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The shelling of the little ships by the batteries continued, and we waited anxiously to see the enemy guns go out one by one as the marines took the gun positions from the rear. It was hard to tell what was going on but the reports from the shore were good, although the men at sea were having a very tough time. they seemed to present sitting targets-most of those craft passing to and fro across the front of the beaches, and here and there we watched them being hit- pouring out smoke from their sterns, and in one or two cases, going down on the shoals with only their upper work showing, while the little personnel craft dashed through and picked up the crews.

B.B.C WAR REPORT NUMBER 135. 2nd NOVEMBER
1944

McLEOD. Here in the studio is a man from Walcheren.. our correspondent Denis Johnston, who took part in the Naval side of the assault on this Island, the attack on German gun positions at West Kapelle.

Johnston left the coast of the continent early this morning and, after a rough crossing, came direct to London, he reached Broadcasting House only two hours ago.

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JOHNSTON. They came down in the belly of the Landing Craft. where we were all lying curled up in the darkness, and told us if we came up now we could see the beginning of the attack on Flushing. this attack on the Island was a three-pronged drive. While the Canadians fought their way in from the causeway, a second party was attacking across the Scheldt from Breskens against the second of the little humps that were all that was left of Walcheren ever since the floods broke in. Our job-- which was an all Naval show- was to attack the western most tip-West Kapelle- where the German batteries faced out to sea, and a few thousand of the enemy were holding out on another of these sodden hummocks of sand dunes
Up on the bridge of the Landing Craft we could see the red flashes of the guns coming from the east over Flushing and directly in front of us the dawn came up behind the light house tower of West Kapelle. As it grew lighter, this armada of little craft drew slowly in towards the coast.
Our ship, LCH 269, was leading. Behind us came a string of gun and rocket carrying landing craft to cover the assault which was being made by the Marines. For a while there was no sign of life at all on the shore, and we speculated as to whether the enemy batteries had been knocked out already by air attacks.
But suddenly from here and there along the beach came little yellow flashes of light and we knew they were alive all right although we couldn鈥檛 see to begin with where their shells were going.
I don鈥檛 think they saw us for some time- the dawn was behind them, and we were backed by a long line of scudding rain clouds. but as it became fully daylight the covering craft moved forward and closed with the batteries and the assault craft moved up from behind and passed through heading for a big gap in the dyke that we could see clearly not more than a mile or so away.
There was no question that they saw us then. From all along the coast the enemy batteries opened up on our fleet of ships. the shells came whining overhead falling in the water with great plumes of spray. But they were getting from us far more than they were giving, and then from behind us came hurtling the great shells of the battleship Warspite, and from two monitor, the Erebus and the Roberts joining in the fight at long range.
It was an incredible sight to see those landing craft heading straight for the gap in the dyke and passing through, while the little gunships hugged the beaches and poured their fire into the enemy caissons. the Marines fanned out behind the gap and leapt ashore.
On the far side there was more flooding, so they had to land on the causeway itself- on the concrete slopes of the causeway, and fight their way in both directions along the narrow neck of dry land that was all that was left of West Kapelle. The enemy put up a smoke screen. Presently it was aided by smoke from a fire in the lighthouse itself, as the battle on the shore swept past it鈥檚 base.

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The shelling of the little ships by the batteries continued, and we waited anxiously to see the enemy guns go out one by one as the marines took the gun positions from the rear. It was hard to tell what was going on but the reports from the shore were good, although the men at sea were having a very tough time. they seemed to present sitting targets-most of those craft passing to and fro across the front of the beaches, and here and there we watched them being hit- pouring out smoke from their sterns, and in one or two cases, going down on the shoals with only their upper work showing, while the little personnel craft dashed through and picked up the crews.

MaCLOUD. From Breskens, on the mainland, Guy Byam watched the Army Commando troop鈥檚 battle for Flushing across the narrow mouth of the Scheldt. .......We are reading Byan鈥檚 dispatch.

