Advent 20

Volume 20 (Sars to Sorc): Scheldt.

The River Scheldt rises in northern France then meanders for two-hundred -and-seventy miles through Belgium towards Antwerp before entering the North Sea in southern Netherlands.

It was the site of a notable five week battle in October/November 1944, Allied victory at which freed Antwerp to be used as a port to supply the forces forcing their way toward Germany. The battle therefore made up some of the ground lost by the Allies as a result of the famed failure at Arnhem (memorialised as the bridge too far). The spearhead at Scheldt was the First Canadian Army under the leadership of Guy Simonds, a hard leader who was thought by Montgomery to be the best of the Canadian soldiery. The role of the Canadians in World War II deserves to be greater emphasised, alongside those of other colonial forces. I attach the modern Canadian flag, the Canadian red ensign (bearing the Union flag in one quadrant) having been abandoned (entirely appropriately) in the mid sixties. I note that there is some agitation for Australia to take a similar step - this gets reported by the dreg elements of the  British press as somehow bigoted. Bollocks - they can have any flag they choose, having more than earned it.