By the fall the
Canadian troops had entered Belgium and under Lieutenant
General H.D.G. Crerar they were given the assignment of
clearing out the Scheldt estuary and take Antwerp.
The allied landing and drive through
France and into Belgium that summer and fall had been
supplied by the beach head in Normandy and by the time
the allies had reached the Belgium and German boarders
the amount of material needed to sustain the drive
could no longer be delivered through the mulberry
harbours in Normandy. The capture of a large pot was
essential for the next part of the great western front
offensive and Antwerp was a big port.
Access to Antwerp was not directly to the sea but needed
to pass through the Scheldt estuary and until that was
liberated, the supplies waited to come in. The Canadian
forces fought through the flooded areas of the Scheldt
and captured area opening up the port but suffered high
casualties.
By the time winter arrived
so did the Canadian First division which reinforced the
Canadian army and the drive through the Netherlands was
begun. The liberation of the Netherlands was an
emotional and highly joyous occasion for most of the
Dutch people.
Princess Juliana of
the Netherlands had fled the country in 1940 when the
Germans had invaded and found sanctuary in Canada. while
in Canada during the war, she resided at Stornoway
which is the home of the leader of the official
opposition today. She became an endeared refugee in
Ottawa where she chose to be treated as an ordinary
resident and sent her children to Canadian public
school, shopped in the local grocery stores, baby sat
for other mothers and generally mixed with the public
during her daily life.
When her third child
Margriet was born the Earl of Athlone, the Governor
General made special arrangements for Princess Juliana's
rooms in the Ottawa Civic Hospital to be recognized as
Dutch Territory in order that the baby be recognized in
the line of Dutch succession which required that she be
born in Dutch territory.
The liberation of the
Netherlands by Canadian forces has been emotionally
remember by both countries and over the years since the
war, Canadian veterans gather every 5 years to parade
through the streets of the Dutch towns and cities to
rejoice in that memorable winter of 1944.
May the 5th, 1945 saw he capitulation of
the German forces in the Netherlands when the German
commander Johannes Blaskowitz surrendered his forces to
Canadian General Charles Foulkes
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