The crossing
On 29 October 1944, Breda was liberated by the 1st Polish Armoured Division of Major General Stanisław Maczek. Two days later, the forward units stormed north towards Moerdijk and the vital bridges there. But first, the Cromwell tanks of the reconnaissance section, 10 PSK, had to cross the river Mark. They tried to do this at Nieuwe Veer, just south of Zevenbergen, but of course both the brand new road bridge and the railway bridge had been blown up. It was decided to ferry the 8th Infantry Battalion, nicknamed the ‘Bloodshirts’, across in boats. On 31 October, a small bridgehead was the result, which now needed to be expanded quickly. However the enemy, the 245th German Infantry Division of Lieutenant General Sander, put a stop to that.

In a tight spot
German counterattacks soon followed one another, but the Polish troops held their ground. The German reaction was fierce because the road to the bridges at Moerdijk needed to be kept open for the retreating troops for as long as possible. During the following night, reinforcements were brought in for the bridgehead via floating bridges in the form of eight Sherman tanks and two M-10 tracked vehicles. On 1 November, the Polish managed to enlarge the bridgehead somewhat, at least until the enemy launched a counterattack and the Polish were once again pushed back to the water.

Retreat
One Sherman tank after another was knocked out and at 18:00 the decision was made to abandon the bridgehead. The German forces fired with all their might and the bombardment was the most intense it had been since the battle in Normandy. Around midnight, all Polish troops were back on the south bank, and they had had to leave three Sherman tanks and one M-10 behind on the other bank. The other M-10 was left in the shallow water after the pontoon on which it was being transported was sunk.

Balance
The battle was short but extremely fierce, and the German forces had gained time but nothing more, because two days later the Polish crossed at Ter Aalst and Oosterhout. This crossing was successful and Moerdijk finally came into Polish control on 9 November 1944.