Striking Into Germany: From the Scheldt to the German Surrender

W e have seen in previous instalments of these letters (See CMH, Spring, Autumn editions, 2002) how Captain Harold S. (Hal) MacDonald of the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment fought across northwest Europe.Through the Normandy campaign, the capture of the Channel ports, and the clearing of the Scheldt, he served as a company commander and as regimental adjutant.Throughout it all, in vivid and mostly uncensored letters to his wife Marjorie back in Saint John, he recorded his personal reactions to these great events.MacDonald was appointed the North Shores' adjutant after the capture of Calais at the end of September.As he found the work of the position so demanding and the stress levels so intense, his letters to Marjorie became less frequent and somewhat briefer than previously.But in December, while the regiment was stationed at Nijmegan in Holland, he moved from the job of adjutant to that of the North Shore's Liaison Officer at 8th Brigade's Headquarters.Although this too was a demanding job, MacDonald clearly found it less time consuming and stressful than that of adjutant, with the result that the number of his letters home increased and they also became more discursive.These letters are by a capable writer who was familiar with the grind of combat but who was now somewhat distanced from it with a wider view of events as they unfolded.Written from a slightly different perspective, his letters continue to provide a unique and invaluable insight into the mentality and preoccupations of this front-line Canadian infantry officer as the army of which he was a member fought through the war's costly and exhausting final four months.The First Canadian Army had concluded its hard-fought battle to clear the Germans from the Scheldt in early November 1944, at last giving the Allied armies access to the vital port of Antwerp.After a welcome break in the Belgian city of Ghent, the Canadians proceeded to Nijmegen in eastern Holland, within striking distance of Germany itself.They remained in this border location for the next few months holding the Nijmegen salient as a base for an upcoming offensive to clear the Germans from the Rhineland, then to cross the Rhine River and invade Germany itself. 1 During their long months of fighting, through Italy and through northwest Europe, Canadian units had suffered heavy losses, especially the infantry, leaving them critically short-handed.In the Scheldt alone they had suffered more than 6,000 casualties, between 75 and 80 percent of them infantrymen.2 The Canadian military had, however, seriously underestimated probable losses, especially of the essential foot soldiers, resulting in urgent and mounting demands for reinforcements.This had triggered a political crisis in Canada sadly reminiscent of the conscription troubles of the First World War.It was not until the end of November 1944 that Prime Minister Mackenzie King decided to bite the bullet and send 16,000 home defence Striking Into Germany

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