Background
The city of Antwerp and its port was captured by British 2nd Army in early September 1944. While 21st Army Group’s priority at the time was Operation Market-Garden, no sense of urgency was placed in securing the approaches to the port facilities there. Walcheren Island, at the western end of the Beveland Peninsula, overlooked the Scheldt Estuary, and was strongly garrisoned by the German 15th Army who had emplaced strong concrete fortifications and large calibre guns which made it impossible to transit the waterway into Antwerp. Because of this delay, the remnants of the 15th Army “had been given the time to escape and reinforce the island of Walcheren and the South Beveland Peninsula”.
The First Canadian Army was tasked by 21st Army Group to open the Antwerp area; but in the meantime had also been detailed by Montgomery to capture the channel ports of Boulogne, Dunkirk and Calais, in order to ease the logistical concerns associated with drawing supplies from the Normandy beaches. German tenacity in the channel ports meant that the Allied supply lines would continue to extend the further away the front line advanced. The channel ports were eventually “masked” when the Canadian army failed to take the ports, and attention turned to the Battle of the Scheldt. The First Canadian Army advanced north-west from the bridgehead in Antwerp and, after heavy fighting in early and mid-October, broke out onto the narrow isthmus which connected South-Beveland to the mainland.
On 9 October 1944 Field Marshal Montgomery issued a directive directing the Canadian Army to give absolute priority to the clearing of the Scheldt over any other offensive operations. and ten days later the Canadians began their approach to Walcheren Island along the isthmus. To the south of the Scheldt, the Germans had been cornered in Zeebrugge, surrendering the Breskens Pocket on November 2. Both South and North-Beveland had been virtually cleared and the time was right for the assault of Walcheren itself.
The 4 Commando, together with the 5th Battalion of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, continued with the battle for Flushing. No. 5 (French) Troop of 10 (IA) Commando were involved in an action against a strongpoint nicknamed Dover. One section of the troop gained the roof of a cinema and opened fire on the strongpoint with their PIAT. The other sections moved along the street and through back gardens. As the Troop was preparing for the final assault, Typhoons attacked the enemy position. That afternoon the Troop resumed their advance and reached the corner overlooking their objective. One house remained occupied by the Germans and as they made for the strongpoint they suffered several casualties from the fire of No. 5 Troop. No. 1 Section was now by an anti-tank wall and firing PIAT bombs into the embrasures of the strongpoint at very short range. Corporal Lafont was on the point of breaching the strongpoint with a made-up charge at the ready when the German defenders surrendered.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Infatuate
The Game
We decided to finish our Walcheren theme with a game of the Battle of Flushing. The game was based loosely on an old Squad Leader scenario. The idea was for a large Commando force to break through the town and make it to the far end before time ran out. We did not have a map of Flushing in the period, so we just set up buildings and the road to roughly match the Squad Leader scenario. The British (in this case French and Dutch!) had to get their platoons past the far road on the other end of the town. The table was four foot wide by six feet deep. The Commandos would have eight turns to make it five feet to get across the road to victory. One platoon would be a tie, 2 a minor victory and three or more a major victory. If no Commandos made it, it would be a German major victory.
German Forces: Two seven stand Infantry Platoons (Confident Trained), 1 five stand Infantry Platoon (Reluctant Trained) and a Company Commander with 2iC and HMG stand (HMG stand could be cross attached). On turn five, the Germans would receive one Pioneer Platoon and one Infantry Platoon (with an attached HMG) of nine stands each from the north board edge. All reserves were Confident Trained.
Allied Forces: The attacking force was made up of six Commando sections of six stands each (we had to fill in a Airborne platoon to make up the numbers, as you can see by the few red berets in the photos!). Each group had a Piat and light mortar. A few had flamethrowers and a number of stands had SMGs. The force also had a commander and 2iC stand. On turn four, the Commandos received a reserve of an MMG section (three MMGs) and another Commando section of four stands. All Commandos and airborne were Fearless Veteran.
Set Up: The Germans opted to place all three of their platoons forward across the frontage. The individual platoons were spread out deep, so that each section occupied its own building. The German strategy was to have the allied attack each building, in an attempt to slow the advance (trade stands for time). The Commando players recognized that they had the superior force, but had to keep moving. The strategy was to mass from the center to the right side of the table and press forward with all the platoons forward. Should any force get bogged down, the others would press forward.
Early Turns: The Commandos moved forward each turn and engaged each German strongpoint with direct assaults. Due to the spread out deployment, the Germans could not mount sufficient firepower to throw back any assaults with fire or attrit the attackers. By turn four, one German platoons was destroyed and the other wrecked. The third platoon moved to engage the Commandos in the flank to stop them from crossing into the left and spreading into the town. The Commando reserves arrived and moved at the double to cover the flank, so the advancing infantry could continue their forward assault.
Late Turns: The Commando advance had been quite fast and their were in position to strike across the road achieve victory. However, the German reserves showed up and occupied the terrain to their front. The Commandos facing this force reorganized their forces to set up for the final push. In the center, the Commandos attempted to clear the German defending bunker holding the center and open up the left part of the town for exploitation. The Germans saw that the Commandos would be able to assault and move across the road, so they opted to counter attack and try to throw back the Commandos far enough to play for a little more time. However, the counterattack was thrown back and the Commandos closed and destroyed the retreating Germans across the road. In the center, the Commandos infiltrated into the left rear of the town securing the road in that area. History repeated itself and the game ended as a major allied victory.
– Manteuffel