ABSTRACT
The first order of business was to clear the Scheldt Estuary of Germans so that the great inland Belgian port of Antwerp could be used as the major supply port. The German forces were well entrenched on the Dutch islands of South Beveland and Walcheren, forming more than twenty miles of the northern shores of the Scheldt. The cost of opening the port of Antwerp was high, amounting to 27,633 Canadian and British casualties, and even after the Dutch islands were cleared of Germans, another two weeks were required to clear the Scheldt Estuary of mines. Again following the usual morning conference, Adolf Hitler convened a smaller meeting and personally briefed the assembled officers on Wacht Am Rhein. The plan was to attack from the Schnee Eifel through the Ardennes to secure crossings over the Meuse River and then to drive past Brussels to Antwerp.
