Cleaning-up

On April 12th, 1944, the Canadians crossed the River IJssel between the badly damaged cities of Zutphen and Deventer and moved westwards to the city of Apeldoorn and the forests. On April 15th, British soldiers entered Arnhem again, this time from the east and with more success. Canadian forces cut through the forests and took the old Zuydersea port of Harderwijk. More than 100,000 Germans in the western part of the country were cut off from their retreat to the Fatherland.

The Canadian armour got involved in a sea battle. The German navy had confiscated ships that were in port and loaded them with men to be taken to Amsterdam. When the Canadian tanks reached the coast, the ships could still be seen and when told by the Dutch people that they were filled with German soldiers, they opened fire.

The cleansing of the forests began. Canadians, led by local Resistance men, rounded-up as many Germans as they could, but some fanatical SS and Hitler Youth fought on to their deaths.