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From D-Day to V-Day

October 1944

October 31, 1944 - D-Day + 147

The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division from the First Canadian Army’s II Canadian Corps, which had started to advance across the dike from southern Beveland, was halted by enemy fire in the course of the day. In Breskens and Ostend, amphibious assault forces got ready to land on Walcheren island. Only small isolated enemy groups maneuvering in the coastal area remained in the Breskens Pocket. Cadzands and Knock were mopped up in the course of the day.

The main forces of the British I Corps were currently deployed along the Mark River; part of the corps also tried, though unsuccessfully, to build a bridgehead here. In the early morning, the 1st Battalion from the 104th Infantry Division’s 415th Infantry Regiment crossed the river in assault boats southeast of Standdaarbuiten. The enemy carried out a counterattack and surrounded the Americans. As a result, the men under Major General T. de la Mesa Allen, the commander of the 104th, were forced to retreat after sundown. Units from the Polish 1st Armored Division crossed the river east of Zevenbergen, but they, too, were forced to retreat to the southern coast due to strong enemy resistance.

The Second British Army’s XII Corps overcame the defense in Raamsdonk and at the same time relieved the British 53rd Infantry Division from its contingent. The division reinforced the British VIII Corps for the mission in Peel Marshes. The current commander of Combat Command B, Major General Robert W. Hausbrouck, took over the command of the US 7th Armored Division from Major General Lindsay M. Silvester. The division line was now limited to the Nederweert area, while the area along the Nedeweert – Wessern canal was taken over by the 1st Independent Belgian Brigade, which regained Liesel together with the armored brigade from the British 15th Infantry Division.

The French 2nd Armored Division from the Seventh Army’s XV Corps advanced southeast from the Forét de Mondon with Combat Command V on the left and Combat Command D ton the right. The division then attacked the unsuspecting enemy and crushed its detached positions in Montigny and Merviller. At the same time, it mopped up the northern section of Baccaratu. Additional division units carried out diverse missions on the southern flank and occupied Menarmont and Nossoncourt southwest of Baccarat. The 15th Infantry Regiment from the VI Corps’ 3rd Infantry Division rotated to the north and attacked the area west of the Meurthe River.

In the Bray Dunes Plage area of the eastern section of the front at Dunkirk, a reconnaissance patrol from the 1st Motorized Company suddenly found themselves in a mine field. An exploding mine seriously injured two Czechoslovaks – one was Sergeant Gustav Neshyba, a former member of the Czechoslovak 200th Light Anti-aircraft Regiment – East. After the February 1948 Communist putsch, he was arrested and accused in a staged trial. He spent part of his long prison sentence in forced labor at the coal mines of Zbůch, a small town near Pilsen. He later lived here even after he was released from prison. Regrettably, there were far too many men like Neshyba after the putsch. They fought and put their lives and wellbeing on the line for their country. And three years after the war ended, the very same country put them in jail or even had them executed. How fleeting and disingenuous the gratitude of their fellow men could be.