, November 1, 1944. This photo shows soldiers advancing along the waterfront near Flushing, with shells bursting ahead.

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31/10/2024

By October 29, 1944, German resistance in South Beveland was on the verge of collapse. Two brigades of the British 52nd Highland Division had landed, with artillery support reaching them overland via Antwerp. The 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade joined them near Gravenpolder, advancing westward, while the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade had successfully liberated Goes. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, exhausted but determined, was nearing the final obstacle: a narrow causeway leading to Walcheren Island, lined with poplar trees and carrying a road, railway, and bike path.

Over recent days, German forces had retreated across the causeway, facing heavy losses and growing numbers of prisoners since their defenses began faltering at the Beveland Canal. But little was known about the German forces still positioned on Walcheren. Brigadier Holley Keefler, acting commander of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, urged Brigadier Cabeldu to push a bridgehead across the causeway to enable a further brigade to pass through. Reluctant, Cabeldu knew the odds; the exposed 40-meter-wide causeway stretched 1,000 meters across muddy flats without cover, heavily mined, and under constant threat from enemy fire—a daunting task even for fresh troops.

📸 Photo: A Sherman IC Firefly tank from The Fort Garry Horse near the Beveland Canal, Netherlands, October 29, 1944.

30/10/2024

29/10/2024

Pte. Jean Maurice Dicaire Le Régiment de Maisonneuve
( Omgekomen op 29-10-1944 )

Eén van de Canadese regimenten dat Zuid-Beveland van 24 tot 31 oktober bevrijdt is Le Régiment de Maisonneuve. Hiervan maakt Jean-Maurice Dicaire deel uit. Dicaire is in Canada al met 17 jaar in dienst gegaan, eigenlijk nog te jong volgens de regels.
In 1944 is hij 23 jaar als zijn regiment ’s morgens op 29 oktober vanuit Schore tot aan Kloetinge optrekt. Andere regimenten in de buurt zijn de Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment of Canada) en de Rileys (Royal Hamilton Light Infantry). Regelmatig moet de groep van Dicaire halt houden als terugtrekkende Duitse troepen hun geschut gebruiken om de opmars van de Canadezen te vertragen. In de buurt van Kloetinge gebeurt dit opnieuw.
Rond half 10 ’s ochtends is er licht geweervuur op Kloetinge vanuit de richting van Waanskinderen, een gehucht oostelijk van het dorp. Even later wagen de eerste Canadezen zich in het dorp. Ze worden ontvangen met vijandelijk geweervuur vanuit Ter Vaten. De Duitsers vluchten vervolgens weg via het Noordeinde. Een andere groep Duitsers van ca. 25 man komt nu met een witte vlag in Ter Vaten tevoorschijn en geeft zich over. Na enkele uren van stilte begint zwaar Duits geschut naar het dorp te vuren.
Aan de Bredeweg blijkt zich nog een grote groep Duitsers op te houden, die de oprukkende Canadezen, die van Ter Vaten naar Mannee trekken, onder vuur neemt. Canadees geschut bij Kapelle beantwoordt dit vuur. Jean-Maurice slaagt er niet in op tijd dekking te zoeken en wordt ter hoogte van de Tervatenseweg en Daniëlsweg in zijn rug geraakt door een projectiel. Via een ladder die gebruikt werd tijdens de oogst, werd hij zwaar gewond afgevoerd.In een noodhospitaal overlijdt hij. Inwoners van Kloetinge nemen zijn nagedachtenis ter harte, en begraven hem op een ereplaats op de begraafplaats. Daar rust Jean-Maurice Dicaire nog steeds.