British logistics supported the Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group operations in the World War II Siegfried Line campaign, which ran from the end of the pursuit of the German armies from Normandy in mid-September 1944 until the end of January 1945. Operation Overlord, the Allied landings in Normandy, commenced on D-Day, 6 June 1944. German resistance was stubborn, and the British and Canadian advance much slower than planned until the German defences were finally breached in July. What followed was a far more rapid advance than anticipated. The British Second Army liberated Brussels on 3 September, but the subsequent effort to cross the Rhine with the aid of airborne forces in Operation Market Garden was unsuccessful. The Canadian First Army had the task of clearing the Channel Coast. Although the port of Antwerp had been captured virtually intact on 4 September, major operations were required to clear the German defenders from the Scheldt estuary, and it was not opened for shipping until 26 November. Antwerp had sufficient capacity to support both the British and American forces, but its use was hampered by German V-weapon attacks.
A new base was developed around Brussels, and an advanced base area around Antwerp. It was decided to shut down the Rear Maintenance Area (RMA) in Normandy, where some of supplies were still held. This included 15,000,000 rations, which were gradually eaten by the troops in the RMA. Stores still required by the 21st Army Group were moved forward to the new advanced base, and the rest returned to the War Office for disposal. To get the railway system in operation again required the reconstruction of bridges and the importation of additional locomotives. Petrol was brought in tankers and over the Operation Pluto pipeline. Civilian labour was utilised at the bases in a variety of tasks to enable military personnel to be released for service in forward areas. By the end of 1944, some 90,000 civilians were employed by the 21st Army Group, of whom half were employed in workshops in the advanced base, and 14,000 at the port of Antwerp.
British logistics in this campaign had access to enormous resources. The problem the administrative staffs faced was not whether something could be accomplished, but how soon it could be done. Procedures had already been developed and honed in earlier campaigns, and were improved upon as administrative staffs steadily became more experienced. The maintenance system had both capacity and flexibility, and was capable of supporting both fast-moving and slow-tempo operations.
Background
In the first weeks after the Allied invasion of Normandy, known as Operation Overlord, commenced on D-Day, 6 June 1944, the Anglo-Canadian forces were maintained over the Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches, and the small ports of Port-en-Bessin and Courseulles. Construction of the artificial Mulberry harbour commenced on 7 June and by 16 June it was handling per day. The Mulberry accounted for about 12.5 per cent of the Allied tonnage landed in June, compared to 25 per cent for Cherbourg and the small ports, and 62.5 per cent over the beaches, the capacity of which had been underestimated in the planning phase. German resistance was stubborn, and casualties were heavy, although neither as high as anticipated, nor as great as those suffered by the American forces. The bulk of the German forces were drawn towards the British sector, with the result that the advance was much slower than planned, and the lodgement area was considerably smaller. By the end of July, the chances of capturing the Seine ports any time soon looked slim, and work commenced on winterisation of the Mulberry harbour, building up stocks to cater for deteriorating weather, developing the ports and Caen and Ouistreham, and opening the Canal de Caen à la Mer which ran between them.
At the same time, preparations were also made for the possibility of a sudden breach of the German defences requiring a rapid exploitation. When the American Operation Cobra, launched on 25 July 1944, succeeded in breaking through the German defences, six additional transport companies were shipped from the United Kingdom. Plans were drawn up to establish an advanced base in the Le Havre area on the assumption that the Germans would try to establish a new front along the Somme. In the event, the advance proceeded further and faster than anticipated. The British Second Army's XXX Corps crossed the Seine at Vernon on 25 August, followed by the XII Corps at Les Andelys two days later, and both corps were across the Somme by 1 September.
To facilitate the advance, the transport of VIII Corps was appropriated, as was most of that normally assigned to working the beaches and ports. To permit this, the tonnage being shipped from the UK to France was reduced from per day; the difference being made up by drawing down stocks held in the Rear Maintenance Area (RMA) in Normandy. Along with the new units from the UK, these steps increased the number of transport units available to the Second Army from 6 to 39 companies. Until a new army roadhead could be established, supplies were stocked forward as far as possible, at interim depot areas known as "cushions". Brussels was liberated on 3 September, and Antwerp was captured virtually intact on 4 September, but it could not be used as a port until the Germans were cleared from the Scheldt approaches, through which ships had to pass to reach the port.
