S'Hertogenbosch

With Walcheren behind them, and almost two divisions of enemy being sent to be put to work on the roads of France, the Division moved to hold the line of the Lower Maas around the heavily flooded sector of Hertogenbosch. Nearby was Vught, where many units saw for themselves the ugly inside of an SS torture camp. And down the road from Vught, Heusden Church, where the Germans herded men, women, and children, and burned them alive.

For the total number of fatalities during WWII click here

(Nov 24th - French capture Strasbourg)

One night whilst accommodated in the former SS Barracks, Rafferty and my dad decided to flog a couple of blankets to get the price of a few drinks. So when everyone was at tea they nipped round the barrack room and wrapped four blankets round their middles, and under their coats. They looked at each other, burst out laughing, and my dad said "another fine mess you've got me into Oliver". They looked like Oliver and Hardy (not Laurel and Hardy). Out they went into the streets knowing only one word of Dutch - 'dekker', meaning blanket - and out of the dark loomed a prospective customer. My dad approached him and said "dekker, five guilders?" The customer replied in perfect English " I'm sorry, but I'm not interested" and shone the torch onto himself, and lo and behold he was a priest. Eventually they managed to barter the blankets for a few drinks and wandered happily back to barracks, only to find that the original owners of the blankets had taken theirs, and they had to spend the night on the cold floor with their straw mattresses on top of them for warmth.

(November 29th - Albania liberated)

On the 3rd December the Brigade was visited by Fieldmarshall Montgomery who shook hands with my father and commented on how young he looked (he was 18 at the time). On the 5th December the Brigade began the long move south to Hoensbruck, and on the 6th relieved the 7th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry at Rischden to maintain ambush patrol. On the 11th the Battalion moved to Raar, and then back to Rischden on 16th to relieve 6th Highland Light Infantry and hold for one day.

(Dec 16th - 27th - Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes)
(Dec 17th - 1st SS Panzer Division murder 81 U.S. POWs at Malmedy)

Geilenkirchen

On the 17th Dec. the Battalion moved to a wooded area north of Geilenkirchen on the extreme right of the British line, at its junction with the U.S. 9th Army and made contact with B Squadron of the 52 Recce Regiment, where they took over a maze of trenches and barbed wire reminiscent of the first winter in Flanders in the 1914-18 war. An attack was intended, the 52nd to be part of Operation Shears, but this was cancelled because von Rundstedt opened his last, desperate offensive in the Ardennes. On the 20th, D Company relieved 5th K.O.S.B. at Tripsrath. Coping with the mud and cold, the continuous and very accurate shelling by the Germans, mines and booby traps which made patrolling a dangerous and nerve-racking business, a daily average of five or six killed or wounded was usual. It was during a bout of this shelling that Rafferty and my dad were caught out in the open. Rafferty had begun to dig in and my dad had gone to collect wood in an old wheelbarrow for head cover. As the 40mm started blasting away, Rafferty hit the deck and my dad ran for cover, still pushing the old hand cart. Later when they had calmed down my dad went to take a drink from his water bottle only to find that the bottom had been ripped off by a piece of one of the shells. My dad shouted that he had enough orifices in his body already without the b***** Krauts adding any more.

On 24th the Battalion moved to Teveren to take over a local defence roll, and on the 28th to Gillrath to relieve the 7/9th Royal Scots. It was past New Year before the 52nd Division was completely out of the line about Gielenkirchen. It had been a long and wearing business and one which saw Lt. Wiig awarded the MC, L/Cpl. McDonagh MM, and Riflmn. Gilchrist and Armour mentioned in despatches for an attack on 2 enemy mortars under heavy spandau fire. The Lowlanders were now shortly to be plunged into the offensive that had been planned to replace the cancelled Operation Shears. The temporary phase of defence imposed by the Ardennes counteroffensive was over. The advance must now be resumed.

