Presentation at Hill 112 Normandy 9th July 2017

Last weekend marked the 73rd anniversary of the battle to take Hill 112 to the South East of Caen. This modest area of high ground was viciously fought over as to command it meant control of the strategically vital surrounding area. Indeed Rommel described Hill 112 as the most important hill in Normandy. The task to take it was given to the men of the 43rd Wessex Division in an action code named 'Operation Jupiter' that was launched on the 9th/10th July 1944.

As with many significant sites across Battlefield Normandy, Hill 112 hosts many memorials, notably one to the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division.

43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division

Hill 112

Also of note is the Churchill tank at the site, a memorial to the many tank men who lost their lives in the actions.

Two weeks ago I met up with Dennis Dimond, Secretary of the 49th (West Riding) Division Association to pass over a number of copies of the book. He informed me that for one copy he had some very specific plans. He intended to travel to the location of Hill 112 to participate in the anniversary commemoration and to take the opportunity to make a donation from the Polar Bear Association funds to his counterpart in the Hill 112 Association for the maintenance of the Churchill tank pictured above.

It so happened that Prince Edward (the Queen's youngest son) would also be in attendance. Edward has close associations through his position as the Earl of Wessex. Dennis's plan was to make a presentation of 'A Pithead Polar Bear' to Prince Edward or at the very least pass a copy on to one of his aides.

In the event he did a very good job and further more was able document the presentation on camera. Many thanks to Dennis and the other Polar Bear representatives who were in attendance last weekend.

Dennis Dimond greets HRH Prince Edward

Now down to business....

And up, up and away, with a aide clutching said the book.

So there you have it. That this book may be currently sitting on a royal bookshelf appeals to my sense of humour. I think that my Grandfather would be amused.

Recollections of the Liberation of Turnhout June 2016

Following on from my earlier correspondence with Francis, I contacted the local museum in Turnhout to enquire about the availability of an article entitled ‘In het spoor van de IJsberen’ (‘Tracing the Polar Bears’) that was published in the local annual journal Taxandria in 2008. An archivist from the museum duly responded and confirmed my suspicions that the article, whilst available, is in Dutch (a language over which I have no command whatsoever).

However, the helpful archivist also provided me with another contact within the town, a gentleman by the name of Jacques Boone. I subsequently emailed Jacques with my now well-rehearsed potted history of my Grandfather’s service, the website and book plans and within a couple of hours I received the following reply:

Dear Mr Andrews,

Many thanks for your interesting mail.  Every information  about the  11th Btn, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, does interest me very much, indeed. On 24th September 1944,  as a 17 years old boy, I was living in Turnhout and attended the liberation of the town,( I kept it vivid  in my memory, almost as if it happened yesterday) by the 49th Reconnaissance Rgt of the 49th Polar Bear Division,  followed immediately by the 11 Btn, the R.S.F. and the 7th Btn, the Duke of Wellington’s Rgt. 

My text  on the liberation of Turnhout  was published by “Forces War Records”in their Magazine , issue 10, Special Edition , ‘Your Stories’, December 2015. Some photographs of me were  shot on 24th September 1944 by a late cousin of mine, on the Turnhout Market square , while I was fraternizing with  the Recces.

A friend of mine, Ken West, was a  member of the 11th RSF. Hereby some correspondence. I read his book “An’ it’s called a tam- o’- Shanter”, Ken’s war memoires.   I opened my contact to him with  my letter of 1st October 2007, I asked him if he knew the 11th RSF man whose  photograph I had taken in Normandy in 2007.  Ken did not;  he actually  did not “liberate” Turnhout,  on 24th September 1994 he was in an hospital in England, in treatment for severe burn wounds he  had gotten in action on the Normandy front.

I am convinced that my friend John Peters (address provided)  knows  English very well  and I am almost certain  he could give  you some interesting data . Tell him I gave you his address.

With kind regards,

Jacques Boone
Member of the 49th (WR) Infantry Division  Association.

