In October 1944, the 1st Canadian Army was assigned the mission to destroy German defences along the Scheldt River Estuary in Holland and Belgium, free the port of Antwerp and open up Allied supply lines. This was the last major military operation before the Rhineland. During two months of heavy fighting, the Canadians suffered 6,500 casualties. The battle for the Scheldt Estuary is a story that needs to be told. There were a number of circumstances, some of them tragic and pointless which, given time, will indicate that this battle was one of the Allied Command's greatest military and strategic blunders.