(Dec 22nd - counter offensive of General Patton from Arlon into the direction of Bastogne)
(Dec 25th  - Soviet forces reach Budapest, Hungary)
(Dec 27th  - Soviet troops besiege Budapest)
(Dec 31st  - Operation Nordwind, the second and final phase of the Nazi winter offensive)
(Jan  1st     - Germans start to withdraw from Ardennes)

The Roer Triangle

Operation Blackcock

This was the revised version of operation shears. Strategically it was one of the necessary preliminaries to the crossing of the Rhine, designed to eliminate the enemy West of the Roer. It involved three main thrusts, and 156 Brigade would punch forward due east from Sittard and along the axis on the southern fringe of the Echterbosch, the heavily wooded area at the centre of the triangle, and then north to Roermond. It was this central axis followed by the Lowlanders that proved to be the most important and fruitful of all. And it was as a result of this operation that the 52nd became the first division to fight in its entirety on German soil. Of the three columns of this force, only one was to make it through to its objective, and that by a route unforeseen in the original plan. The attack started on the 16th January at 06.30hrs in fog, darkness, and bitter cold, by heavy bombardment of the enemy by a mass of artillery which had been assembled in support of, and much to the astonishment of the Lowlanders. Many had their first look at the 'flail' tanks, the flame-throwing Crocodiles, and the troop-carrying Kangaroos. They would have been even more heartened to see the concentration of guns, up to the mammoth super-heavies, wheel-to-wheel behind them, especially the queer pieces of the 1st Canadian Rocket Battery, which could fire a ripple salvo of some 350 rockets, each the equivalent of one 5.5 inch shell. This device was known as the 'Flying Bedstead' and its effects were so devastating that troops reported Germans so dazed and shocked as to be coming out to surrender and walking blindly into walls.

(Jan 16th - German Ardennes "Bulge" eliminated)
(Jan 17th - Soviets capture Warsaw)

Click to enlarge map

on the 18th Jan the 4/5th R.S.F. assaulted the strong German position immediately in front of Sittard . It was during the attacks on the villages of Lind and Stein that Fusilier Donneni gained a posthumous V.C. After being stationed the night before at a monastery at Waterslevile, 156 Brigade were marched to attack and capture the strongly held towns of Sittard and Saeffelen, and then across the river Saeffelen to reinforce the bridgehead with the 4/5th R.S.F. And the 6th Cameronians. Then forward to Heilder, captured by the 4/5th R.S.F. the previous evening under orders to capture it at all costs, since this would seal the fate of the larger town of Hongen. By 10.30am the next day 'D' company had captured Spanchuisken. The 7th Cameronians casualties were 37, among them Major N. R. Warren (O/C. "D" Coy), who was killed by a sniper in Spanchuisken.

(Jan 20th - The Provisional Government of Hungary signs an armistice with the Allies)

After perfecting plans for the next attack, Selstein, the Battalion formed up on the 21st Jan. under heavy mortar and shell fire. The C.O., Lt. Col. Nason, was wounded by this fire and the 2nd I/C, Major Forbes took command. All approaches to the town were over flat, open country which was good for tanks but not for Infantry tactics. When they got to within 300 yards of the village heavy fire opened and several tanks were put out of action. For a time the situation was critical, but the flame throwers came into action and revived the impetus of the attack. By 6pm they had worked their way through the main street and occupied the whole village. At 4am on the 22nd the counterattack came but was beaten off. This engagement cost the 7th Cameronians thirty seven casualties.

In his book "With the Jocks", Peter White gives a poignant account of the whittling down of the original members of his Battalion of the 6th Cameronians:

'A rather dismal reaction had set in among the chaps left to me now so many of their friends had gone. Their losses were only just beginning to sink in. I think we must all have figured that, like musical chairs, the elimination process was only too obvious. Twice already my platoon had been whittled down by 75 percent in one action and for those who had survived so far it seemed merely a matter of time, and not much time at that.'

On the principal of giving the enemy no respite it was decided to attack Obspringen the same night. This operation proved to be one of the most daring and successful of the campaign. The smaller villages of Locken and Schondorf were attacked first by "B" and "C" Company from the South, and the rest of the Battalion attacked Obspringen from the West. By 8pm "B" Company had cleared Locken, and by dawn Obspringen was completely cleared. "C" Company were in trouble though. The leading platoon and Coy HQ had been pounced on by the enemy in the North of Schondorf, and the remainder of the company cut off from the south. On hearing this news the Brigade Commander scheduled an attack by 4/5th R.S.F. And a tank troop for early the next morning. It took just half an hour to take the village and relieve "C" Company, under the command of Captain A.M. George, who had held out in a farm house all night against continuous fire. Captain George was awarded MC for his part in this operation. This action cost the 7th Cameronians 39 casualties, among them Major M.V. Gray who was killed by a sniper in Obspringen. He is buried in the town of Sittard.

