Bailey Bridge across the Leopold Channel

In the autumn of 1944, the Canadians liberated the municipalities south of the Leopold Canal in the Battle of the Leopold Canal.

On October 6, the soldiers of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division started the construction of a bridge over the Leopold Canal between Maldegem and Sint-Laureins. A few days later, the Canadians crossed the channel in the first phase of the "Switchback Operation".

This bridge was first a kapok bridge constructed by the Canadian troops. The Bailey Bridge only existed in the early 1950s. It was placed there by the Belgian engineers and served during and after WWII under the name Langewegbrug also in St-Laureins on the connecting road between St-Laureins and St-Margriete. Due to wear and tear, it was replaced by a concrete bridge and the original Bailey bridge was placed in its current location by the Engineers after the wooden floor was repaired. The bridge is a nice souvenir of the fierce battles that took place in September and October 1944, fought by the Canadians to liberate the Scheldt pocket and thus put the port of Antwerp into use. Nowadays she calls it the Lievebrug or Oosthoekbrug.

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Source

• Text: Peter Gabriels & Frankie Haemerlinck
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze