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THROUGH MUD TO
THE MAAS
Map 10
The 15th Scottish Division's part in
the clearing of the Germans from the country between the Deurne
Canal and the River Maas was a battle against rear-guards, mines,
craters, demolitions and, surpassing all else, mud—November mud
which clogged and clung or squelched and oozed, and spread so wide
and lay so deep that it soon obliterated the poor tracks which were
the division's only eastward roads. These were strewn with bogged
vehicles, and units found that a sea of mud could split them almost
as effectively as a sea of water, in spite of the Royal Engineers'
valiant efforts to keep the way open with Corduroy track. For the
regiment this advance was chiefly the story of C Squadron and the
Weasals. Just as B Squadron had its glorious hour on the roads to
Tilburg, so with C Squadron on the quagmire to Sevenum and beyond.
The Weasals, light, unarmoured and broad of track, were the only
vehicles which could be guaranteed to cross the mud. The colonel had
had the foresight to obtain some through VIII Corps ; it was not
long before they were being sought by every unit in the division,
and it was only with difficulty that enough were retained to keep C
Squadron supplied.
The division, the right flank of VIII
Corps, was given two routes east from the Deurne Canal. One, called
Skye, ran from Meijel through Beringe to Sevenum, and was 227
Brigade's ; the other, called Ayr, ran from Liesel to Sevenum
through Helenaveen
and was 46 Brigade's. In the north the
11th Armoured Division and the 3rd British Division were advancing ;
in the south XII Corps. The XII Corps attack across the canal on the
right had already caused the enemy to start withdrawing from the
Scottish Division's front by November 20th, when the division's
advance been. The 51st Highland Division had reached the
Meijel-Venlo road at Beringe, Panningen and Helden, and farther
north A Squadron patrols had crossed the bogs east of Liesel to the
Deurne Canal on November 19th and Lieut Dalton had swum across the
cold canal without finding any Germans. That evening C Squadron
relieved the Royal Scots Fusiliers in part of the line near Meijel
and lost two vehicles, but no men, on mines.
The advance of 227 Brigade towards
Sevenum on November loth was reconnoitred by B Squadron, which,
having a troop from C Squadron under command, also patrolled ahead
of the Lowland Brigade, pushing north to Helenaveen from Beringe.
The patrols to the north reached the outskirts of Helenaveen by
noon, and met enemy and mines in the woods south of the village.
They handed over to the Royal Scots Fusiliers. The patrols to the
east soon discovered the dreadful truth : that the division's way to
Sevenum was little more than a track across the peat bog. They sent
back a route report, kept the infantry supplied with warnings about
mines and craters, and had brushes with the enemy on the route and
the right flank.
On one of B Squadron's patrols Tpr K.
Gaskill, in the leading car of Lieut Gillings's troop, was firing at
six Germans when his face was
grazed by a shot which pierced the turret, having been fired at
point-blank range. It had come from two more Germans, in a slit
trench. Gaskill was only five feet four inches tall, and from his
seat in the turret he could not point his gun down enough to engage
his attackers, so he stood, with blood streaming down his face, and
shot them. He had already hit four of the six other
Germans
That day B Squadron
lost Lieut Martin Leppard, wounded while leading his men on the way
to Sevenum. About three or four miles from that town they came upon
an enemy outpost and engaged it and took two prisoners, although
under machine gun fire from the left flank. Unable to outflank the
main German position with his cars because of the peat on either
side of the track, Lieut Leppard called up a section of the assault
troop and took it forward on foot. Two more outposts were forced to
surrender and prisoners were sent back to the cars, but on nearing
the main position the section came under accurate machine gun and
rifle fire, and Lieut Leppard was hit in the leg while helping
another man who had been wounded. Lieut Leppard crawled forward
again, but his small force was not strong enough to overcome the
opposition, so he with-drew it to a position from which he was able
to give covering fire for an infantry attack. He was awarded the
Military Cross.
