After the breakout from Normandy by the Allied armies, beginning August 13, 1944, the German forces held on stubbornly to the French and Belgian English Channel ports.

On either side of this causeway, which was elevated only a few metres (feet) above sea level, marsh, mud-flats and deep water all hindered movement between Walcheren and South Beveland.

[1] By 31 October 1944, all land surrounding the Scheldt estuary had been cleared of German control except for Walcheren Island, from where coastal batteries commanded the approaches to the waterway.

The Calgary Highlanders had been selected for this amphibious operation, as they had received stormboat training in the UK in anticipation of an opposed water crossing of the Seine River, which invasion planners had predicted would be necessary approximately 90 days after the landings in Normandy.

"C" Company of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada took heavy casualties on the afternoon and evening of 31 October 1944 in an attempt to "bounce" the Causeway.

A new fireplan was drawn up and Major Bruce McKenzie's "D" Company inched forward under intensive gunfire, reaching the west end, and securing it, at dawn on 1 November.

Company Sergeant Major "Blackie" Laloge of the Calgary Highlanders was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions at Walcheren Causeway, at one point throwing back German hand grenades before they could explode among his men.

[4][page needed] Two platoons of Le Régiment de Maisonneuve took over the bridgehead on Walcheren Island on 2 November, but were forced back onto the Causeway.