Clearing the Channel Coast was a World War II task undertaken by the First Canadian Army in August 1944, following the Allied Operation Overlord and the victory, break-out and pursuit from Normandy.

Le Havre, Boulogne and Calais were subjected to set-piece assaults, after massed bombing and an attack on Dunkirk was cancelled and the garrison contained.

General Bernard Montgomery, the 21st Army Group commander, issued a directive on 26 August, that all German forces in the Pas de Calais and Flanders were to be destroyed and Antwerp was to be captured.

The First Canadian Army was required to cross the Seine and capture Dieppe and Le Havre with the minimum of forces and delay, while occupying the coast as far as Bruges.

The Germans had established artillery positions capable of shelling Dover, threatening allied shipping and there were launch sites for the V-1 flying bombs bombarding London.

It had suffered many casualties and Major-General Richard Gale, had been ordered to harry the German retreat yet conserve its manpower for the rebuilding that was due.

Much of Army Group B (Heeresgruppe B) had been destroyed in Normandy and the Falaise Pocket but divisions deployed east of the Allied bridgehead were largely intact.

Although much of its remaining transport and the bulk of its armour was lost west of the Seine, Army Group B held up the Canadians, protecting improvised river crossings and significant quantities of men and materiel were saved.

[5] The towns along the River Touques were evacuated by the Germans around 24 August and the capture of Lisieux, about 45 km (28 mi) east of Caen, opened an important route eastwards.

The 6th Airlanding Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division took Honfleur on the Seine estuary but progress along the coast was slower than inland, rivers being wider and more difficult to cross.

Despite the strong defences and although the city had been declared a Fortress, the garrison needed little persuasion to surrender and their reluctance to fight to the end was repeated at Cap Gris Nez.

The capture of Le Havre, Boulogne, Calais and Ostend only eased Allied supply problems after extensive clearance of debris and mines.

Ostend was restricted to personnel only but the Boulogne terminal for a Pluto oil pipeline (Dumbo) was of great benefit, becoming the "... main supplies of fuel during the winter and spring campaigns" of the Allies.

[13] After the failure of Operation Market Garden, Eisenhower "turned to Antwerp, which despite the long-delayed capture of Le Havre on 12 September, of Brest on the 18th and of Calais on the 30th, remained, as the closest, largest and best-preserved of the ports, the necessary solution to the difficulties of supply."