Ad (zeeuwtje), a Dutch armorama member, has set up the Walcheren '44 campaign some time ago. The campaign is running now since 1st May, but doesn't get much attention. Ad and I agreed I'd try to get the campaign a bit under your attention in the international forum.
Why I do this? Two reasons: Ad is a great guy so I don't mind helping him at all and also becasue Walcheren '44 is a campaign about a piece of WW2 history which isn't very well know, but still very very interesting!
What is so interesting about Walcheren '44? It's about the battle for the Scheldt. The Scheldt is the entrance to the harbour of Antwerp which the Allies needed so hard because their supply lines were streched from Normandy to Belgium.
After the failure of Arnhem, Montgomery decided to clear out the Scheldt area to make the use of Antwerp possible. On this map you can see the Allies had to clear Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland to make the route safe for ships.
The campaign is interesting on 4 fronts:
- Armour
- Figures
- Warships
- Aircraft
So, for most of you there should be something interesting.
The operation was built up in a series of small actions. Canadian ground forces would clear Zuid-Beveland, British troops cleared Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and amphibious assaults with commandos were needed to liberate Walcheren.
Walcheren, from which the campaign has it's name, was a fortification with a lot of heavy gun emplacements, bunkers, anti-tank and infantry obstacles.....it was one of the best defended pieces of the Atlantikwall. To take Walcheren. the Allies bombed the sea dykes and the island flooded. Germans had to run for their lives, as well as a lot of civils......Still the Germans had heavy stuff in the dunes and killed some Allied ships during the landing.
Ad lives there btw, that explains his interest in this battle. I visit Walcheren every year, trying to visit as much bunkers as possible!
So, what kind of models could you built?
Armour
M4A4 Sherman
Sherman firefly
Sherman crab
Churchill AVRE
LVT-4 Buffalo
M29 Weasel
Armoured Bulldozers
Brencarrier
British/Commonwealth trucks etc
DUWK
Figures
British/Commonwealth Commandos
British/Commonwealth infantry
German infantry (wehrmacht, kriegsmarine)
Warships
Landingcraft (LCT)
HMS Warspite
Aircraft
Lancaster bombers
Mosquito fighter bombers
Diorama related
Diorama's including bunkers etc
Also: field artillery: 150mm German field guns, 5cm KwK, 10.5cm FLAK
If anyone has any questions about the battle.....I can anwser a lot of them, you can also contact Ad (zeeuwtje).
Well, after telling you a bit about this campaign I hope more of you want to join. It really is an interesting part of WW2 history and I hope that more of you will learn about it thanks to this campaign.
Walcheren '44 campaign page:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Campaigns&file=index&req=showcontent&id=80
Some interesting pics and info can be found in Concord's publication "British tanks in Holland and Germany". I don't know any other English publications about this subject, just Dutch ones....
Are you gonna join Walcheren '44?
Martin
