Operation Infatuate II: Sherman tanks at Westkapelle

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Bloody hell! I wish I had seen that earlier

Let me provide some commentary … (Side note: please refer to my e-book on the wrecks at Westkapelle, it will clue you in to what’s what as well I shall be using the ID codes from that to refer to vehicles.)

Up to about 0:30: No sure which gun that is, but clearly anti-aircraft.

0:27: this is the remains of the antitank wall on the landward side of the Westkapelle sea dyke; the semi-submerged bunker in the distance is the Regelbau 621 that was on the dyke the RAF bombed.

0:36–1:00: the buildings interspersed with the gunfire are probably in Vlissingen.

1:01–1:04: the round tower is the Gevangentoren (“Prison Tower”) in Vlissingen, that’s still there today on Boulevard De Ruyter; it’s a restaurant nowadays.

1:05: the large angular building is the Bomvrije kazerne (“Bombproof barracks”) that dated back to the 19th century, and were used by the Germans in WWII; it was demolished after the war.

1:10: the cranes in the distance are of the De Schelde shipyard. The ship visible between them is hull number 214, the later MS Willem Ruys (that ended its life as the MS Achille Lauro)

1:16–1:29: this is Hotel Britannia on Boulevard Bankert in Vlissingen, which was destroyed in the fighting in November 1944.

1:45: Coosje Buskenstraat, which leads off the boulevards down into the town. There was very heavy fighting in this area.

1:48: this looks to be on the eastern or southern side of Vlissingen harbour, but I can’t place it right away.

2:00: Westkapelle beach. These are not derelict LCTs but ones used to bring in supplies for the reconstruction.

2:07: D6A S55, closer-up than I’ve ever seen a picture of it.

2:09: AVRE S32.

2:13: AVRE S42, in the distance Crab S31.

2:18: Foreground Crab S52, background Crab “Rhoderick Dhu” S51.

2:22: D7A S33.

2:25–2:40: Westkapelle, filmed from the top of the dyke to the west of the village.

2:52: The windmill is De Noorman (“The Norseman”), the only operative one remaining after the war. In the background is obviously the lighthouse.

2:56–3:07: This looks like the gap in the dyke at Westkapelle, filmed from the south but I’m not 100% sure.

3:08–3:18: Clearly the gap at Westkapelle, filmed from the north. The crooked bunker is again the Regelbau 621.

3:16: D6A S55. At the very top of the picture is the German radar station on top of the dune now called Erika.

3:20: Not sure where this is, but it could be the gap in the dyke at Ritthem.

3:38: This looks like the gap at De Nolle to the west of Vlissingen.

3:49: Somewhere in the interior of Walcheren, hard to say where.

3:55: Middelburg, to be precise the gazebo in the garden of an 18th century town house just off the Seissingel; the gazebo overhangs the Domburgse Watergang (a minor canal to Domburg); the camera is moving along what is now a bicycle track on the south bank of that canal. (I went to school about 300 metres northwest of here in the late 80s and early 90s We used to take that bicycle track to go into town when we had an hour off.)

4:13 on: I suppose these buildings are in Middelburg as well, but don’t ask me where.