Battle of the Scheldt: No. 4 Commando at Uncle Beach, Flushing – Walcheren, the Netherlands


Uncle Beach sea wall at Flushing Holland
View of the sea wall at Uncle Beach – Flushing (Vlissingen) The Netherlands

In the early morning of the 1st November of 1944, an hour long artillery bombardment rained down on the town of Flushing, the Netherlands. Under the cover of this roaring preliminary attack, the first waves of No. 4 Commando troops embarked in their boats to meet their objective. As the town started to burn, the blaze clearly displayed the black silhouette of the Orange Mill (Dutch: Oranje Molen) on the other side of the Scheldt Canal bank. This windmill marked the position where they would go ashore: at Uncle Beach.

Uncle Beach Vlissingen (Flushing) Holland
Uncle Beach Vlissingen (Flushing) Holland

Operation Infatuate

Battle of the Scheldt map showing the situation of 2 November 1944
Battle of the Schelde map showing the situation from 2 October until 8 November 1944

The taking of the town of Flushing (Dutch: Vlissingen) was part of Operation Infatuate, with a main objective to clear the Dutch Island of Walcheren from the German invaders and secure the sea route to the harbor of Antwerp, Belgium. The island is heavily fortified with a dense concentration of bunkers and strongpoints with heavy guns and artillery, manned by more than 10,000 soldiers of the German 15th Army.

The overall Allied attack concentrated on taking the towns of Flushing (Infatuate I) and Westkapelle (Infatuate II) on the South shore of the Island.
Prior to the attack, the RAF carried out bombing missions to flood large parts of the Island. Starting from 3 October 1944 the sea walls are successfully breached at Westkapelle, Veere, Flushing and Ritthem. The flooding rendered some of the German defenses useless and limited the movement of the 15th Army, but this handicap would also apply to the movement of the Allied Troops.

The Battle of Walcheren Causeway

From the East, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division (part of the First Canadian Army) supported by the British 52nd Lowland Division are to commence “Operation Mallard” on the 31st of October to cover the Commando’s right flank. To do this the Canadian and British soldiers have to attack across the Sloedam, a causeway of 1600 meters long and 40 meters wide with tidal marshes on both sides.
The battle on it’s own is now known as the “Battle of Walcheren Causeway” and cost many lives on both sides. The Black Watch of Canada (Royal Highland Regiment) and the Calgary Highlanders in particular were among the first to cross and suffered heavy casualties. The necessity of the battle is still much disputed.

No. 4 Commando landing at Uncle Beach

Men of the 4th Special Service Brigade wade ashore from landing craft near Flushing to complete the occupation of Walcheren
Men of the 4th Special Service Brigade wade ashore from landing craft near Flushing to complete the occupation of Walcheren.

Spearheaded by No. 4 Commando’s Special Boat Section who silently put the German guards out of action and cleared mines and other obstacles from the sea wall, the first troops reached Uncle Beach almost undisturbed under the cover of darkness and quickly went to work on reaching their objectives. But this rapidly changed when the twilight started to set in and the Germans suddenly realized what was going on. Incoming LCA landing boats started to draw heavy fire, luckily causing only minor damage and few casualties among them. An LCA carrying heavy weapons was sunk just before it reached the bank, but the men managed to salvage the contents. Commander Lieutenant Colonel R.W.P. Dawson set up his command post in the seized bunker at Orange Mill.

Now that the No.4 Commando had successfully established a bridgehead. It was time for the 155 Infantry Regiment led by General McLaren to land at Uncle Beach. The 5th King’s Own Scottish Borders (KOSB) landed on Uncle Beach in the afternoon and when night fell another haul of LCA’s brought in General McLaren himself together with the 7th and 9th Royal Scotts.

No 4 Commando command bunker at the Oranjemolen Flushing Holland
The No.4 Commando command bunker (Regelbau Type 143) at Uncle Beach near the Oranjemolen in Flushing Holland

Push into Flushing

Now the aim was to take Flushing itself. The first push into the city went swiftly, although various Commando units got into fierce street fighting with the German Army. But by the end of the afternoon No. 4 Commando had reached most of it’s objectives and held most of the old part of the city.