Belgian teenagers and British tank crew on a Sherman (Jacques Boone is standing third on the left, in a long raincoat)

Turnhout 24th September 1944

(photograph taken by François Boone (Jacques's late cousin) and shared courtesy of Jacques Boone)

I replied, thanking Jacques for the link to his article and the additional contact. I explained that Ken West was indeed a mutual acquaintance and sent on a photograph of Ken and I in Leicester in 2015. In addition,

Jacques bounced back with another prompt email:

Dear Adrian,

Thank you for the nice photograph of you with Ken.  The last time of our meeting was in 2014, in Normandy, in front of the Polar Bear monument at Fontenay-le-Pesnel. He was leading an important group of Normandy Veteran Association members. What a pity this association has been dissolved. We met several times in October at a memorial ceremony  at Wuustwezel in Belgium  next the PBA monument  and also one time at Merksplas, at the monument of Cpl John HARPER, VC.

My motto is: Remember ! Often, I attend ceremonies , last week to remember crashes  of 3 RAF bomber command bombers, for a Manchester, a Halifax and a Stirling at the village of Kasterlee.  I had again the pleasure of meeting there British and Canadian acquaintances to members of the crews. I had to make a speech in English at the Manchester monument.

Kind regards,

Jacques

Canadian 2nd Infantry Division Assault at Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor 24th September 1944

The main attack referred to in Colonel Douglas’s account was carried out by the Canadian 2^nd Infantry Division who attempted a crossing further along the Canal in the area of Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor. On 24^th September Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal and The South Saskatchewan Regiment were to cross on the right and on the left respectively on the sector facing the village of Lochtenberg. Having established a bridgehead, the plan was, once over the Canal, to push on in a north westerly direction towards Camp de Brasschaet.

The assault commenced at 0700 hours and the Fusiliers managed to cross over the canal and make it to the cross-roads in Lochtenberg village before German machine gun fire halted the advance. To their left the South Saskatchewan fared less well as their attempts at a crossing were thwarted by effective sniper and machine gun fire, Later the plan was modified such that they tried a crossing further to the east in closer proximity to the Fusiliers. This second attempt commenced at 1300 hours and within an hour the crossing had been achieved. In the meantime however, the Fusiliers positions had been infiltrated by the Germans and at 1700 hours their positions were overrun and a heavy toll in terms of casualties was paid by the attackers. The bridgehead was too small to defend effectively and the Fusiliers were driven back over the canal and subsequently the South Saskatchewans withdrew to the south bank. The attempted crossing had resulted in a high casualty tally, especially amongst the ranks of the Fusiliers Mont-Royal.

Further Canadian efforts to effect a crossing also failed, despite air and artillery support. Subsequently the decision was taken to push the Canadian 2^nd Infantry Division across the bridgehead established by the 49^th Division at Rijkevorsal from 28^th September. In doing so they also extended the extent of the bridgehead in a westerly direction.

Extracts From The Orders for 'Operation Astonia'

The following 'Operation Instruction' was issued to the participating Divisions and supporting units on 6th September 1944. In the event bad weather resulted in a postponement of D day from 9th to 10th September.

OPERATION ASTONIA

1 CORPS OPERATION INSTRUCTION No 14.

INTENTION

1.      1 Corps will capture LE HARVE.

METHOD

2.      Allotment of troops

(a)    49 Inf Div

With under comd         34 Tk Bde

                                    22 Dgns

            In sp                42 Assault Regt ARE less two sqns

                                    ‘A’ Sqn 141 RAC

                                                                        44 Kangaroos

                               51 (H) Div

With under comd         33 Armd Bde

                                    1 LOTHIANS less one sqn

                                    two sqns 42 Assault Regt ARE

                                    ‘C’ Sqn 141 RAC

                       

(b)   Of 44 Kangaroos allotted 49 Inf Div for Phase I, 24 will be moved to an RV to be decided mutually by 49 and 51(H) Divs on completion of Phase I and will then be available to 51 (H) Div.

3.      General.

The assault will be carried out with two divs up, 51 (H) Div RIGHT and 49 Inf Div LEFT, and the operation will be divided into four Phases.