The capture of Obspringen ended the active rolls of 156 Bde. in Operation Blackcock and they continued to hold a defensive line around Obspringen and to the North for the next ten days, while another Brigade pushed the remaining enemy forces to the other side of the Roer. Total Battalion casualties during Operation Blackcock were 3 officers killed, 19 other ranks killed and 79 wounded. 1,220 prisoners were taken. The divisional Artillery had fired more than 100,000 rounds of 25pr ammunition alone. And the 52nd had been mainly instrumental in driving the enemy across the Roer. On the 28th January the Battalion moved to Nachbarheide in preparation for the advance towards the Rhine.

(Jan 22nd - The Dutch factory which manufactures the liquid oxygen to fuel V-2 rockets is destroyed by Spitfires after its location has been traced by SOE agents)
(Jan 26th - Japanese retreat to Chinese coast)
(Jan 26th - Soviets liberate Auschwitz)

For a timeline of the Holocaust and number of murders click here

(Jan 27th - Soviet Forces capture Lithuania)
(Jan 31st - Soviet armies reach the Oder River)

From the Maas to the Rhine

Operation Veritable

The battle towards the Rhine was fought from the British side under Canadian command, but the majority of the infantry divisions employed were in the British XXX Corps. They were the three Scottish Divisions, the 15th (Scottish), the 51st (Highland) and the 52nd (Lowland), along with the 43rd (Wessex) and 53rd (Welsh). The direction of the drive was unexpectedly Southwards and was launched from Nijmegen up the Maas valley and through the Reichswald Forest to clear the area between the Maas and a considerable bend in the Rhine towards Xanten and Wesel. So began the most bitter series of battles ever fought by men, and when it was over, the small towns on the West of the Rhine were just heaps of rubble, and after a week or two they began to stink with the civilian corpses buried beneath the ruins.

(Feb 2nd - Trier captured by Allies)
(Feb 3rd - U.S. Marines enter Manila, the Philippines)
(Feb 4th - Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin hold the Yalta Conference ('The Big Three'). Manila falls to Allies)

Click to enlarge map

Operation Veritable began on February 8th. And it was a week later that the 52nd came into the picture. Previously the Battalion had been in Aphoven (2nd Feb), Beckheim (6th Feb), and Veltum (7th Feb). They were moved to Helmond on the 14th by M.T., And the next day crossed the Maas at Mook and went into billets near Gennep. The 6th and 7th Battalions then remained in the area, mainly in slit trenches for fourteen days in freezing conditions and almost continuous rain. This ended on the 28th when the Brigade moved south-west and took over defensive positions from the 7th Battalion Black Watch in the area immediately south of Goch. The enemy retreated from Goch on the 2nd/3rd March and orders to pursue were issued immediately, the route being up the Siegfried Line through Zollhs, Neuendickshoe, and the Leucht Forest to an area West of Alpon - one of the most heavily defended enemy strong points covering the approaches to the Rhine.

Eduard van der Hayden lived in the area of Operation Veritable at the time, and very kindly shares his recollections:

My hometown CUIJK is just northwest of Gennep, just on the West side of the river Maas at the level approx. where the North indicating arrow is. At the start of Veritable, there were canons all over the place and on, I think it was, Feb. 8,'45 they started shooting at the same time early in the morning. Every window in the house where we were evacuated in the town of Beers ( 5 km away) blew out with the first shot. There was a 155 mm howitzer in the front yard!! Here in the USA I still have an empty shell, used as an umbrella stand, that I found afterwards in our own backyard. Things I regrettably did not save where a number of hats, helmets, and badges. I left everything behind when I emigrated to the States. That is too bad, but, the memories are still there!