BYAM WRU: 8517
READER> When the Commandos had reached the fringes of the town, all hell started to be let loose. Two batteries on either side of Flushing ricocheted shells off the water amongst the landing craft coming in with the following waves of infantry, on beaches just to the West of the town, and infilading machine gun fire caught the men as they came ashore. From where we stood we could see these commandos had landed, right on the Harbour front. Towering behind were the gantry鈥檚 and cranes of Flushing鈥檚 shipyards and to the west, a little way out of the town, was a large hotel right on the beach.
This building was smashed and torn apart by shells and, as I watched, the whole front of it collapsed in a cloud of dust. Just below it was the beach where the second unit had waded off the assault craft, to get quickly into the area already held by the commando鈥檚.
Most of the dock area was already in their hands and they were pushing on into the fringes of the town. Our guns were engaging a battery of German guns that were firing onto the beaches we hold.
The whole of the dock area of Flushing appeared to be on fire and bits of burning paper came drifting back from over the water. Meanwhile to the west another great fire was burning. It was smoke from the town of West Kappelle.
MACLEOD
West Kapelle in the West....Flushing on the south coast of the Island.....And, from the East came the third assault.... that of the Canadians, driving from South Beveland. Over all. reports Alan Melville, pilots of the Second Tactical Air Force flew to attack the German gun positions.

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That part of the TAF which supports the Canadian Army鈥檚 operations flew 240 sorties yesterday. Today, as you know the beachheads are firmly established and our forces have made good progress. But this has not been an easy operation, nor has it been carried out without loss.

Here is Denis Johnston again, (on LCH 269 ) to complete his story of the Naval side of the landings with a description of the return from Walcheren...

JOHNSTON LIVE>
We were now on our way back with a hole in our side as big as a window- a hole just above the water-line, patched up with wood in some sort of way. And the Port side of the bridge was peppered like a cannister.
There were little heaps of splintered wood and sodden mattresses in the forward well, and down below- made as comfortable as they could be in the circumstances- we were carrying the casualties of three or four other craft- men collected just as darkness fell,and the little ships rolled and pitched alongside each other in the heavy ground swell.
Outside in the wardroom lobby, I noticed a cutting stuck up on the board which read 鈥淪top purring. The war isn鈥檛 won yet鈥�


I think we knew that very well. While the news from the beaches had steadily improved all day, this had been, I think, to some extent at the expense of the craft at sea. All day long they had been under heavy and accurate shell fire from those batteries.

A young naval lieutenant who was sitting beside me dropped off to sleep on one of the bunks- quite exhausted. He had commanded one of the small motor craft known as L.C.P.(L) s and for fifteen hours or more he and his crew had been marking shoals, laying smoke screens and picking up survivors. In the end he had lost his own craft and had come aboard ours. Before closing his eyes, he dropped a casual remark that he had enjoyed Dunkirk a great deal better.

There were a lot of men in that fleet who must have the same story to tell-the men who took the Commandos in-the men who ran their gunboats flat on to the beaches and engaged the shore batteries at point blank range- the men of the Flak ships who had turned their guns onto the enemy strong point and literally plastered them with shells.

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I shall never forget the incredible sight of those salvoes of rockets as they swept over the sea, and plunging down raised a long drawn out inferno of smoke and dust, and spray, the like of which I have never seen before on any battlefront. Denis Johnston.
In my research I was able to obtain a Report of procedure, for operation 鈥淚nfatuate鈥� the official name of the Walcheren operation from LCH 269, it is as follows:

(Enclosure No 3 to the Commander, Support Squadron, Eastern Flank, letter No 1 162/94/1 dated 14th November, 1944 )
FROM; THE COMMANDING OFFICER, H.M L.C.H. 269.
DATE: 12TH November, 1944.

TO: THE COMMANDER, SUPPORT SQUADRON, EASTERN FLANK,
H.M.S 鈥淪QUID鈥�

REPORT OF PROCEDURE- OPERATION 鈥� INFATUATE 11鈥�
The ship weighed and proceeded promptly at the time ordered namely, 0330, November 1st, 1944, taking the lead of the convoy composed of the craft of the Support Squadron, course was 320 degrees true, Speed 6 knots.
2. Course was altered at 0440 to 056 degrees true, and at 0445 the heavy bombardment squadron was sighted to the Northward. At 0550 speed was increased to 6 1/2 knots, and at 0559 course was again altered to 041 degrees true. The ship鈥檚 company closed up to dawn action stations at 0645 and secured for breakfast at 0718. At 0718 course was again altered to 056 degrees true and at 0728 to 093 degrees.
(3) The Coast line had been clearly visible from about 0700, and at 0713 Westkapelle was clearly seen. At 0710 Domburg Battery was observed to be active but no fall of shot was observed, and only a few shots were fired. At 0750, Domburg Battery again opened fire, and fall of shot was observed some distance away. At 0750 the L.C.G of the Support Squadron began to deploy.
(4) At 0808 course was altered to 079 degrees and the ship鈥檚 company again closed up to Action Stations. At 0809 Westkapelle Battery opened fire, and at 0815 the heavy bombardment Squadron consisting of H.M.S 鈥淲ARSPITE鈥�, 鈥淩OBERTS 鈥� and 鈥滶REBUS鈥� opened fire. L.C.G opened fire at 0829. At 0825 Westkapelle Battery was observed to cease fire after some direct hits, and shortly after the Hun attempted to lay a smoke screen to close the gap.