4.      Tasks.

Phase I

49 Inf Div will capture the area 530320 – 540320 – 544302 – 522308 and secure a brhead on the feature to the SOUTH of this area with a view to passing further tps through during Phase II to capture this feature.

Phase II

(a)    51 (H) Div will secure a base in the area 510325 – 510310 – 520310 with a view to developing further offensive action during Phase III.

(b)   49 Inf Div will capture the feature 525297 – 544295 – 545280 – 532280.

Phase III

                        51 (H) Div will develop its operation to secure

(i)                 The bty area centred around 500315

(ii)               The high ground about 4730 and 4829

(iii)             The enemy defences about OCTEVILLE 500340 from the SOUTH      and EAST.

Phase IV - EXPLOITATION

Both divs will exploit relentlessly into the town and crush any resistance within div bdys. It is most important that the plan of each div shall provide for immediate, deep and ruthless exploitation directly the opportunity arises. The sooner we can penetrate deeply and break up enemy cohesion and control, the more easily and cheaply will our task be accomplished.

Therefore plans must be flexible enough to take advantage of any enemy weakness.

5.      TIMINGS

(a)    D day

9 Sep

(b)   Phase I

H hr     1815 hrs

(c)    Phase II

Times to be fixed by Comd 51 (H) and 49 Inf Divs for their respective parts of this phase. In this connection 49 Inf Div will make the rd in para 7(b) available to 51 (H) Div by H + 5 hrs or earlier if possible.

(d)   Phase III

0800 hrs D + 1

A Veteran Responds - August 2015

Upon returning from a family holiday in August, I was thrilled to find a hand addressed letter bearing a Midland postmark.

Ken had replied with a very informative and encouraging letter:

24 Aug 2015

Dear Adrian,

Thank you for your most welcome letter regarding your Grandfather Jim Heath. Unfortunately I didn’t know him but I can answer a lot of your queries. 

Interesting that he joined the N. Staffs, my brother Ernest was a “Belisha Boy” of the January 1940 intake and was posted to Litchfield with the N. Staffs, after a spell in hospital he transferred to the Royal Sigs (DR).

Jim, with the “Pit Head Div” (59 Div) certainly took a battering around Caen, we had two lads come to the Signals Ptn and men from the rifle Coys were absorbed. Joining us on Aug 26 he would have been in the area of Ponte de la Rogue on the Seine, before the detour south of Rouen at Elbouf, before taking position at Montevilliers for the attack on Le Harve (12 Sept). After 5 days rest at Luneray nr Dieppe, they went, unopposed to Turnhout-Antwerp Canal (Sept 25).

If he was with Sgt Little, he would have been in 16 Ptn”D” Coy. Little, along with Sgt Louis Hill 17 Ptn were awarded the MM in Normandy. Therefore he would have been on the “Commando Raid” in March (11th) which took place to our front at Haalderen. The raid started at 6 am and the order to withdraw at 8 am. In that 2 hours they secured prisoners & killed quite a number. Derek Potter (to whom my book was dedicated) as bren gunner and his 2 I/C & Sgt Little were the 3 killed. 7 wounded. The information gathered from this exercise was of great importance for the action of clearing the Island, so Jim would have been wounded during this operation . There was an article in PBN about 12-18 months ago by Maj Leslie Rowell I/C “D” Coy. Leslie was from Bristol – his daughter lives just outside Leicester & I met him a couple of times although he didn’t take over “D” Coy until Turnhout. We had 2 great afternoons talking of old friends. I asked him what his instructions were for the raid and he said Col Eyrkyn had told him to land, create mayhem & bring back prisoners! It must have been the most decorated action of the European Campaign, 1 DSO, 1 DSM, 2 MC, 3 MM (one of the MCs was Lt Douglas, the Colonel you referred to).

I notice on the photo Jim is wearing the insignia of 30 Corps. General Brian Horrocks (A Bridge Too Far) and TV documentaries, was the G.O.C. in which we’d all served in Normandy (pleased to see that Jim got a “back room” job after hospital!!)

