Following the breakout from Normandy in August 1944, the British Army made some of the fastest advances in history, racing across northern France and Belgium. When German resistance stiffened in the Netherlands, the British paused briefly to resupply, then set out again. The armoured divisions of Operation Garden pushed North to where Operation Market's 1st Airborne Division held a precarious foothold across the Rhine, only to be stopped by the revitalised German Army. With the days of rapid advances over, the British and Canadian Armies turned to clear the Scheldt Estuary to open the vital supply port of Antwerp, opening it to shipping in November 1944.
The M24 Chaffee light tank was not extensively exported under the lend-lease program due to production only starting in 1944. The only significant non-American recipient of the Chaffee during the war was the British Army.
They had ordered 842 vehicles, but received between 203 to 302 in 1944 and a further 99 in 1945.
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