On November 21st C Squadron took over from B
Squadron the task of reconnoitring in front of 227 Brigade on Skye,
while in the north, Helenaveen being captured in the morning, A
Squadron patrolled Ayr. It was a day of biting wind and driving
rain, under which the mud spread and deepened. On both routes the
patrols met rearguards, mines and demolitions. At night A Squadron
was able to return to Liesel, but, because of the mud on Skye behind
it, C Squadron, having reached a demolished bridge at Achterste
Steeg, had to spend a cold, damp night in the open, halfway between
Sevenum and the regiment's base at Beringe. The first party had just
returned from the newly begun short leave in Brussels, and the
wonders and luxuries of hotel life there were described that night
to a C Squadron group huddled among frogs at the bottom of a
dried-up well, into which the rain dripped through an improvised
roof. At dawn the squadron, chilled and stiff, was heading for
Sevenum again. A scissors bridge was placed across the gap at
Achterste Steeg and by ten o'clock Sevenum had been
entered by Lieut Royle's troop, explored and reported
clear of Germans but not of demolitions and mines. The church tower
had tumbled across the street : that same church tower which the
British higher command had spared, wishing to do as little damage as
possible, in spite of its use by the enemy as an observation post
and the consequent requests by the commander of 227 Brigade that it
should be attacked by Typhoons. North of Sevenum were mines and
craters, and opposition at the railway station, but C Squadron's
patrols pushed on, and by four in the afternoon Lieut David Richford
had reported that the enemy had gone from Horst, three miles to the
north. Two villages were also reported clear. Mean-while the rest of
the squadron's vehicles had been pushed and towed and dragged and
driven through the mire from the previous night's harbour to
Sevenum, where the squadron spent the night with the Gordons, who
had struggled through the mud of Skye on foot. In the north A
Squadron had patrolled along the Helmond-Venlo railway from Deurne
towards the village of Amerika.
The corps commander sent this message
to the divisional commander : " Gen Barber from Gen O'Connor. Many
congratulations on magnificent work carried out by all your troops
and particularly your Recce Regt and Engineers in today's appalling
weather. Very well done."
The good-natured face of Cpl Ridge,
the colonel's driver and wireless operator, wore a slightly puckered
look these days as he contemplated the muddy misadventures which
must be endured so that the colonel could visit his forward troops
from Beringe—misadventures such as these :
Going to visit C Squadron, we put the
jeep into four-wheel drive and low-ratio bottom gear, and starte to
plough our way through. We passed many bogged vehicles, but we got
through to squadron headquarters in Sevenum. We left again about
three o'clock, and on the way back we were stonked by mortars ; as
we were the only car on the road at the time it looked as though
someone was out to get us before we got back to R.H.Q. However,
Colonel Smith decided to push on. After going about two miles we
came again to the sea of mud ; by this time the wheeled track and
the tank track were pretty much the same—both pretty deadly. We were
almost brought to a stop by the mud, so I suggested we should change
to the tank track, which seemed at that point to be better than the
one we were on. So we tried the tank track. We had gone about twenty
yards when the jeep sank up to its axles. Of course, the colonel was
very pleased, but, after all, anybody can be wrong. I dug, but the
mud came back as fast as I dug it away. A carrier from an infantry
battalion came along, and towed us out. Off we went again, with the
jeep doing its best and me praying that it would keep going. It sank
again. I got out, shovel in hand, spirits low. Then we saw one of C
Squadron's. weasals going merrily along about a hundred yards ahead
and the same way as we had been. We shouted and I went after it. I
was wearing gum boots and they kept sticking in the mud, and I was
not making much headway. But the weasal stopped to tow Major
Gordon's car, which was well bogged, and after he had been rescued
we were pulled out. Next day we gave up the jeep for a weasal. I
could not drive it, so Major Gordon drove and I rode in the back
with the colonel and the wireless set and batteries. We were doing
fine until we hit a terrific bump. The colonel and I were thrown
into the air and fell in a heap in the back ; the wireless set came
off its mounting, and the batteries were all over the floor. After
some comments on Major Gordon's driving by Colonel Smith, we
continued to Horst, where C Squadron was. On arrival we found we
were minus one complete spring, but as usual we eventually got back
to R.H.Q.—after a rather bumpy journey.
On November 23rd the divisional commander
wanted reports on Kastenraij, Tienraij, Brock and the woods south of
Brock, all in the sodden country near the Maas, so it was a dawn
start for C Squadron's patrols again and another hard day in the
driving rain. Soon the wireless at squadron headquarters, manned
with unfailing cheerfulness by Sgt Dutch, was telling the same sort
of story as it had on the previous two days. " Hello Able one. Road
block consisting of ten felled trees with mined verges at road
junction . . . ." Hello Able two. Mines at track junction ....
