Tour of Canadian Battlefields

Some Photos of my recent tour visiting Canadian Battlefields in NW Europe. Terry Copp's guidebook in hand, I put on 2200 kilometers over 6 days.

First base was Brugge BE

Thumbnails:
Bison Memorial at Canadabrug, Brugge
Plaque at Canadabrug
Canada Square, Brugge
Plaque at Canada Square
Adegem Canadian War Cemetery
Canada Museum, Adegem (2)
Canadian 3rd Division Regiments on stained glass.

The museum at Adegem is a private collection. I had the opportunity to meet the owner, Gilbert van Landschoot. He told me of the origins of the museum which opened in 1994. His father was saved from arrest by the Gestapo when the Canadians moved swiftly to secure the Adegem area.

The marvellous stained glass panels of all the Canadian regiments are just one of the impressive details.
More information at :::: WELCOME TO POLAND - CANADA WAR MUSEUM ::::

I will post more photos over the next several days.

 

A few more photos of my recent tour:

Thumbnails:
Plaque honouring the South Alberta Regiment
SAR Sherman Tank at Sint Laureins
Memorial to the Algonquin Regiment - 4th CAD
Memorial to the Algonquin Regiment at Moerkerke
Memorial to the 52 Canadians killed during the fighting at Moerbrugge and the 12 citizens lost during occupation
Memorial to 7th Brigade at Eede

 

Hickmanbrug in Retranchement

The plaque beside "Hickmanbrug" reads:

After the offensive of the Westerschelde the Canadians fought an exhaustive battle in the polders of Zeeuwsch-Vlaamse along the dikes in the direction of the Belgium border, and Knokke-Heist. At the end of October, the Royal Canadian Engineer Regiment under the leadership of Sergeant J.L.Hickman reached the drainage canal at Retranchement. Under heavy shellfire, they erected a Bailey bridge on this site on 31 October 1944 where Sgt. Hickman was mortally wounded. In tribute to him and his comrades this bridge was dedicated in his name on
30 October 1989. This simple monument has been adopted by the children of the local school.

 

Great pics kinda makes the hair on my neck bristle just looking at them. My three sons are all around the age of those boys.

 

Owen,
Thanks for adding to this. I did get a couple of emails last year from Art Bridge. I think he may have been on the forum about six months ago. I will add a question mark to that. I have not seen any recent posts from Kieran.

Cheers

 

After leaving Retranchement and the Hickmanbrug, I headed to a private museum in Ossendrecht.
Excellent private collection of ww2 memorabilia. The owner has been collecting for over fifty years.
Museum website is Oorlogsmuseum Ossendrecht and well worth the visit.
From there, a trip to the "For Freedom Museum" in Knokke Heist which has another private collection and features a Buffalo that was used extensively by Canadian and British forces. As well, a Staghound armoured car which 7th Recce employed as they assisted the various infantry brigades during the battles for the Scheldt estuary.
The website is Home and has been opened for just three years. Again, well worth the visit.
The following day, off to Woensdrecht to see the memorial to the Black Watch and the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry. The Canadians paid a high price in the capture of Woensdrecht.
Finally, a short drive back to Belgium to see the memorial to Belgian and Canadian soldiers.

 

Thanks for the pictures, the tour seams to be going well but the weather could be kinder to you

 

Stolpi and I spent the day covering Operation Market Garden. This topic has been covered in prior threads so I will not post any additional photos.

At the end of the day, we visited the cemetery in Arnhem.
I noticed two CANLOAN officer's graves. Both seconded to the
K.O. Scottish Borderers. They are:
CDN/169 A.E. Kipping
CDN/477 A.E.F. Wayte

Would anyone know their original Canadian Regiments?

 

We arrive at Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and visit the grave of
Aubrey Cosens VC for his actions at Mooshof ( please see Stolpi's thread on Mooshof ) and the grave of
LT. Colonel Jeff Nicklin, commander of 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion who was killed during operation 'Varsity'.

 

Personnel of the 2nd 7th Reconnaissance Regiment (17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars)

 

Wills,
Error concerning the headstone of Nicklin?

 

KIPPING, ALBERT EDWARD

Rank:LieutenantService No:CDN/169Date of Death:18/09/1944Age:21Regiment/Service:Royal Canadian Infantry Corpsattd. 7th (Airborne) Bn. King's Own Scottish BorderersGrave Reference16. B. 1.CemeteryARNHEM OOSTERBEEK WAR CEMETERY




WAYTE, ALBERT EDWYN FRANCIS

Rank:LieutenantService No:CDN/477Date of Death:20/09/1944Age:27Regiment/Service:Royal Canadian Infantry Corpsattd. 7th (Airborne) Bn. King's Own Scottish BorderersGrave Reference26. B. 1.CemeteryARNHEM OOSTERBEEK WAR CEMETERY



Yes, but I noticed that the info was on the headstones anyway!

 

Wills,
Will send PM re photo of 17thDYRCH.

 

St Peters Square Caen 19 July 1944 -7th Recce Regt DoYRCH






Here ?

 

Wills,
I have seen the photo before but could never get a larger copy to see if the chap on the left at the back, seated is my Dad. Anyway to enlarge?
Thx for sending.

 

I'll try something else! Problem I get is loss of definition. maybe someone has a dedicated program.

 

At the end of the day touring the Arnhem area, Stolpi took me to the Memorial to
Royal Engineers and the Royal Canadian Engineers.

The Canadian perspective on the evacuation is here:
A Bridge Too Far: The Canadian Role in the Evacuation of the British 1 st Airborne Division from Arnhem-Oosterbeek, September 1944#

For the Market Garden experts on the forum, the author disputes many widely held claims of the Canadian action during the evacuation.
Jump in!

 

View attachment 84628


I'll try something else! Problem I get is loss of definition. maybe someone has a dedicated program.


I have seen the same photo on Flickr but never figured out how to sort out the definition aspect to get better detail.

 

After checking out the Cairn on the Wylerbaan between Wyler and Groesbeek showing the startline for Operation Veritable, we drove near a farmer's field adjacent to the Reichwald Forest. Parked the car only to have the German farmer arrive and tell us in no uncertain terms to move the car. We accomodated the oaf and trekked into the Reichwald. Stolpi identified a trench like setting at the edge of the forest that still contains shrapnel. While not an elaborate trench of WW1 construction, it was obviously built as some sort of defensive structure.

From there on to the Reichwald Cemetery where 7,954 Commonwealth servicemen are buried. It is the largest Commonwealth Cemetery in Germany and is the final resting place of many soldiers killed in the Rhineland campaign as well as Allied air crew, primarily bomber crew, who were shot down over western Germany.

After the visit to the cemetery we found the memorial to the South Alberta Regiment at Udemerbruch.
From there we entered the medieval town of Xanten which was taken by 2nd Canadian and 43rd Wesex Divisions on 8 March, 1945.