Meanwhile, the Canadian First Army's II Corps had crossed the Seine in the Pont-de-l'Arche area on 27 August, whilst British I Corps forced a crossing three days later. At this time there were no bridges over the Seine between Rouen and the sea, and no intact ones upstream as far as Paris partly due to Royal Air Force (RAF) attacks. A tidal bore ran twice a day, giving a tide range of . This precluded the use of pontoon bridges, and restricted the times when DUKWs (amphibious trucks) and ferries could operate. Unlike the British corps, the II Canadian Corps did not operate a field maintenance centre (FMC), so supplies were drawn from No. 3 Army Roadhead at Lisieux, which opened on 26 August, or from No. 3A Army Roadhead at Elbeuf, which was opened on 2 September. The First Canadian Army opened No. 5 Army Roadhead between Dieppe and Abbeville on 3 September, and No. 7 Army Roadhead in the Bethune area on 15 September. The lack of FMCs was compensated for to some extent by the creation of temporary "kangaroo dumps" that were established in forward areas to support the advance. The Canadian roadheads could not be satisfactorily stocked in August or September as Second Army had priority for supplies. These were however plentiful in the main depots at No. 1 Roadhead in the RMA, but this was now up to behind the front lines.
Organisation
On 1 September, the Supreme Allied Commander, American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, assumed personal command of the ground forces from Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery. Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) now vetted and approved requirements for some items, such as coal, and passed them on to the War Office for action. Montgomery remained the commander of the 21st Army Group, which consisted of Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey's British Second Army and Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar's Canadian First Army. The ration strength of the 21st Army Group, which included RAF personnel and Axis prisoners of war (POWs), was about 450,000. Under the British command arrangement, Montgomery was in charge of his own logistics, but in the American forces logistics was the responsibility of Lieutenant General John C. H. Lee's Communications Zone, an entirely separate command from Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley's US 12th Army Group. Bradley made no secret of his preference for the British system.
Montgomery considered administration to be one of the principles of war. His biographer Reginald William Thompson described him as being more of a general manager than a general, one who was "enslaved by logistics". Montgomery seldom launched an attack until the required administrative preparations were in place and an adequate supply of ammunition was on hand. As a result, he sometimes passed up enticing operational opportunities. Senior American commanders were more willing to subordinate logistical considerations to operational ones.
The main headquarters (HQ) of the 21st Army Group moved to the Residence Palace in Brussels, a move that was completed on 23 September. It was followed by the rear HQ the following week. The 7th and 8th Base Sub Areas administered Antwerp and Ostend respectively under the command of the Canadian First Army, and the 4th Line of Communications Sub Area administered Brussels under the British Second Army. In September, the control of these sub areas passed to the HQ of Lines of Communication. At the start of October the 4th Line of Communications Sub Area handed Brussels over to No. 10 Garrison and assumed responsibility for the 21st Army Group roadhead around Diest. A new HQ, the 16th Line of Communications Sub Area was formed, and took over the administration of bases and depots in the Somme Department on 29 September. In November it moved to Belgium and took over the administration of the port of Ghent. To control the port of Boulogne, the HQ of the 36th Beach Brick moved up from the RMA. The HQ of Lines of Communication, under the command of Major-General R. F. B. Naylor, initially established itself at Malines in September, but moved to Roubaix on the French-Belgian border, a more central location, in December. The 11th Line of Communications Area then assumed control of the advanced base in Belgium, while the 12th Line of Communications Area moved from Cherbourg to Amiens and took charge of the bases and depots in France, including those of the RMA.
The Canadian Army did not have the manpower to manage its own line of communications, so it shared that of the British. A Canadian administrative section known as the Canadian Section, 1st Echelon Headquarters, 21st Army Group, was attached to the rear HQ of 21st Army Group. Its main role was relieving the Canadian First Army of responsibility for non-operational administrative functions. It was headed by Brigadier A. W. Beament, who was succeeded by Major-General E. L. M. Burns in December 1944. The War Office agreed that he should have direct access to the Commander-in-Chief of the 21st Army Group whenever required, but in practice this was seldom exercised, with matters requiring Montgomery's attention being dealt with by Crerar.
In addition to the Canadians, the 21st Army Group also included the 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade, the Dutch Princess Irene Brigade, 1st Polish Armoured Division, the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade and French contingents. A legal framework for military cooperation was provided by the British Allied Forces Act 1940, and agreements were signed with the governments in exile of France and Poland in 1939 and 1940, and those of Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands in 1941. Although these contingents were organised according to British establishments, and equipped the same as British Army units, simplifying logistics to some extent, linguistic differences remained a complicating factor.