Bridge blown at . . ." " Hello Able three. Track impassable at . . .
. owing to flooding of dyke. Entrance to track at . . . . cratered
and mined." From Lieut Royle came " Hello Able one. Contact at
figures . . . . Wait. Out." Then, a few minutes later, " Hello Able
one. Jerries took refuge in a hen coop. I fired a few rounds of 37
millie but all I can see is a mass of chickens and feathers." All
the tasks were achieved. Kastenraij, which had been an objective of
the 3rd British Division, was reported clear soon after noon, and
the infantry of that division were able to march in unopposed. They
were surprised to find C Squadron already there. Brock and its woods
were reported clear about the same time. Sgt Dobson shall tell of
the journey towards Tienrai
The road junction outside Horst, where we intended
to turn right to Tienraij, was completely blocked by fallen trees.
After a circuit of two or three miles over rough tracks and fields,
we again reached the main road, and found a track on the other side
leading to our objective. Owing to the possibility of mines, the
three commanders, Lieut Royle, Sgt Dullaway and myself, took turns
to walk in front of the cars. Reaching a junction where there were
several scattered farms, and where we hoped to turn back to the main
road, I saw that Lieut Royle, who had been walking in front, was
surrounded by excited Dutch people. When I got there a voice yelled
" Hey bud, come here and let me shake your hand." It was an American
airman who had been living among the Germans for three months as a
deaf mute. The heroine of the day was a young and beautiful Dutch
girl who had rescued him and prevented the Germans from discovering
his secret.
The main road was blocked by a blown
bridge, so we continued along our track. After we had gone about a
mile across open ground a Spandau opened fire from a large wood six
hundred yards away on our right. Behind it was Tienraij. The Germans
had held their fire until the first car had gone up to Lieut Royle, who had been
about four hundred yards ahead, and it seemed that they had been
trying to draw us into something heavy. But nothing heavy opened up.
We returned the fire, and turned the cars round behind some
hay-stacks. After staying there some time we were ordered to
withdraw.
Dusk was approaching, and we had about a mile of
open ground to cross before we reached the cover of the farm houses.
I went about four hundred yards in my light car while the other two
gave cover with their fire. Lieut Royle had ordered us to turn all
our fire power on to the wood, and, such an order being a rare one,
we took full advantage of it. My gunner, Tpr Jones, did wonders with
the Bren, even while we were moving. As soon as we stopped the next
car moved ; always we had one moving and two firing. As we approached cover I grabbed the
spare Bren, anxious to join in. By a miracle I avoided decapitating
an inquisitive Dutchman who ran right in front of the gun as I stood
on my seat, firing from the hip. My driver, the one and only " Oscar
" Thomas, loath to leave the scene without " having a go " himself,
was finally persuaded to " snake " round the corner, and we watched
the heavies come round in turn, each stopping to send a final shell
into the wood.
On the way back we picked up the American and his rescuer.
Mr Royle gallantly carried her through the mud to my car amid the
cheers of the villagers. After picking up three quite willing
prisoners from a nearby farm, we returned to Horst. I had a very
interesting conversation with the Dutch girl on the way back, and
learned much about the German soldier.
As a result of C Squadron's work in the rain that
day much was known about the narrowing strip of flat, hedgeless,
brown fields and dark woods left to the Germans on the west bank of
the Maas. The squadron's patrols were out again on
November 24th, hampered now by flooded and collapsing roads, and 9
Troop, going again towards Tienraij, found that the Germans had
advanced their standing patrols by about a thousand yards in the
night. Capt Lane, who had become the squadron's rear link officer
and was soon to join the instructing staff at Sandhurst, was sent to
investigate a large dyke, which he waded conscientiously, through
thick mud and almost freezing water, to reach the far bank. There he
met his driver, L/Cpl Wiseman, pardonably self-satisfied at having
crossed dry by a footbridge discovered just round the corner.
