WI: 11th Army Division pushes north from Antwerp to Bergen op Zoom

On 2 September 1944 the 11th Army Division halted in Antwerp. Had they pushed just one town further, they would have trapped the German 15th Army on the Beveland Peninsula. It's unlikely that this would modify Market Garden: Montgomery and the British General Staff are not going to hear that they can't end the war by Christmas. But would this have enabled an earlier push into Germany by solving the supply problem sooner, or lead to a quicker liberation of the Netherlands?
 

hipper

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On 2 September 1944 the 11th Army Division halted in Antwerp. Had they pushed just one town further, they would have trapped the German 15th Army on the Beveland Peninsula. It's unlikely that this would modify Market Garden: Montgomery and the British General Staff are not going to hear that they can't end the war by Christmas. But would this have enabled an earlier push into Germany by solving the supply problem sooner, or lead to a quicker liberation of the Netherlands?


I think the 11th armoured division tried quite hard to advance from Antwerp. They could not. I blame the German army.
 
I'm not seeing any evidence the 11th Arm Div, or XXX Corps tried very hard to advance north into the Antwwerp suburbs. Post War Horrocks opined that it was a mistake not to have done so, before his Corps was withdrawn and moved east for Op MARKET-GARDEN.

As to the 15th Army collapsing after being cut off; it depends on what food and ammunition were stockpiled in the coastal forts protecting the Scheldt, or what they could bring with them in the rout from Flanders.

A few alternates:

XXX Corps hooks back west & a division seizes Brugge, a road hub, thus creating a second pocket as was trapped at Mons. This delays the capture of Antwerps port by a couple days, but prevents any appreciable size force of retreating to and across the Scheldt. So, the area has only a few caretakers and the men manning a few coastal artillery batteries.

A couple divisions of Brownings Airborne Army seize the north bank ferry crossings of Walchern island, Beveland, and the neck. Perhaps the airport at Brugge as well. This also makes a retreat of 15th Army problematic. Its probably rolled up by the Canadians in Flanders.

Anyone of these requires a huge amount of foresight and focus by both 21 Army Group and the army/corps commanders.
 
I'm not seeing any evidence the 11th Arm Div, or XXX Corps tried very hard to advance north into the Antwwerp suburbs. Post War Horrocks opined that it was a mistake not to have done so, before his Corps was withdrawn and moved east for Op MARKET-GARDEN.

As to the 15th Army collapsing after being cut off; it depends on what food and ammunition were stockpiled in the coastal forts protecting the Scheldt, or what they could bring with them in the rout from Flanders.

A few alternates:

XXX Corps hooks back west & a division seizes Brugge, a road hub, thus creating a second pocket as was trapped at Mons. This delays the capture of Antwerps port by a couple days, but prevents any appreciable size force of retreating to and across the Scheldt. So, the area has only a few caretakers and the men manning a few coastal artillery batteries.

A couple divisions of Brownings Airborne Army seize the north bank ferry crossings of Walchern island, Beveland, and the neck. Perhaps the airport at Brugge as well. This also makes a retreat of 15th Army problematic. Its probably rolled up by the Canadians in Flanders.

Anyone of these requires a huge amount of foresight and focus by both 21 Army Group and the army/corps commanders.

The airborne operation or delaying taking Antwerp would both have required a lot of foresight and resistance to The supply shortage is pretty well known given the extraordinary efforts being made to ensure the spearheads still have supplies. The reason a push slightly beyond Antwerp as a POD is that it doesn't require that much of a change: just a realization that the Scheldt needs clearing, and a springboard on the peninsula is needed for that by Horrock.
 
There were ferry crossings and barge parks or docks on the north side of Walchern Island & Beveland. Closing the neck is important, but the 15th Army did move supplies to its front and move excess battalions out via the other Dutch waterways.
 
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