This week in the war, on 3 October 1944, the RAF successfully attacked the seawall on the Dutch island of Walcheren. Aircraft dropped the same kind of ‘Barnes Wallis’ bombs that had been used by the Dam Buster squadron to breach German dams in May 1943.

A 100-yard stretch of dyke was destroyed and the ocean flooded onto Walcheren to cover much of the island.

The attack was a prelude to a British amphibious assault aimed at clearing the Germans from the island and silencing the heavy guns that commanded the Scheldt Estuary and the approach to Antwerp.

The port of Antwerp would be essential for landing supplies for the Allied troops advancing into Germany.