On November 25th 227 Brigade resumed the advance to
the river, and C Squadron, being still the only one on the Sevenum
side of Skye's obstructing mud, again led the way. This time white
flags hung from the church and other buildings of Tienraij ; the
Germans had withdrawn to the outskirts of Swolgen, a mile farther
on, where the patrol contained them until the Gordons came up with
the tanks of the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade. Lieut David Richford,
who had succeeded to Lieut Gray's command when Lieut Gray became
captain and joined the R.H.Q. staff, took his cars to the outskirts
of Broekhuizervorst on the banks of the river. The enemy was strong
here. Sgt Millroy's light car, in the lead, came under
fire from house, and a bazooka narrowly missed the rear wheels.
Backing, the car went into a ditch. " Bale out " said Lieut Richford
on the wireless. " Bale out be ..." said the old cavalryman, " I've
got a thousand fags in here and they're not for the bloody Jerries."
So he laid smoke, and under its cover another car
dashed up and fixed a tow rope to the one in the ditch while
Sgt Millroy himself ran up to the house from which
the fire was coming and pitched grenades through a
window. Another position he attacked with his Bren, and the
patrol supported infantry storming the strong-point. Sgt Millroy
received an immediate award of the Distinguished Conduct
Medal.
The buoyant Lieut Johnny Bosch took his carriers along the
Tienraij-Venlo railway, and his comments on his difficulties in the
manner of the raconteur born made it quite clear that had he been in
command of a flotilla of motor torpedo boats instead of a troop of
carriers far more would have been achieved.
Back to the river the German rearguards were being
pressed, fighting their delaying actions with undoubted skill under
conditions which favoured them. In the north the infantry of the
11th Armoured Division, floundering across swamp and bog, had found
C Squadron already in front of them at Horst. In the south the 49th
Division had come to a halt only at the gates of Blerick, the German
riverside stronghold opposite Venlo, and, having got thus far, was
able to allow the Scottish Division to use the good road through
Maasbree to reach Sevenum and Horst from Beringe. So, at last, it
was " Goodbye " to the mud of Skye, and no tears of farewell. The
rest of the regiment moved up R.H.Q. and A Echelon to a farm at
Voorste-Steeg, B Squadron to another at Ulfterhoek, between Sevenum
and Horst, and A Squadron into Horst. These Dutch farms were
invariably one great building, with house and byre and barn all
under the same roof. Their floors were always littered with
children. Always the crucifix looked down from their walls. In the
field opposite the farmhouse which sheltered R.H.Q. there was much
digging, and from out of the earth the farm people brought a long
red lorry, which had been buried throughout the German
occupation.
There was work for both C and A Squadrons on
November 26th, when the division continued to close up to the bank
of the Maas. Still leading 227 Brigade, C Squadron troops gained
their objectives at Wanssum and Blitterswijk by 10.30 and stayed
there until the Highland Light Infantry took over the positions at
noon. Another troop, with the Glasgow Highlanders, found that there
was still strong opposition in the area of Broekhuizervorst. ` A '
Squadron led 46 Brigade, whose task was to clear eastward from Horst
towards Grubbenvorst and Houthuizen. The woods east of the railway
were extensively mined, and the tracks difficult. As the river was approached the
opposition stiffened at points where the Germans were still using
ferries. Lieut N. R. Kenneford was killed. He was in command of
carriers which were sent with Lieut Dalton's cars to seize and hold
the village of Grubbenvorst. Lieut Dalton has described what
happened :
We decided to enter Grubbenvorst in a pincer
movement, the carriers going to the left and the cars to the right.
The progress of both troops was slow owing to large craters. Lieut
Kenneford said on the wireless that he was on the outskirts of
Grubbenvorst and was taking in a foot patrol. Sgt Kirman's car
patrol was now with the carriers, but was held up because the
railway crossing had been blown up. There were mines on the other
side of the crossing. The cars gave covering fire to the foot patrol
until it was out of sight.
Lieut Kenneford reported on the wireless that the
village was clear, and I told him to take up defensive positions,
saying that we were coming in to strengthen him. In the meantime I
had met a patrol from another reconnaissance regiment, which stated
that it had been in Grubbenvorst and that " trigger-happy " Germans
still held the village. However, the carriers were in, so we started
to join them, taking the same route—a muddy track which gave the
cars no end of trouble
We came within sight of the carriers while we were
going along a narrow track with a fence on the left and a drop of
three or four feet on the right. Sgt Kirman's car, leading, became
bogged, and as the stationary troop presented an ideal target I
reversed my car—the last one—to ease the congestion, but we only
complicated matters by bogging ourselves with a list of forty-five
degrees. Sgt Craig, however, had squeezed his vehicle between the
fence and Sgt Kirman's and was moving into the village. Then,
suspicious, he halted.