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(5) At 0845 L.C.H. 269 was in position B.B. and remained in that vicinity to mark the position for the first wave of Landing Craft, as the M.L. originally in that position had to leave some time before because of accurate shell fire. At 0909 small calibre shells were observed to be dropping around us, but none very close.
(6) At approximately 0915 we proceeded slowly to the southwestward and thereafter patrolled on orders of S.S.E.F who was on board, from two or three miles off the coast, closing and investigating damaged craft. Injured were brought alongside by L.C.P.LS several times, and at approximately 1220 LCH 98 came alongside and casualties that had been placed aboard, were taken aboard.

Shortly afterwards through a break in the smoke screen the Hun turned his attention to us and after a ranging shot that fell three cables ahead and short, put one very close to our stern. No casualties were obtained but splinters hit the ship in many places. Full ahead was immediately passed and after another couple of attempts, no further shells were received.

(7) The ship then proceeded out to the 鈥淜INGSMILL鈥� 5 miles due West passing LCI (S) 532 burning and abandoned at 1242. Shortly afterwards LCT 461, Hospital carrier, was closed, but found to have been mined and was already full. One Officer that had died on board was disembarked, and after closing the 鈥淜INGSMILL鈥� LCH 269 proceeded alongside another Hospital carrier and disembarked the remaining wounded, 鈥淜INGSMILL鈥� was once again closed while there was a consultation between S.S.E.F and NC Force T.

ENCLOSURE NO THREE TO THE COMMANDER SUPPORT SQUADRON EASTERN FLANK, LETTER NO 162/94/1 DATED 14TH NOVEMBER 1944.

(8) At 1800 鈥淜INGSMILL鈥� anchored 1 mile further to the westward, and at 1830 LCH 269 anchored 10 cables due north from her. At 0320 reports were received of E.Boats and human torpedoes some distance away, so Action Stations were were sounded, and as nothing developed they were later secured, at 0630 dawn action stations were exercised.

(9) The ship remained at anchor until 1345 November 2nd, when anchor was weighed and a course for *Ostend was set with what was left of the Support Squadron in company arriving there at 1800.
(10) During the course of the action, the ships company were at Action Stations and conducted themselves accordingly and seemed to stand the strain very well. The cook however, let the ship down badly in that he is liable to ***seasickness and had also worked himself into a state of jitters, so as to be useless when most needed, action is being taken to try and have him relieved, although not needed , the damage control and first aid parties were on top line and I believe them to be efficient.

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(11) During the run in, while not reported, it was subsequently found that Radar, type 970 was being jammed by star jamming, but that the coastline showed through plainly. It was roughly one mile out although calibrated shortly before leaving .
***Southampton.
(12) It is suggested that a proper gyro compass is most necessary in a headquarters ship. Although carefully swung prior to leaving, I considered my compasses almost unreliable on sailing from OSTEND.
(13) It is also suggested that if , in future, headquarters ships are to be a sort of casualty clearing station, carrying a doctor, some definite space be fitted with a more convenient entrance than the Troop Space at present used with an almost vertical ladder leading down.

(Signed) T.F.Owen
Lieutenant, R.C.N.V.R.
Commanding Officer.

There are several changes that I should mention here :
* return course set for OSTEND, this was not so, we left Walcheren with the hospital ship which hit a mine off the English coast and sunk with all hands, LCH 269 returned directly to Poole, the only remnant of the S.S.E.F., several damaged craft went to Ostend, as they were not seaworthy enough to make the trip to England.
With regard to the cook, he came to our ship just prior to our Walcheren operation, he had transferred from the Army, and was very excited with his galley, having had to cook on field stoves before, as to his mental condition, I cannot verify that, as we the engine room crew were on duty for almost two days, and were down in the Engine room, keeping the engines running and banging in the wood plugs in the holes in the bulkheads, whenever they came loose and allowed water to seep in!
Finally, the Lieutenant states he set the compass when we left from Southampton, we left from POOLE , he could have possibly verified the compass setting from Southampton when we passed it during the night.
I have been unable to get any information about Lieutenant T.F.Owen R.C.N.V.R. (Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve) other than he came on LCH. 269 for this operation and he was (Jimmy the One) naval slang for second in command.

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