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A Belgian military manual described the terrain in five words: "generally unsuitable for military operations." The Germans agreed — and spent three weeks turning the Leopold Canal into the most heavily fortified water obstacle on the Western Front. Over ten thousand troops. Nearly five hundred machine guns. A commander who had learned defensive warfare on the Eastern Front and intended to hold every metre.
The first Canadian attempt to cross ended in disaster. Men stripped off their equipment and swam back under fire. The crossing was declared impossible.
Twenty-three days later, the Canadians came back — with a plan that broke every rule in the engineering manual. Flamethrowers repurposed as something no one had ever tried. A phonograph unit playing records in the dark. And a footbridge built in ten minutes that no German engineer could explain afterward.
When captured officers were asked how the Canadians got across, they all gave the same answer. They were wrong. And what actually happened was far harder to admit.
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