I’m sorry that you didn’t include your phone number in the letter, it was so full of interesting queries and I would be pleased to help you in your research.

I was talking to Dennis about Stan Davies life story and he said that it was a great pity that so few veterans recorded their stories. Which set me thinking. After our visit to Holland in May, my son Steve, told friends, every time I go with my Dad with the Polar Bears I find out more about him. I know I wrote “Tam-O-Shanter” but I’m now writing my memoirs from Sept 1939 to my demob in June 1947. 1939-call-up- 1 yr training for D Day, RSF, Army of Occupation 2 yrs Germany, Italy and Austria.

Must stop now to catch the post – could write all night! Please ring!

Yours sincerely

14638023 West K.J. Fus (R’td)

In the wake of this letter were a series of phone calls in which we agreed to meet after Ken's next trip to Holland in September. A date was agreed for 18th October.

Making Contact With A Veteran - July 2015

Having established that Ken West was still very much with us and still very engaged with the activities of the Polar Bear Association I asked for contact details and the Association Secretary passed Mr West's address on to me.

I wrote to him on the off-chance that he and my Grandfather were acquainted when serving with 'D' Company of the Regiment.

Concerning L/Cpl James (Jim) Kitchener Heath 11th R.S.F. No. 5051929

Dear Mr. West,

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Adrian Andrews and I am writing to you in connection with some family research that I have been conducting over the past two years into the wartime experiences of my late Grandfather. 

My Grandfather’s name was James Kitchener Heath, better known to his friends and colleagues as Jim and to close family simply as Kitch. My interest  in piecing together his war story stems from the time of his funeral sadly when, whilst trying to pen some words about this defining period of his life for the presiding cleric to read out, it became clear that the understanding within the family of what he did back then was at best confused and at worst wholly inaccurate! After the funeral I obtained his MOD records but other family issues meant that further exploration was shelved for a number of years.

In short, his military history ran parallel to that of the R.S.F. Enlisting in Brighton in January 1940, he joined the North Staffordshire Regiment as a territorial before embodiment into the regular Army. Born in Stoke-On-Trent, a Staffordshire regiment was his natural choice.

Shortly thereafter he was transferred to the South Staffordshire Regiment with which he completed his training before being posted overseas. On 25th June he landed with the Battalion in Normandy as part of the 59th (Staffordshire) Division as a follow up formation.

After the brutal engagements in the areas of Caen, Fontenay-le-Pesnil and Noyers Bocage
The 59th were disbanded in order to reinforce other hard pressed established regiments. Thus it was that my Grandfather was transferred across to the 11th R.S.F. on 26th August 1944. In his IWM audio archive interview Colonel William Douglas describes the transfer in terms of receiving many men from the Staffords having incomprehensible accents but extraordinary digging skills on account of their long mining heritage.

I have a great account of his time in Normandy from contemporary sources detailing the actions of the 59th and specifically the 5th South Staffords. Likewise, I have the accounts included in the 11th R.S.F. Summary of Operations from June 1944 to May 1945, the aforementioned audio interview with Colonel Douglas as well as a rather good book by one Fusilier K.J. West!

Two years ago I spent some days touring Normandy when I took in Galamanche/St. Contest and the cemeteries of Cambes-en-Plaine and Fontenay-le-Pesnil  (of course, taking in at the same time the Polar Bear memorial on the main road).

Following on from my trail across Normandy, I was in Belgium (Turnhout) and Holland in May (a mere two weeks after your visit) to visit Wuustwezel, Roosendaal and Haalderen.

It is worth noting here that first hand accounts of his active service were limited. I was fascinated with the war at the age of 7 or 8 at which time he related sanitised accounts of his experiences (dead cows and mosquitoes in Normandy, standing sentry, waste deep in water with a yardstick measuring rising floodwater (Roosendaal or Haalderen?)).

As I became more seriously interested in my early twenties about the details of those events of ‘44/’45 he was very much more emotional and less able to articulate details. He died in February 1995 at the age of 80.

