Before any attack on Walcheren could be
mounted, the Canadians needed to capture Scheldt Fortress South,
which the Canadians called the Breskens Pocket. The task was
assigned to 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions.
General Guy Simonds planned Operation
Switchback, which called for 9th Brigade. to assault the
Breskens Pocket through the back door. Tracked amphibious
vehicles known as Buffaloes would enter the water at Terneuzen,
which had been captured by the Polish, and then land the brigade
on the lightly defended northeast coast near the Dutch town of
Hoofdplaat. But for this to work, the enemy’s attention had to
remain focused on the Leopold Canal. So, 7th Brigade
was ordered to carry out a frontal attack near the main Breskens
road.
Switchback was a very risky operation. To
succeed it would require surprise, extraordinary courage and
maximum fire support from the artillery and air force. Overcast
skies in a rainy October were bound to limit the tactical air
force. This meant that the gunners had to be especially
creative. Brigadier Stanley Todd, artillery commander of the 3rd
Canadian. Division, devised a brilliantly conceived plan to
support the infantry. Wasp flamethrowers were used for the first
time in support of the attack. The air plan for Switchback
employed the full resources of 84 Group, Second Tactical Air
Force, which was made up of Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal
Air Force squadrons and included British, Polish, Norwegian,
French and Czech fighter wings.
After close to one month of savage fighting in the war’s most
miserable conditions of mud and cold, the Canadian “Water Rats,”
as Third Div came to be known, drove the Germans from Breskens
Pocket.
Adapted from an account by historian Terry Copp, published in
Legion Magazine (www legionmagazine.ca)
Canadian Battlefields Foundation battle bursary student Chris
Finney, a University of Waterloo MA History and OCE Graduate,
was on the Canadian Battlefields Foundation study tour in 2004.
These are his comments:
“What I gained personally was an experience that will stay with
me for the rest of my life. By traveling to France with such an
amazing group of students and leaders through the Battlefield
Foundation I was able to take part in something that I wish
every Canadian could go through. To walk where Canadians had
fought and given their lives is something special. The whole
experience will be something that I hope to teach to other young
Canadians in the future as I follow my pursuit of a career in
teaching at the high school level.”
