Smashing Hitler's Atlantic Wall: The Destruction of the Nazi Coastal Fortresses by Patrick Delaforce

Author:Patrick Delaforce [Delaforce, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thistle Publishing
Published: 2016-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

THE CAPTURE OF ANTWERP:

‘A STUNNING SURPRISE’

On 4 September Adolf Hitler issued a new directive: ‘Because of the breakthrough of enemy tank forces toward Antwerp, it has become very important for the further progress of the war to hold the fortresses of Boulogne and Dunkirk, the Calais defence area [inc. Cap Gris-Nez], Walcheren Island with Flushing Harbour, the bridgehead at Antwerp and the Albert Canal position as far as Maastricht. For this purpose the Fifteenth Army is to bring the garrisons of Boulogne and Dunkirk and the Calais defence area up to strength by means of full units. The defensive strength of the fortresses is to be increased by means of additional ammunition supplies, from the supplies of Fifteenth Army, especially anti-tank ammunition by bringing up provisions of all kinds from the country and by evacuating the entire population. The commanders of the Calais defence area and of Walcheren Island receive the same authority as a fortress commander.’

General Gustav von Zangen, commandant of the Fifteenth German Army, had six divisions still under command and by a vital Allied strategical error, managed to follow his Führer’s instructions perfectly. The three coastal fortresses were manned and provisioned and in addition 80,000 men, 616 guns and 6,200 vehicles managed to escape to continue the war in Holland, and later in Germany. On Winston Churchill’s journey to the Quebec Conference of 10 September he wrote, ‘It is difficult to see how 21st Army Group can advance in force to the German frontier until it has cleared up the stubborn resistance at the Channel ports and dealt with the Germans at Walcheren and north of Antwerp.’

By early September three British divisions of VIII Corps were static, because all their transport had been stripped from them. Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill were unwittingly both agreed on the situation—the logistical supply problem facing the Allies. Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, General Officer Commanding 30 Corps, had allocated various objectives to his three brilliant armoured divisions. The Guards Armoured had taken Brussels, the 7th Armoured (and 1st Polish) divisions Ghent, and the author’s 11th Armoured by a coup de main had taken Antwerp. As Churchill noted at the time, ‘Without the vast harbours of this city no advance across the lower Rhine and into the plains of Northern Germany was possible.’ The potential of Antwerp was enormous. In pre-war days 11,000 seagoing vessels entered it each year with cargoes of 24 million tons. Additionally, 44,000 smaller river craft shipped in a further 12 million tons annually. Admiral Bertram Ramsay sent a signal on 4 September to SHAEF headquarters and 21st Army Group headquarters so that Field Marshal Montgomery must have seen it.

It is essential if Antwerp (and Rotterdam) are to be opened quickly enemy must be prevented from:

1. a) Carrying out demolitions and block ports.

b) Mining and blocking Scheldt (and new waterway between Rotterdam and the Hook).

2. Both Antwerp (and Rotterdam) are highly vulnerable to mining and blocking. If the enemy succeeds in these operations the time it will take to open the ports cannot be estimated.

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