The Big Barrage
Heroes Remember
The Big Barrage
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Well, we went right out to the end of the peninsula to Walcheren
to the, there's a causeway and a, and a, and a break between the
island of Walcheren and Beveland Peninsula itself, and there was
a causeway, and when the infantry got to the causeway, they
couldn't get across it. Well, they did get some troops across,
but they couldn't hold it. It, it was crazy, they were getting
slaughtered there, you know. I think the 48th Highlanders took
a real beating and friends of mine, the Lincoln and Welland
Regiment, I think it was, they took a beating there, and a
friend of mine lost about twenty-eight men out of his platoon
there. He never did go back, he was so shattered
psychologically. And so it was really rough and, and a lot of
the guys were really badly hurt, you know. So then we pulled
back and they decided to attack from the sea, you know, I think
you know the story. They, they bombed and breached the dykes
with the big bomber, 4-engine Lancasters and what not. And the
Royal Marines went in and I think, I think they were mostly
British troops. There may have been some Canadians. But we had
to move a hundred miles back from Beveland, through Belgium, and
to the south shore of the Scheldt, which is also Holland.
There's a strip there that belongs to Holland, and we had the
guns lined up all along the shore, the south shore. And we
fired across in support of the attacks. So we had, I think we
had something like, four or five hundred guns lined up of
various caliber shooting across. It was the first big barrage
that I was in. I mean really big barrage.
That was the Field Regiment, Field Regiments were equipped with
twenty-five pounders, both British and Canadian.
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