bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Germany > ETO > War of Attrition > Netherlands - Fall 1944, updated by RAC 30 Jun 2022.
In early September 1944, Allied forces advancing northward from France liberated almost all of Belgium, including the key port of Antwerp. However, most of the Netherlands to the north was not liberated until the spring of 1945.
The Netherlands lay in the northern sector of the ETO, where Allied forces were primarily British and Canadian. Polish forces and for a time four US divisions also fought in the Netherlands.
During the War of Attrition in the fall of 1944, Allied forces secured most of the southern Netherlands via three major operations:
In early September 1944, Allied forces advancing northward from France liberated almost all of Belgium, including the key port of Antwerp. However, most of the Netherlands to the north was not liberated until the spring of 1945.
The Netherlands lay in the northern sector of the ETO, where Allied forces were primarily British and Canadian. Polish forces and for a time four US divisions also fought in the Netherlands.
During the War of Attrition in the fall of 1944, Allied forces secured most of the southern Netherlands via three major operations:
- Operation Market Garden, the attack north through the southern Netherlands in an effort to access the North German Plain via Arnhem. Although Arnhem couldn't be held, Market Garden created an Allied-held salient to just north of Nijmegen.
- The clearing of German forces from the Scheldt Estuary area between the North Sea and Antwerp. This allowed the development of Antwerp as the major ETO port.
- The advance eastward from the Nijmegen Salient to the Maas River (this river is called the Meuse in France and Belgium).
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Timeline
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The Southern Netherlands
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Part 1 - Operation Market Garden
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Operation Market Garden was an Allied attempt to seize bridges across the lower Meuse/Maas, Waal, and Rhine Rivers to outflank the northern end of the Siegfried Line. If successful, Market Garden would had allowed access to the North German Plain, across which Allied armor could then sweep.
Market Garden consisted of elements of the British XXX Corps attacking from northern Belgium up the highway through Eindhoven coupled with three parachute drops. Other Second British Army elements provided some flank protection. Market Garden failed to capture the northernmost bridge, at Arnhem. However, the remainder of the salient, which I call the Nijmegen Salient remained in Allied hands. Market Garden began on 17 September and ended with the surrender of British and Polish paratroopers at Arnhem on 25 September 1944. |
Operation Market Garden - The 1st Polish Parachute Brigade also fought and died at Arnhem with the British 1st Airborne Division, but is not mentioned above
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Part 2 - Clearing the Scheldt Estuary
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Antwerp, the largest port in Europe at the time, is located in Flanders in northwest Belgium, connected to the North Sea by the 49-mile Scheldt estuary.
The British Second Army captured Antwerp on 4 September. The clearing of the Scheldt Estuary of German forces was done by the Canadian First Army, beginning on 2 October and ending on 10 November. Once cleared of Germans, a shipping channel needed to be cleared of mines. The first convoy of Allied ships arrived in Antwerp harbor on 29 November. |
The Scheldt Estuary
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The opening of the port of Antwerp did much to resolve the supply shortages that had plagued the ETO since early September. Antwerp was much closer to the front lines than the major ports previously used, such as the artificial Mulberry Harbor on the Normandy invasion beaches, Cherbourg at the tip of the Normandy peninsula, and Marseille on the Mediterranean in southern France.
Antwerp was a major target of the German V-2 rockets, which were first used on London on 8 September 1944. Over half of V-2 rockets were directed at Antwerp. Between October 1944 and March 1945, over 700 Allied military personnel and 3,400 Belgian civilians died in Antwerp and the immediate surrounding area from German V-1 and V-2 attacks.
Antwerp was a major target of the German V-2 rockets, which were first used on London on 8 September 1944. Over half of V-2 rockets were directed at Antwerp. Between October 1944 and March 1945, over 700 Allied military personnel and 3,400 Belgian civilians died in Antwerp and the immediate surrounding area from German V-1 and V-2 attacks.
Part 3 - Expanding the Nijmegen Salient
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As the Canadian First Army cleared the lowlands along the Scheldt Estuary, the British Second Army provided flank protection by expanding the Nijmegen Salient as shown in the accompanying map. Some of the deadliest WWII combat in the Netherlands occurred during German attacks against the east flank of the Nijmegen Salient.
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Expanding the Nijmegen Salient
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Sources for the Netherlands Fall 1944 webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Netherlands Fall 1944
† Brazzle, Delbert Sherman, SN 37-468-247, US Army, Douglas Co., NE
- The header photo of British prisoners of war at Arnhem in the failed September 1944 Market Garden operation is courtesy of argunners.com, an on-line war history magazine.
- The Scheldt Estuary map is taken from the Canadian publication The clearing of the Scheldt Estuary and the liberation of Walcheren.
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Netherlands Fall 1944
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
- Most of the Allies who died in this stage of WWII were British, Canadian and Polish.
† Brazzle, Delbert Sherman, SN 37-468-247, US Army, Douglas Co., NE
- Co. A, 501st Parachute Inf. Regt., 101st Airborne Div.; KIA 17 Sep 1944 over Retie, 30 miles E of Antwerp, Belgium; Douglas C-47A Skytrain/Dakota #42-100981 shot down by flak; all 15 dead (five crew and ten army airborne pathfinders heading for the Operation Market Garden drop zone N of Eindhoven, Netherlands); Operation Market Garden - War of Attrition > Netherlands 1944.
- original member of Co. A, 508th Parachute Inf. Regt., 82nd Airborne Div., organized 4 Nov 1943 at Camp Mackall,, NC; on 17 Sep 1944 parachuted from burning C-47A #42-101004 near Groesbeek, Netherlands; KIA 19 Sep 1944 near Nijmegen, Netherlands; Battle of Nijmegen phase of Operation Market Garden - War of Attrition > Netherlands 1944.