Special Forces In World War 2 Podcast
Sep 10, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min · 19 segments
September 1944. The Allied armies have shattered the German front in France and driven deep into Belgium, and then, suddenly, they run out of road. Low on fuel, stretched across hundreds of kilometres…
Michael WeyersHost
In August 1944, the Allied armies break out of Normandy and encircle German forces in the Fillet's pocket.
They pursue the retreating enemy and drive them out of most of France and Belgium.
General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, faces a serious logistics problem.
The Allies conclude that capturing a major port closer to the front would ease the crisis.
A day later, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's forces capture the port of Antwerp almost intact.
The Scheldt estuary, which connects the port to the sea, remains in German hands.
In these first days of September, the German front appears to collapse and the Allied advance towards the Netherlands looks unstoppable.
At this pace, they reckon, Rotterdam could fall by September 5th, 1944, and Amsterdam and Utrecht by September 6th, 1944.
In Amsterdam, people believe the Allies have already taken Rotterdam and Den Haag.
A British radio bulletin hardens the belief, reporting that Breda has been liberated.
On September 4th, 1944, Radio Oranje broadcasts a speech by the Prime Minister of the Dutch government in exile, Pieter Schoedsgebrande.
He tells listeners that Allied forces have crossed the Dutch frontier and are pressing north.
In August 1944, the Allied armies break out of Normandy and encircle German forces in the Fillet's pocket.
They pursue the retreating enemy and drive them out of most of France and Belgium.
General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, faces a serious logistics problem.
The Allies conclude that capturing a major port closer to the front would ease the crisis.
A day later, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's forces capture the port of Antwerp almost intact.
The Scheldt estuary, which connects the port to the sea, remains in German hands.
In these first days of September, the German front appears to collapse and the Allied advance towards the Netherlands looks unstoppable.
At this pace, they reckon, Rotterdam could fall by September 5th, 1944, and Amsterdam and Utrecht by September 6th, 1944.
In Amsterdam, people believe the Allies have already taken Rotterdam and Den Haag.
A British radio bulletin hardens the belief, reporting that Breda has been liberated.
On September 4th, 1944, Radio Oranje broadcasts a speech by the Prime Minister of the Dutch government in exile, Pieter Schoedsgebrande.
He tells listeners that Allied forces have crossed the Dutch frontier and are pressing north.
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