RECLAMATION FEAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26473, 29 May 1947, Page 7

RECLAMATION FEAT

WALCHEREN ISLAND

ALL BREACHES BLOCKED DUTCHMEN’S PERSEVERANCE REWARDED Special Correspondent. Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON, May 28. If there is one post-war achievement more than another in which the Netherlands takes pride it is in the successful reclamation of 40,000 acres of Walcheren Island, flooded in October 1944, by the breaching of the famous Westkapelle and other dykes which protect the reclaimed sections of Walcheren from the sea. Although three of the breaches were deliberately caused by the Germans; the Westkapelle breach was caused by Allied bombing in order to force the Germans to evacuate the island and enable the Allies to use the port of Antwerp. The Dutch realised that if their country were to be liberated and the the Germans defeated the enemy must be cleared from Walcheren, and although the breaching of the dyke confronted them with yet another national calamity they accepted and endured the sacrifice stoically. When. Allied military engineers first inspected the damaged dykes after the liberation of this part of Zeeland they saw no hope of reclaiming the vast area which the sea had again made its own. Little Basis for Optimism But the Dutch were not so pessimistic, although the difficulties were enough to have disheartened a less tenacious people. With the war still in progress, no transport or materials were available, and there was not even enough food and clothing for the labourers. Yet the matter was urgent, for the erosion of the sea was already threatening to engulf the higher parts of the island which still remained above water. . , , . The Dutch persisted, however. A special research station at Delft constructed scale models with which it was possible to ascertain the types of

materials to be used, and the order in which the four main breaches in the dykes must be stopped. Just when success appeared within reach, a storm destroyed the .results of months of patient work. Finally it was found that by sinking torpedo nets, and allowing the water to force filling material against them, the encroachment of the sea could be checked. In other places ships or heavy concrete caissons were sunk in the breaches and filling was built up around them. Island Dry Once More

Late in 1945 the last of the four main breaches was closed, and the Dutch set about the task of pumping the sea water 'from the flooded areas. By the end of February, 1946, they were able to announce that the whole of the island was dry again. There then remained the tremendous task of cleansing the soil from salt impregnation and rebuilding hundreds of houses which collapsed while the fields were under water. This year much of Walcheren’s flood area is again under crops, though it will be some time before full production is reached. Another remarkable post-war Dutch achievement is the restoration of the Wieringermeer barrage, which was breached by the Germans in April, 1945, in an effort to check the Canadian advance. The breaches released the waters of the Ijsselmeer fresh water lake, and within two days 20,000 acres of the richest reclaimed land in Holland was covered with water to a depth of more than 12 feet. Three months later the indefatigable Dutch commenced to repair the dyke, and by the beginning of August they were using an array of powerful hydraulic pumps to clear away the flood waters. Using the technique which they have more recently applied to clearance of the flooded British Fen districts, they had completely drained the 20,000 acres by the middle of December.

As on Walcheren, a plain of mud and a trail of collapsed buildings covered their fertile fields, but, in spite of this, cultivation was recommenced, and this year the Wieringermeer harvest is expected to be back to 90 per cent, of the pre-war figure.