This combat bulletin is about the Allied campaign in the Netherlands in WW2 and also shows the final stages of the Peleliu Campaign. It was produced by the Army Pictorial Service Signal Corps (:19). Walcheren and Tilburg are looked at first as Allied forces wanted to break German positions defending the region along it’s canals and rivers. The British 2nd Army advanced on Tilburg, which was to be the pivotal city of the German retreat from southern Netherlands (:40). Images of the demolished bridge which spanned the Wilhelmina Canal are shown and this slowed their advance (:49). Troops navigated the remains (1:02) and once the area was cleared of snipers, the rest of the battalion crossed the canal in assault boats (1:11). Once a bridgehead was secured, the Nazi stronghold was neutralized and civilians are seen waving in the streets (1:30). On the western flank of the Netherlands, the Anglo-Canadian offensive (1:41) was to open the port of Antwerp. They were to cross the Scheldt from the mainland to contact the 2nd Canadian Division that was fighting along the peninsula towards the islands in the Scheldt estuary (1:49). Other armored vehicles moved westward towards Walcheren Island (2:09). The beaches of Walcheren are seen (2:18) and the Battle of Walcheren Causeway was conducted to attack the last remaining German strongpoint that was commanding approaches to the port of Antwerp. Half of the island was under water due to RAF bombings of the sea walls and five areas were being garrisoned by 7,000 Nazi troops (2:27). A seaborne attack was launched on the island (2:34). On November 1st, British armored ships headed towards the Walcheren shores (2:39). RAF Typhoons provided air support while shore installations were fired upon (3:02). Anti-aircraft guns paved the way for a second landing on Walcheren (3:48) and the British envoy prepared to land on southern Walcheren to flush out Holland’s third port (4:03). House to house combat ensued and the burning buildings follow (4:48). This was to be the final phase of the Battle for the Port Antwerp which would set up the Battle of the Scheldt (4:51). A span of the 2,500 German’s captured including Lieutenant General Wilhelm Daser, follows and formal German surrender was given on November 6th (5:05). The film turns to captured German weapons which Allied forces were testing for use against the Nazis (5:14). An M12 which belongs to a field artillery battalion (5:36) is used for the tests using photoelectric cells / chronograph to measure timing. 155mm shells which were collected from German ammunition dumps in France and Belgium (6:10) can be used against the Germans. Local industries in captured areas were utilized by the Allied forces such as in Breining (6:54) where German industry was used for supply needs of the first army and a combat engineer battalion took over the operations of a sawmill (7:06). In Eloyes, medical supplies were wrapped and stuffed into projectile containers to be fired to the 7th Infantry men who were trapped behind German lines (8:08). Medical supplies included blood plasma units and sulfur products and these were rolled into 105 and 155mm shells (8:22). C-rations and halazone tablets for water purification were also wrapped (8:47). Supplies were airdropped from Thunderbolts of the 9th Air Force and fired from artillery shells (8:59). The infantrymen of the trapped battalion are seen returning to the 7th Army lines on October 31st (9:30). When German’s had cut in behind them, they were pushed back to dug in positions (9:45). The relief party commanded by Lieutenant Martin J. Higgins, fought their way through to them (10:03). Tanks were prepared to tackle winter weather in Stahlberg (10:45) with new track connectors with extended widths (11:10). On the 1st Army Front, a light tank patrol of a reconnaissance squadron demolished a roadblock in Menvil-Sur-Belvite, Belgium (11:24). The film then turns to areas in the Pacific theater (12:36). The Weasel M29-6; a light cargo carrier in seen in Bougainville in the Philippine Islands (12:50) and in Leyte (13:28). The air strip of Peleliu was put into active use a day after beach landings (14:09). Footage provided by the Marine Corps follows (14:23) showing the final phase of the Peleliu campaign.

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