Another location that I visited earlier in the year when in Holland was the military cemetery in Jonkerbos, Nijmegen and it is in this regard that I have a number of questions that you may or may not be in a position to shed some light upon.

The information that I have is rather circumstantial at present, but I hope that it may ultimately lead me to a better understanding of with which unit he served whilst with the 11th R.S.F.

In 1973 my family travelled to Holland in the company of my Grandfather. During this family holiday we took a detour to Nijmegen and specifically to Jonkerbos cemetery. The reason for this visit, as later recounted by my parents (as whilst present I was only four at the time) was so that he could locate the last resting place of the man he described as ‘my sergeant’ whose death he had witnessed. My research has shown that the only Fusilier of the 11th R.S.F. holding the rank of sergeant was William Little MM. 

The only other circumstantial evidence that I have that it was indeed Sgt. Little’s headstone that he was seeking is a photograph taken at the time by my Grandmother that shows my Grandfather in discussion with my Father close to the plot of Sgt. Little.

My Grandfather and Father in conversation close to the plot of Sergeant Willian Little MM

Jonkerbos Cemetery, Nijmegen 1973

Whilst I know my Grandfather’s Company in the 5th South Staffordshire Regiment, I cannot as yet confirm the Company in which he served when with the 11th R.S.F. With something of a leap of faith, based on the ‘evidence’ explained above, I would suggest that he was in 16 Platoon of ‘D’ Company with Sgt. Little.

Having spent time in ‘D’ Company 17 Platoon are you able to confirm this (or suggest a possible means of establishing this fact)?

The death of William Little is well recorded since he was recipient of the Military Medal. I understand that he was killed in a very notable and daring waterbourne raid over the Rhine that was widely reported in ‘Current Reports From Overseas’ as an exemplary assault. I would love to be able to place him at the Company level and even better at Platoon level if possible.

My Grandfather did not make it into Germany as a combatant with the Regiment. He was evacuated with wounds on the 7th April 1944 (in the final clearance of the Island or after). He returned to the Battalion as part of D.P.A.C.S. of the British Army of Liberation and worked in  administrative role role at Bergen-Belsen camp until he was demobbed in March 1946.

Ken, I have no idea of how much you can remember of people with which you served after the passage of 71 years but I have enclosed a scanned photograph of my Grandfather. I understand that it was taken in an office within Belsen camp in July 1945. 

I appreciate that my positioning of my Grandfather within the R.S.F. is based upon circumstantial information and you may not have known him from Adam. Nevertheless, even if you have no recollection of him, I have to say that your book brought me far closer to him that any of the official records. It was, as you described in your preface, an account of an ordinary soldier of the European campaign, the human story of a civilian army.

I look forward to hearing from you.

With kind regards,

Adrian (Andrews)
Grandson of Fusilier Jim Heath 11th R.S.F.

.... At which point I go on.... and on....

Dear Dennis,

Many thanks for your very prompt response to my email and I hope that you enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon in the Essex sunshine.

By all means, I would be honoured if you would feature my correspondence in the newsletter. My historical endeavours involving many hours deep in books, diaries and internet accounts, as well as being a labour of love, have been thoroughly absorbing and enjoyable. When I started, I had no idea that I would progress this far and with luck the journey may not yet be over. In addition, this search has taken me across Normandy, Belgium and much of Holland. As such I would urge anyone with half a mind to explore the history of a veteran in the family to do so and if publication in the newsletter achieves that then great.

My Grandfather died when I was 26, but at that time his wartime history was not at the forefront of my mind and he rarely spoke of his wartime experiences in his later years, to do so would reduce him to tears, so more often than not the subject was no longer raised. Therefore, the only brief personal anecdotes that I have were passed onto me when I was very young and then they were described in a way that would not traumatise an 8 year old. He spoke of the smell of the dead cattle (Normandy), of standing in freezing water at chest height keeping a watch with a yardstick in hand to determine whether levels were rising (Roosendaal?) and describing how to advance down an occupied street (Haalderen?). This absence of personal testimony is such a pity and this is why descriptions of the experiences of individual soldiers (such as those described in Ken West’s book for example) are so important as they flesh out the broader accounts typical of the war diaries.