(Feb 9th - 6th American Army and 4 divisions land in the Gulf of Lingayen, Luzon)
(Feb 13th - Allied air offensive against German railway system. Dresden, Germany is burned down in an incendiary raid, 130.000 killed. Capture of Budapest by the Red Army; 49.000 Germans killed, 110.000 captured)
(Feb 17th - Koblenz falls to Allies)
(Feb 19th - US Marines divisions land on Iwo Jima. Japanese evacuate Mandalay)
(Feb 20th - Saarbrucken captured by Allies)
(Feb 23rd - U.S. Marines plant a U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Turkey and Egypt vote to join the Allies against Germany and Japan. Poznan falls to Soviets)
(Feb 30th - Danzig captured by Soviets)

On the way to Alpon the Battalion liberated a monastery and my father and Jack Rafferty further liberated eight bottles of Communion wine from its cellars. They moved to the outskirts of Alpon and dug in. Rafferty and my dad shared a slit trench, or a fox hole as the yanks so aptly named them, and decided they would have a bottle, etc., etc., etc. until finally they couldn't give a monkeys about Von cluck. Suddenly they were shelled heavily, and a large piece of shrapnel tore a tree in half a foot away from their heads. Needless to say they sobered up immediately, and never touched another drop. Rafferty says this was probably due to the fact that they had drunk it all anyway! The Battalion suffered several casualties during the mortar fire. However peaceful the scene of the moment may seem, hell could envelop the Battalion at a split second's notice and be sustained for hours. Once trouble had commenced it was too late for the improvident ones to make up for their laziness, and the penalties could be drastic. The old hands who had survived with the Battalion so far were the most diligent in their care of excavation and choice of site of their slit.

(March 4th - Finland declares war on Germany and Japan)
(March 9th - Massive air raid on Tokyo by 334 US B-29 Superfortresses. 100,000 lose their lives, injuring 1,000,000 in the firestorm created among the wood and paper-built houses. The B-29s were stripped of guns for greater bomb load, carrying 2000 tons of incendiaries)

Click to enlarge map

The assault on Alpon began in the early hours of the 9th March with a slow descent from the plateau of Bonninghardt at the same time as the 4/5th R.S.F. were making a wide sweep to the left. Then enter the town at its north-west corner. The 6th Battalion Cameronians were to enter at the north of the town, always keeping on the left flank of the 4/5th Fusiliers. In support, the divisional artillery worked out an elaborate fire plan partly designed to conceal from the enemy the point at which the 4/5th R.S.F. would enter the place. At the last minute though this had to be abandoned because it was reported that the Americans had taken Huck, less than a mile to the south. As a result the Fusiliers and Cameronians had almost certainly tougher fighting in and around Alpon. The first objective allotted to D Company was a strongly fortified group of farm buildings just north of Alpon station occupied by German paratroops. The boche put up a determined resistance, fighting to the last. Jack Rafferty and my dad thought their last days had come. They weren't the only ones to think that on that day. Out of a complement of 100, 34 were killed or wounded that morning in hand to hand battle with the paratroops. The Company was awarded the Military Cross, two Military Medals, a mention in dispatches, and a Divisional Commanders Certificate.

In one pocket, Jack Rafferty, Jimmy Reading, Peter Conelly, Joe Lockhead, and my dad, were trapped behind an outhouse, and to get past it they had to move out into a Spandau machine guns line of fire. Jimmy Reading tried it, only to get a burst of machine gun fire right across his chest. He fell at their feet, screaming for his mum. Rafferty, my dad, Peter Connely, and Joe Lockhead grabbed him and carried him back to safety. They never saw him again but did hear that he made it home. It was dawn on the 9th March before the 4/5th R.S.F. had got well round the town, and not before they had suffered severely. The 7th Cameronians had got to their objective without undue difficulty, but on the left the sister Battalion, the 6th, had run into grievous trouble. In the last of the battles for the Wesel pocket the Battalions casualties were 4 officers and 169 other ranks. It was somewhat galling for the troops involved to hear on the BBC that night that the town of Alpon had been successfully captured by the Americans.

The night of the 9/10th March was the last night of fighting the Wehrmacht on the Western bank of the Rhine. That same night was spent by the divisional staff in planning another immediate advance towards Menzelen, which happened to be a bloodless victory. From Alpon the 156th Brigade moved forward to defensive positions on the West bank of the Rhine between Wesel and Xanton at the towns of Gest and Veen, awaiting the build-up to the crossing of the Rhine on the 24th March. It was at this time that the 7th Cameronians were transferred to the 157th Brigade.

Over the Rhine  >>>>  click here ....