Editing Siegfried Line campaign (section)

====Channel ports====
{{Main|Clearing the Channel Coast|Operation Astonia|Operation Fusilade|Operation Wellhit|Operation Undergo|Siege of Dunkirk (1944)}}
[[File:The British Army in Normandy 1944 B9743.jpg|thumb|British infantry of the 1st Battalion, [[Royal Hampshire Regiment|Hampshire Regiment]] crossing the Seine at [[Vernon, Eure|Vernon]], 28 August 1944.]]

The [[Channel ports]] were urgently needed to maintain the Allied armies. By the time that [[Brussels]] was liberated, it had become difficult to supply the 21st Army Group adequately. Indeed, one corps—[[VIII Corps (United Kingdom)|VIII Corps]]—was withdrawn from active service to free its transport for general use. The Canadian First Army was tasked with liberating the ports during its advance along the French coast.<ref>{{cite web|last=Stacey|title=Chapter XIII: Antwerp, Arnhem and Some Controversies, August–September 1944. The Pursuit to the Somme and Antwerp|work=Official History of the Canadian Army|publisher=Department of National Defence|url= http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/CA/Victory/Victory-13.html|access-date=1 July 2009}}</ref> The ports involved were Le Havre, [[Dieppe, Seine-Maritime|Dieppe]], [[Boulogne]], Calais, and Dunkirk in France, as well as [[Ostend]] in Belgium. [[Adolf Hitler]] had appreciated their strategic value. He issued a [[Fuehrer Order|Führer Order]] declaring them to be "[[German World War II strongholds|fortresses]]" that must receive adequate materiel for a siege and be held to the last man.

Dieppe was evacuated by the Germans before Hitler's order had been received and, consequently, the Canadians took it with little trouble and with the port installations largely intact. Ostend had been omitted from the Führer Order and was also undefended, although demolitions delayed its use. The other ports were defended to varying degrees, however, and they required substantial work to bring them into use, except for Dunkirk which was sealed off to the rear of the Allied advance.