The following day the 4th and 5th KOSB fought their way through the streets further up to the north part of Flushing, while No. 4 Commando and the 7th and 9th Royal Scotts cleaned out the German resistance along the coastline to the West heading in the direction of Hotel Britannia, the German Command Headquarters. In this area the Germans put up a fierce resistance. Large parts of the area were flooded, making it hard for the Commando’s to navigate and forcing them to fight the enemy in waist deep water.

Tunnel system at Boulevard de Ruyter

The Commando’s had a really tough time getting across the sea promenade, the “Boulevard de Ruyter”. The Germans had set up an MG post that controlled the whole promenade. The Commando’s of Troop 3 also discover that there is a tunnel system underneath the promenade interconnecting the German strongpoints and providing several exits/entrances along it’s course. Scared of being attacked from behind, the Commando’s are forced to leave behind a rearguard to monitor the exits. But now they have too little of a force to reach some of their objectives and the Commando’s have to wait for enforcement before they can move on to Hotel Britannia.

No. 4 Commando monument at Uncle Beach Flushing the Netherlands
No. 4 Commando memorial monument at Uncle Beach – Flushing (Vlissingen), Walcheren the Netherlands

After three days of heavy fighting, Flushing falls into Allied hands around noon of 3rd november 1944. Succeeded in their mission, No. 4 Commando hands the control of the city over to the 52nd Lowland Infantry Division.

Visit Flushing (Vlissingen)

Flushing is one of the most fought-over cities of the Netherlands during WWII. It was the theatre of heavy fighting both during the German invasion in May 1940 as well as during the Allied liberation. At the end of the war, Flushing counted only one house that had no war damage. Nowadays the small city is full with war monuments, memorials and other traces of the war. So when you visit Flushing don’t underestimate the amount of time you can spend here visiting them all.

Poem written by Patrick Churchill of No 4 Commando
A poem written by Patrick Churchill of No. 4 Commando about the Battle for Walcheren. The Epitaph is placed near the Uncle Beach Memorial.


7 thoughts on “Battle of the Scheldt: No. 4 Commando at Uncle Beach, Flushing – Walcheren, the Netherlands

German units defending his town and likewise other towns in that part of Holland were from so called “stomach” units,meaning that soldiers had bowel problems and Germans also had “ear” units with soldiers who had troubles with hearing.More valuable units from 15th Army were already transfered to other places in Holland,opposite to Allies aligned in spaces they liberated in Market Garden operation.

Jack Mierzejewski on

My father, Józef Mierzejewski, was a fighter pilot at the time, flying Spitfires with 308 (Polish) squadron as part of the RAF’s 2nd Tactical Air Force, charged mainly with ground attack duties.

His logbook entry for 1 November 1944, his 137th and last combat mission, states “Bomb Germ HQ nr. Flushing”. He was flying Mk IX Spitfire MK940, squadron letters ZF-B.

So clearly there was an air support component to the battle.

Alan Cruickshank @(Jack Mierzejewski) on

Germ HQ Vlissingen / Flushing was situated on the sea front overlooking the Scheldt Estuary and surrounded by civilian housing.
The Head Quarters was taken during the battle by the Kings Own Scottish Border regt.
KOSB regiment was part of the Scottish 52nd Lowland division
Most of Vlissingen was taken by the 52nd including the well fortified Ship yard.
Spitfires couldn’t have been used especially for ground attack purposes for obvious reasons.
RAF Rocket firing Hurricanes were used on other Walcheren military targets.

My granddad, Joe Spicer, was part of this raid with 4 Commando. Some of his photos are at the museum in the bunker at Uncle Beach.

thomas wilson on

My dad John Wilson landed in Flushing on November 1st 1944 as part of the 5th KOSB, 52nd Lowland Division. This year his grandson and his son will do the same albeit in a more peaceful setting. Always remembered.

Hayley Cassells on

My Granda David Allen Mills was in 52nd Lowland Division and was possibly involved in this battle. Unfortunately we lost him a long time ago and all the history with him. I’m just starting to find out about some of the things he would have been involved in. Thank you for the information on these pages.

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