 |
 |
 |
 |
| The port of Dunkirk in WWII Clearing the Channel Ports Jan Hyrman |
 |
 |
| On 6th June 1944, Operation Overlord started, following a huge air campaign of softening-up German defences and transportation network. In a combined effort by the British R.A.F. and the American U.S.A.A.F., 11,000 fighter and bomber aircraft dropped nearly 200,000 tons of bombs, destroying a considerable part of German equipment for transportation of vehicles and troops within the area of the northwest of France. Radar stations, airfields and coastal defences were targeted as well. To confuse the defenders, only one third of the bombs were dropped over Normandy. Other deception operations including a mock invasion of Norway and creation of fictitious units and radio traffic were used to create a false perception of the invasion targets by the Germans. Reportedly, these operations resulted in several German formations being moved to Norway, then to Mediterranean... |
 |
 |
| The Channel ports cleared By 1st October 1944, all of the objectives of the Canadian campaign on the left flank of the Allied break-out from the beachheads in Normandy had been accomplished with remarkable success. Four ports were captured, Le Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais, one (Dunkirk) was encircled and was to remain safely contained for the remainder of the war, while the First Canadian Army was racing towards Antwerp and the Scheldt estuary, where fierce fighting was to ensue for the important port. The ports, though rendered largely useless by the enemy, created considerable risk for Allied shipping and constituted an asset for the Allies with their supply lines growing longer and longer with every mile of advance towards Germany, while at the same time silencing the cross-channel guns and V-1 and V-2 launching sites, which had troubled the southeast coast of England for four years. The ports could not be put into operation immediately, but work started without delay to allow their use as soon as possible. The campaign was a success, four enemy outposts were reduced, one without a fight, the one remaining being denied any possibility to constitute a risk for the Allies. At the cost of hundreds of Allied casualties, the Germans lost some 30,000 soldiers killed, wounded or captured in the three ports reduced by force, together with about 12,000 troops caught up in Dunkirk. |
| On D-Day itself, while thousands of paratroopers were already fighting inland, 13,000 bombers and fighter-bombers attacked the beaches, already pounded by battleships, cruisers and landing craft releasing rockets, the L.C.T.(R). Within the one day, 132,714 soldiers were landed on the five Normandy beaches of the British and American sectors, in addition, more than 20,000 paratroopers landed behind enemy lines. Nearly 200,000 naval personnel were afloat during that day. Approximately nine to ten thousand casualties were the result of the battle, although there are only rough estimates regarding the total number of Allied casualties. The Allied armies managed to get a firm hold of the bridgehead, although some concerns remained as to a counter-attack by German panzers. But this never came as German armour was being withheld in the Calais area, awaiting the "real invasion". This result of the deception operations prior to D-Day was arguably the most influential of them all, stripping the Germans of their most powerful asset in the hour of need. Following the huge undertaking of D-Day (6th June 1944), the subsequent breakout from Normandy (June, July and August 1944) and the furious fighting during the battle around the Falaise gap, which are operations on which we have no room to elaborate here, a bridgehead was captured on the east bank of the Seine during the second half of August 1944 and the First Canadian Army was assigned the task of clearing the Channel ports and the surrounding area. Its line of advance lead behind the line of the Atlantic Wall, whose mighty guns were often hastily turned toward inland as the situation has changed rather considerably since June 1944. The First Canadian Army, commanded by General H.D.G. Crerar, was quite unique in composition, as it included several national formations, including Belgian and Dutch outfits, later transferred to the Second British Army, where their motivation, knowledge and determination were invaluable during operations on the soil of their home countries. The 1st Polish Armoured Division was included as well and we will find below that the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group was, for a certain period, also under the command of the First Canadian Army Headquarters. |
 |
|
 |
| Operation Dynamo The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France, May-June 1940. |
|
| The Atlantikwall The Atlantic Wall, the western frontier of Hitler's Fortress Europe. |
|
| Czechoslovaks at Dunkirk 1944-1945 It was not exactly the place where the members of the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group would want to get stuck for the rest of the war, but many different reasons caused the unit to retain the mission of sieging the ruins of the port till May 1945. |