What was the significant of Antwep during late WW2?

Answer 1

Antwerp was a large, deep-water port city in Belgium, on the coast of the North Sea, that provided a way for the Allies to bring in large amounts of supplies and thus shorten their supply lines. Before the capture of Antwerp, the only deep-water port was Cherbourg, at the tip of the Contentin Pennisula in Normandy, a long way from the front lines.

Operation Market Garden, which Joseph mentions, was not intended to capture Antwerp, since that city had already been captured.

However, the operation did cause a delay in the opening up of Antwerp to port operations because priority was given to Market Garden preparations. As a result, the First Canadian Army halted at Antwerp, instead of advancing a few miles out of the city to seal off the South Beveland penninsula and thus preventing the retreat of the German 85th Division from the Scheldt Estuary. The Germans in the Estuary blocked the approaches to the port of Antwerp, but if they had been cut off they could have been destroyed.

Because the Germans were able to escape their entrapment, the Allies were forced to fight the brutal Battle of the Scheldt, thus delaying the opening of port operations in Antwerp until late November.

Ironically, Operation Market Garden, which resulted in many Allied casualties and delayed the opening of the port of Antwerp, was ultimately a failure, due to poor conception, hasty and inadequate planning, and, to some degree, poor execution.

Answer 2

The British Montgomery persuaded Allied High Command to launch a bold attack, Operation Market Garden which he hoped would get the Allies across the Rhine and create the narrow-front he favoured. Paratroopers would fly in from England and take bridges over the main rivers of the German-occupied Netherlands. A British and Canadian force would punch through the German lines and link up with the paratroopers. If all went well, the Allies would capture the port facilities in Antwerp and advance into Germany without any remaining major obstacles. The British and Canadian task force was able to link up with six of the seven paratrooper-held bridges, but was unable to link up with the troops holding the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem. The result was the destruction of the British 1st Airborne Division. It was "a bridge too far". (Vikpedia)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1143406.shtml?sectionId=6&articleId=1143406

Answer 3

WW2 ended in 1945. The USAF was formed in 1947. So no they didn't. However, the USAF precursors of the Army Air Corps and the Army Air Forces did contribute way more than their fair share during WW2. Without them, the Luftwaffe and Japanese Air Forces would have destroyed our fleets, our bases, and our military formations from the Air. Air Superiority is as much a necessity today as it was back then.

Answer 4

It was a suitable port for landing supplies for the Aliied forces who are pressing eastward from France into Germany.

By taking Antwerp, the Allies could shorten their supply lines & replenish their frontline forces' stocks of ammunition & food rapidly instead of having to transport the supplies from further west in French ports.