Operation Pheasant

Operation Pheasant
Part of the Western Front of World War II
Troops of the 10th Highland Light Infantry pass Churchill tanks of 6th Guards Tank Brigade during the assault on Tilburg, 8 October 1944
Date 20 October  – 4 November 1944 Location German occupied North Brabant, Netherlands 51°40′N 5°00′E / 51.667°N 5.000°E / 51.667; 5.000 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  Canada Poland  United States  Netherlands	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Neil Ritchie John Crocker	Gustav-Adolf von Zangen
Units involved
XII Corps I Corps	LXXXIX Corps LXVII Corps LXXXVIII Corps
Casualties and losses
Unknown	~8,000 captured

Operation Pheasant, also known as the Liberation of North Brabant, was a major operation to clear German troops from the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands during the fighting on the Western Front in the Second World War. This offensive was conceived as a result of the failure of Operation Market Garden and the allied effort to capture the important port of Antwerp. It was conducted by the allied 21st Army Group between 20 October to 4 November 1944.^[1]

After overcoming some German resistance, this operation liberated the cities of Tilburg, 's-Hertogenbosch, Roosendaal, Bergen op Zoom, Willemstad and Breda. As a result, the offensive cleared much of Brabant; the German positions which had defended the region along its canals and rivers were broken.^[2]