We are now celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Normandy Campaign. One of the key items that helped the Allies convince the Germans that they would land at the Pas de Calais, was the lack of a major port at Normandy. Yes, Cherbourg was available, but is is actually farther from Germany than the beaches. The Pas de Calais would put the Allies much closer to the port of Antwerp, the largest port in Europe.

The British 11th Armored Division conducted a brillant dash to Antwerp, but failed to move any further. Neither Field Marshal Montgomery nor General Eisenhower pushed the British XXX Corps to seal off the South Beveland Island, less than 30 miles north of the port. Cutting off the island of South Beveland and Walcheren would have trapped the German 15th Army on those islands and on the south shore of the Schledt..

Another problem during the race from Normandy to the Rhine was Montgomery's preoccupation with the final race to Berlin, and not paying enough attention to ensuring logistical facilities were adequate. The Canadian First Army was not directed to clear the Scheldt Estuary till November 1944, six weeks after Antrwep was captured. Eisenhower is ultimately at fault, for he only suggested to Montgomery to capture both shores of the Scheldt.

Eight weeks were lost between the time the 11th Armored captured south bank of Antrwep's Harbor and the Candains started clearing the Scheldt. Now after all the stuff above, the issue for discussion: What might have changed if the capture of opening of Antwrep's harbor was the 1st priority after crossing the Seine River?

Hello Ranger,

Thank you for bringing up my hometown and posing the million dollar question that has kept historians busy for decades: what in hell was Monty getting up to?

The facts: the British Guards division did a fantastic job racing through Belgium and with the aid of the Belgian resistance they caught the Germans with their pants down. But then things started to get horribly wrong. As soon as the resistance heard that the British troops were close by, they took action and secured the port installations nearly intact (sadly enough with substantial losses). They handed everything over on a plate to the Allied troops, who didn't have any orders to push on (initiative???).
And then Monty decided to go ahead with Market-Garden. And we all know how that turned out...

Meanwhile the German troops could pull back and regroup, leaving it to the Canadians to fight their bloodiest battle ever to free the Scheldt estuary. It then still took a couple of weeks to free the Scheldt of mines.
But, once operational, the Antwerp port pourred out more tonnage than all other ports and beaches combined.

So if Eisenhower had stuck to his decision to free Antwerp and send in the full force of XXXth corps, they wouldn't have met the same German resistance as they did a few weeks later on, and the Allies wouldn't have had the same supply problems. But nooo, he let Monty persuade him into a rush job.

Would have it shortened the war? Perhaps, it would have solved a lot of supply problems. Perhaps the Battle of the Bulge was halted earlier or never took place. Perhaps they could have pressed on at full force on a wide front (Monty, Patton and Bradley equally equipped and supplied). Who will tell? perhaps the war would have been finished before christmas....

Kris

As we know, Patton's 3r Army ground to a halt . How much of this was "political" can't say. Perhaps with shorter supply lines he would have pushed over Rhine earlier eliminating the Ardennes offensive and allowing the US to get into Austria and maybe Czechoslovakia thus eliminating them from the Soviet sphere of influence ffor the next 50 years (not Austria). Probably would have motivated the Soviets to move faster and not play all the waiting games around Warsaw and Berlin shortening the war by a month of two.

how many allied ships were watching antwerp after the invasion of normandy?

What do you mean with "watching"?

Kris

i mean, in the vicinity of antwerp harbor guarding allied ships and the invasion force

The allies could not get any ships near Antwerp until both shores of Schledt Estuary were captured and the mines were swept from the channel. Antwerp was captured at the end of August , but was not usable till December.

One thing that would have happened would have been that about half the forces that the Germans had available during the Operation MARKET-GARDEN fight came from 15th Army trrops that escaped across the Schledt and reached the battle by crossing the South Beveland causeway. If the British had pushed past Antwerp to the causeway, MARKET-GARDEN probably been successful.

Hi Mech-maniac,

To answer your question: none!

Antwerp is an inland seaport, those days you had to travel about 30 miles upstream the Scheldt river before entering the port.
This was the problem the Allies faced in september and october '44. Antwerp and its port facilities were liberated begining september '44. But the banks of the Scheldt estuary were in German hands until late october '44. They needed to be freed first and the German had some very heavy batteries there. The attack of those forces was postponed, because priority was given to Market Garden. So German troops had ample time to regroup and reinforce. So when finally the Canadians attacked they were slaughterd.
After the liberation of the estuary, mine swipers could move in and do their work, because the Scheldt river was very heavily mined.
Finally on the 22nd of november 1944 the first Liberty freight ship docked in Antwerp port. But only from december '44 the port was fully operational.

Kris

BTW: Antwerp was very heavily defended by anti-aircraft artillery, because of the V-bombs.