47 A canoe party, as the Lincoln and Welland Regiment rehearses in late January 1945 for the Kapelsche Veer assault. Library and Archives Canada/Department of National Defence fonds/ PA-114067 rates of battle fatigue especially in the 3rd Canadian Division. That division had landed on D-Day on 6 June 1944 and had fought, more or less continuously, ever since. A psychiatric report from October 1944 stated that 90 percent of battle exhaustion cases were men who had been in action for three months or longer.12 The experience of the 3rd Division in the Battle of the Scheldt was particularly difficult during the campaign’s initial phase, Operation Switchback. The War Diary of the Canadian Scottish Regiment captured the bleakness endured by the infantry that cold and wet October. Dug in on the north bank of the Leopold Canal in early October, the Canadian Scottish diarist recalled: Water and soil make mud. Mud sticks to everything. Boots weigh pounds more. Rifles and Brens operate sluggishly. Ammunition becomes wet. Slit trenches allow one to get below the ground, but also contain several inches of thick water. Matches and cigarettes are unusable. So almost everyone looks for a house. A good house is one which only has a few holes in the walls and not more than half the roof dismantled. These are hard to find after our arty (artillery) has lifted its range and after the enemy arty has found its range. So the soldier shakes his head, cleans his rifle, swears a good deal and dreams of what he’ll do when he gets leave.13 Clearing the Scheldt cost the multi-national First Canadian Army 20,873 casualties, including 6,367 Canadians. Their efforts gave the Allies their port capable of handling 40,000 tons of cargo per day. It was desperately needed. Allied materiel losses were so severe that autumn, that Eisenhower estimated Allied requirements to be a staggering “six million rounds of artillery and two million rounds of mortar ammunition per month, the non-repairable losses at 400 tanks, 1500 jeeps, 150,000 tires per month.” The list was exhaustive and included a reminder that 340 full-loaded Liberty would be needed to deliver the food required for the winter.14 With Antwerp fully operational by the end of November, the buildup of supplies and manpower began. Depleted battalions after the Scheldt, desperately awaited replacements from Canada. Thomas Big Canoe was one of those who sailed for the United Kingdom in late December to be part of the Allies’ final push in the spring.
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