Pandemonium began. Germans appeared, firing in all
directions. Sgt Craig's vehicle caught fire, and as he was
withdrawing to extinguish the flames his gunner, Cpl Dawson, was
helping Sgt Kirman to hold off a bayonet charge by about a dozen
fanatical Germans who had taken us by surprise from the rear. At the
same time the carrier sections were engaging snipers in the village.
Next we got a packet of " whining Winnies ", and the situation had
become so chaotic that I ordered everybody to withdraw as best he
could. When the last car, Sgt Kirman's, was about to with-draw he
saw Tpr Prendergast running beside a hedge. Prendergast told him
that two carriers were still in the village, their crews pinned by
sniper fire. Sgt Kirman blazed away at the snipers while the
carriers got out. I jumped on one of them, my bogged vehicle having
to be abandoned.
We withdrew behind a wood, where a roll call showed
that three were missing—Lieut Kenneford, Sgt Daurnhime and Cpl
Trimnell. Soon afterwards Cpl Trimnell appeared with the news that
Lieut Kenneford had been killed by a sniper while taping off mines.
He knew nothing of the whereabouts of Sgt Daurnhime
Later in the day I went into Grubbenvorst with a
company of infantry, and found Sgt Daurnhime, wounded but in good
care at a convent. Lieut Kenneford's death robbed us all
of a friend. company of infantry, and found Sgt Daurnhime, wounded
but in good care at a convent. Lieut Kenneford's death
robbed us all of a friend.
Wounded in the arm, and with his eardrum perforated by
the explosion of a mine, Sgt Donald Daurnhime had fought on in the
village, and his courage and devotion to duty were rewarded with the
Military Medal.
By nightfall on November 26th a few ferry sites
were all that remained to the Germans west of the Maas on the
division's front. They were left to the infantry.
A little to the south the German paratroopers,
penned in Blerick with their backs to the river, looked out on the
49th Division from behind minefields, a thick belt of barbed wire
and a formidable anti-tank ditch. On November 29th the Scottish
Division, relieving the 49th, was given the task of capturing
Blerick. The attack it was called Operation Guildford was made on
December 3rd by the Lowland Brigade and directed by its new
commander, Brigadier H. C. H. T. Cumming-Bruce, D.S.O. On the night
of December 2nd the Glasgow Highlanders made a great todo north of
the town, in the riverside strip of woods and fields where B
Squadron had taken up positions on November 29th to protect the left
flank. Gramophone records of tanks forming up were played ; the
defenders of Blerick were deceived. They expected attack from the
north. Instead, after four hundred guns had fired into the town for
two hours next morning, the mine-clearing flails, the portable
bridges, the flame throwers and the mortar projectors of a Churchill
tank breaching force swept across the open country from the west.
Behind them the magnificent Lowland infantry rode into the assault
on Kangaroos (Ram tanks without turrets). By four o'clock in the
afternoon Blerick had fallen. C Squadron, manning six lanes,
controlled the traffic going into the assault as the same squadron
had done in training on the Yorkshire Wolds
The flow of vehicles over the muddy approaches was
smooth, and General Barber congratulated the squadron. To the regret
of everybody in the regiment, its genial medical officer, Capt
Watson, broke his massive jaw when his car went over a mine in this
attack. He was succeeded by Capt J. Orr, R.A.M.C., who was to win a
similarly high place in the regiment's esteem.
It was at the end of November that Sir Richard O'Connor
relinquished command of VIII Corps, and the regiment felt that it
was parting from an old friend. But his successor, Lieut-General
Evelyn Barker, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., who left the 49th
Division, was also an old friend. B and C Squadrons had known him as
their divisional commander in the old days of the 54th Division, and
his camp commandant, Major " Pippin " Cox, was even better known as
the former quarter-master of the old 54th Reconnaissance
Battalion.
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