Walcheren 1944

Storming Hitler’s Island fortress

written by Richard Brooks

illustrated by Graham Turner

This book is number 235 in Osprey’s ‘Campaign’ series.

In September 1944 the Allies captured Antwerp, a port city on the river Scheldt; it’s the largest port in Western Europe. However, the Germans on the island of Walcheren, located at the mouth of the Schelde Estuary, had prevented Allied shipping from entering. It was the most fortified stretch of coastline in the world. This book is about the last major amphibious operation and the only successful amphibious assault on a completed section of the Atlantic Wall. This campaign helped determine the course of the war and the shape of the post-war world.

The Allies, having the odds stacked against them, had to remove the German presence from Walcheren in order to open the flow of supplies into Antwerp. The US Army and the Royal Marines combined operation cleared the German positions over eight days of bitter street fighting. This struggle became one of the most famous Royal Marine exploits of World War II.

Paperback: $19.95 US; $22.95 CAN