| Original Caption: “General H.D.G. Crerar with St. Nicholas (Lieutenant H.J. Tingle) and children during a Christmas party at First Canadian Army Main Men’s Mess.” General Officer Commanding 1st Canadian Army, Lieutenant General Henry D. G. Crerar (April 28, 1888 – April 1, 1965), and Lieutenant Harold L. “Hal” Tingle (1918 – February 13, 2003), Royal Montreal Regiment, preside over a Christmas party for Dutch children. In the months following D-Day, the Allies needed a reliable way to keep supplies flowing to their forces on the European continent. To do this, they required a good seaport. The Belgian port of Antwerp was captured almost intact, but it lay almost 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the sea and was accessible only by a long estuary whose shores were controlled by German forces. Much of this coastal area was in the Netherlands and, in the fall of 1944, the 1st Canadian Army led the way in fierce combat under harsh conditions to clear the German occupiers from the shores of the Scheldt River and open the waterway to vital shipping. More than 6,000 Canadian soldiers were killed, wounded or captured in this grueling but victorious campaign that became a key step in the liberation of northwest Europe and the end of the war. 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 2nd 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, including 1st Canadian Army, October 20 – November 4, 1944. After overcoming determined 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. The 1st areas of the Netherlands were liberated in the fall and winter of 1944 as a result of the Battle of the Scheldt and other Allied operations. That Christmas, after 4 years of German occupation, parts of the country celebrated their freedom. In the fall of 1944, the Allies launched Operation Market-Garden, a daring land and airborne attack behind enemy lines in the eastern Netherlands. The goal was to bring the war to a rapid end by cutting in half the German positions in western Europe. The German resistance was fierce, however, and the bold offensive failed. It became apparent that the war would not end in 1944. This would mean many more months of suffering for the Netherlands, which had already endured years of German occupation. The “Hunger Winter” of 1944-45 was a terrible time for the Dutch people. Food supplies were exhausted; many people were reduced to eating tulip bulbs just to try to survive. Fuel had run out and transportation was almost non-existent. By 1945, the official daily ration per person in the Netherlands was only 320 calories, about an 8th of the daily needs of an average adult. Thousands of Dutch men, women, and children perished of starvation and cold. Hal Tingle, promoted to Captain the following year, would again play St. Nicholas for the Royal Montreal Regiment Ladies’ Committee in Montreal on December 13, 1945, for the children whose fathers were on active service. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0344.jpg |
| Image Size | 122.78 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 932 x 675 |
| Photographer | Barney J. Gloster |
| Photographer Title | Canadian Government |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | December 24, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Tilburg |
| State or Province | North Brabant |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Archive | Library and Archives of Canada |
| Record Number | 3230613 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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