Vol 9. Issue No 4.

© Wartime News

Coming of Age at Walcheren

by Bob Harding

In my younger days there was an expression called 'coming of age' which, as you all know, was achieved when you reached your 21st birthday. It was a real milestone in one’s life and one to be celebrated to the full. Indeed, when I was in my late teens I recall making tentative plans for ‘the’ birthday and I envisaged having a slap up meal with all my friends, as well as dancing and drinking the night away. Now I think it was the poet Robert Burns who said “the best laid plans of mice and men gang awry”.
This was certainly the case with regard to the plans I had in mind for my 21st as on that day, 31 October 1944, I was a Naval Rating serving on an LCG (Landing Craft Guns) which was docked in Ostend and we had just received sailing orders. My craft was part of an assault force which had been assembled in Ostend and our orders were to sail up into the North Sea to try and take the island of Walcheren off the Dutch coast. Obviously all my original plans for celebrating my birthday were rudely shattered.
Our mission was an important one and to understand why Walcheren was of vital importance to the Allied war effort, we must go back to the break-out by the Allied forces from Normandy after D- Day when they literally raced up through northern France into Belgium ready to strike at the heart of Germany. This rapid advance posed serious problems for the Allies because it was not possible to continue servicing their armies from the Mulberry Harbours off the Normandy coast as the supply lines would be too extended. It was, therefore, imperative that a major Belgian or Dutch port be secured so that they could be serviced by the shorter sea route from the eastern seaboard of the UK. The Germans, being alive to our problem, bitterly contested the battle for a Channel port and, when we did succeed in capturing one, it was so badly damaged as to be unusable. However, in late September 1944, the Allies managed to capture Antwerp, the third largest port in the world at the time, in an almost undamaged state. Although this was a great feat, it was not enough as Antwerp lay many nautical miles up the River Scheldt which flowed into the North Sea and the Germans still held the island of Walcheren at the mouth of the Scheldt. This being so, the Germans commanded all sea approaches to Antwerp and, as we were denied the use of the port, it was vitally important to take the island.
Realising its strategic importance, the Germans had reinforced Walcheren with several heavy guns in thick concrete emplacements which covered the entire Scheldt estuary and so prevented any seaborne supplies reaching Antwerp. If the war was to end quickly, it was important to take the island before the blanket of winter fell so as to use the docking facilities at Antwerp. The RAF had mounted bombing raids on Walcheren, resulting only in the surrounding dykes being breached which lead to flooding in part of the island. Units of the Allied armies had also tried assaulting the island across the narrow causeway leading from the mainland, but they were repulsed with heavy losses. With winter in the offing, the approach to Antwerp up the River Scheldt still remained in German hands, so it was decided to make a seaborne landing on Walcheren. This was planned to take place on 1 November 1944 in an all-out effort to capture the island and so open up the port of Antwerp.
The task of supporting the landings was given to the SSEF (Support Squadron Eastern Flank), originally formed to support the D-Day landings. Their task was to shell and nullify the German strong points on the island so landings could be made by RM Commandos and Army units. As the island was well fortified, this was certainly going to be a hazardous task.
The title ‘SSEF’ will probably conjure up visions of cruisers, with possibly destroyer escorts, supported by an aircraft carrier, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Actually the SSEF Squadron comprised a flotilla of twelve LCGs and LCFs (Landing Craft Flak), five LCRs (Landing Craft Rockets) plus eight other support craft making a total force of 25. All such craft were converted from LCTs and LCGs, carrying two 4.7” guns mounted on the decking laid across the well deck. LCGs carried a crew of 40 men, of which 24 were Royal Marines who manned the guns and the rest were RN personnel. The LCFs were armed with a collection of Oerlikon as well as Pom-Pom guns and the LCRs carried a vast number of rockets which they fired in banks. Two monitors, namely the Roberts and Erebus, both of which carried 15” guns, were attached to the force to provide heavier bombardment power. All the craft in SSEF were, of course, flat-bottomed so they were able to sail close to the shoreline. The vast majority of the men manning the craft were in their early 20s, some of whom had already sailed their flat-bottomed craft, whose seaworthiness was rather problematic, across the Atlantic into the Mediterranean, taking part in the landings on Sicily and Italy and returning to the UK for D-Day.
From the start, things began to go wrong, because, after clearing Ostend, the weather closed in and visibility became very limited, resulting in aircraft not being able to take off to provide cover for the landings. Therefore, before the assault had even been launched we were denied the highly necessary support of the RAF and we paid dearly for the lack of an ‘air umbrella’.
