On the night of September 25th-26th, the survivors of 1st Airborne Division were ferried to the south bank of the Nederrijn in a torrential downpour. Operation Market Garden had failed and Allied hopes for a speedy conclusion to the war in Europe were dashed. With a long winter ahead, Allied leaders had to grapple with the worsening supply situation in Northwest Europe. The lightning advance from Normandy and the rapid build-up of forces on the continent had placed immense logistical strain on the Allied Expeditionary Force and shortages of fuel and ammunition threatened to stall further Allied action. The massive deep-water port complex at Antwerp, delivered from the enemy intact by the Belgian Resistance on September 4th-5th, alone could remedy Allied supply woes, but this inland port was useless so long as the Germans occupied the Scheldt Estuary. Issued the unenviable task of clearing the Scheldt and opening Antwerp to Allied shipping, the men of 1st Canadian Army embarked on a miserable campaign against a determined enemy that was to be characterized by dismal weather and knee-deep mud…
Scheldt ’44 explores 21st’ Army Group’s actions in the autumn of the 1944, focusing on the Battle of the Scheldt, the Maas Salient Campaign, and the Channel Ports. Other actions in Belgium and the Netherlands are also represented, including Operation Market Garden in an all-new campaign scenario.