Dawn on 1 November found us ploughing through the North Sea towards Walcheren. The mess decks were cleared, the Sick Bay attendant got his first-aid kit ready, and we went to action stations about 7.30 am. We approached Walcheren on the look-out for the lighthouse at Westkapelle, which was to be used as a spotting point for our guns, but the Germans had already put up a smoke screen to cover this landmark. At this stage, we were nearing the breach in the dyke, blown by the RAF a few days earlier, and this was to be the aiming point of our assault.
The battle was now joined in earnest and wheeling into position the LCGs and LCFs began their run in towards the beach but, before they could get within effective range of the German positions, the much longer-ranged and heavier German guns had already got our measure and proceeded to put down a concentrated barrage on the Support Squadron. Shells began to fall all around the craft, with one piercing the side of LCG 10, killing several crew members, and fire soon spread in the craft threatening its ammunition store. Scarcely had we had time to observe the fate of LCG 10 when an LCR behind us received a direct hit and went up in a sheet of flames, which put us in the double peril of being hit by the rockets that had been released by the explosion, as well as shells from the German guns.
Hits were now being observed on craft all along our line and our fire power seemed to be having no effect on the German gun positions. To increase our effectiveness, we had no option but to sail ever closer to the beach and, in any case, it would probably have been equally as risky to try to turn about and head for the open sea. On a zig-zag course, we steamed closer to the beach and some of our crew were almost lifted overboard by the impact of a near-miss. With cordite fumes nearly blinding us, we cleared our eyes to see another LCG practically on the beach with its gun barrels depressed almost horizontally firing point blank into the German positions. It was a miracle the LCG survived as long as it did before being riddled from stem to stern and her steering shot to pieces so she became a floating hulk.
From out of the smoke and haze another craft darted in and somehow got a tow on the crippled LCG and pulled it out to sea, only to suffer the cruellest of fates by seeing the LCG strike a mine and sink. In a maelstrom of shot and shell and thick smoke pouring from disabled craft, the remnants of the squadron still managed to pound the German defences, although in some cases the LCGs were down to one scratch gun crew, and casualties, many fatal, were mounting. The position of the battle must have been very obscure to the Headquarters Ship lying off on the horizon as the approaches to the beach were covered with a thick pall of smoke and liberally sprinkled with great geysers of water flung up by exploding shells. Out of this black curtain steamed an LCR which had received a hit, killing its officers, but the coxswain, with no thought of his personal safety, entered the wheelhouse to con the craft safely out to sea to ensure the rockets on board did not explode amongst our own craft. The LCFs, despite losses, had also been performing sterling work coming close in to the beach and, turning parallel to it, they steamed along pouring fire into German pill boxes.
Knee deep in empty shell cases, the crews of the SSEF, although by now sadly depleted in numbers, fought on determinedly and to such good effect that they succeeded in silencing several of the German gun positions. This enabled the RM Commandos and Army units to effect a landing on Walcheren and, after fierce fighting, the following day the island was in the hands of the Allied Forces.
Their work done, the remnants of the squadron sailed out to the safety of the open sea to take stock of itself and the reckoning was appalling because a third of the craft had been sunk, another third seriously damaged (many were floating wrecks) and the number of serviceable craft could be counted on the fingers of one hand. The casualty list was also high as 172 officers and men were killed and over 200 wounded, many severely. It had been a gallant, costly action, but it had brought success. Captain Pugsley, who was in charge of the Naval forces for the assault, was awarded the OBE and Commander Sellar received the DSO. Two Marine Officers and 22 Naval Officers were awarded the DSC and 27 Naval and Marine NCOs and other ranks received the DSM.
Many tributes were paid to the squadron for their gallantry and perhaps the most fitting came from the Commander of SSEF who, a few hours after the action, sent a signal to all crew members which read:
“I cannot express to the officers and men of the remnants of our squadron my pride and admiration in you and your lost shipmates. You held the key to a speedy end of the war against Germany and you turned it with the utmost determination and courage. Those we have left behind remain a Memorial to Support Squadron Eastern Flank.”
In conclusion, you will note that in the signal reference was made to the fact that we held the key to a speedy end of the war. In hindsight, I think I would have preferred being handed a key of a different kind, namely the one you used to receive on reaching the age of 21 years, but thankfully I did return from Walcheren.

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