My original website title of ‘A Fragmented Military History’ is happily becoming something of a misnomer as many of the original gaps have been successfully filled in and with the assistance of members of the PBA I may learn yet more.

In fewer than 18 months in North West Europe he travelled from Arromanches to Bergen-Belsen. In this time he was never decorated (over and above his campaign medals) or singled out for special mention, he was an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary events and this I think makes his story representative of many thousands just like him that made up the British Army at that time.

I very much look forward to further interaction with the Association.

Kind Regards,

Adrian.

Reply From Dennis Dimond, Secretary of The Polar Bears Association

I was thrilled to receive a very prompt reply from Mr. Dimond:

Hallo Adrian,

Thank you for your mail.

At this moment, I am enjoying the sunshine whilst consuming ice cold lemonade but when I go up to the office , I will mail you contact details for our RSF members. The events are so long ago now but some veterans have good memories and maybe able to help you in your search.

I also intend to publish your mail in the next newsletter  with your approval.  It may inspire someone to carry out similar searches for a long lost relative and thus "keep the old Bear alive".

Did you contact Guido van Wassenhove in Wuustwezel? Sadly, he is no longer with the Belgian Branch of the PBA but he is the fountain of all knowledge about the area and I will happily put you in touch.

Please contact,e if you feel I may have a source of useful info!

Kind regards,

Dennis

The Polar Bear Association

The internet has been an invaluable resource in this historical jig-saw puzzle that I embarked on sone 18 months ago. One site that has been of great relevance is that of The Polar Bear Association (a.k.a. PBA).

http://www.polar-bear-association.org.uk/

I was pleased to discover that as a grandson of a deceased soldier who served with the 49th (West Riding) Division I was myself eligible for full membership of the Assosiation. And so it was that I posted off the princely sum of £5 in order to receive the Association newsletter, 'The Polar Bear News'.

Reading through the pages of memories of time served as well as touching tributes to veterans who had passed away in recent months as well as those currently encountering health issues not uncommon in those over 90 I felt it important to give a little more background as to why I was interested in the activities of the PBA.

Here's the correspondence with Association Secretary Dennis Dimond:

Dear Dennis,

It was with great pleasure that I received my first issue of ‘The Polar Bear News’ and I look forward to a weekend’s read of the content of the June issue of the newsletter. Even so, a cursory flick through the first pages amply demonstrates the Association’s unerring commitment to gain the promised recognition of the 49th Division’s veteran’s crucial role in the liberation of France and beyond and indeed to ‘Keep the Old Bear alive!’

When I completed the PBA application form last month the administrative information provided was the bare minimum required to establish my connection with a veteran of the 49th. Now I would like the opportunity to elaborate somewhat upon my interest in the Association.

My late Grandfather was L/Cpl James Kitchener Heath No. 5051929 (known to his friends as Jim and to his close family as Kitch). He died in February 1995 at the age of 80 and this marked the start line of a rather protracted journey that has only recently resulted in my contact with the PBA.

At the time of his death I did my best to put some words together on paper that described what we knew of his military service (on the day of his funeral, the Royal British Legion flag bearers were in attendance, the coffin was draped in the Union Flag and a bugler played the ‘Last Post’ ) as whilst he spoke very rarely of his time in Europe in his last years it was a defining period of his life. Sadly the history that I prepared for the presiding cleric to recite on such a poignant occasion was grossly inaccurate and a clear indication in how little his immediate family knew of his wartime experiences.

With this understanding, I resolved to establish an accurate account of his period of service between January 1940 and March 1946. I started well in 1995 with the acquisition of his military records held by the MOD, but then other family issues resulted in the project being shelved for a good number of years.

In the months leading up to the 70th Anniversary D-Day commemorations I was spurred into action to start the search once again. The information I gathered I documented on-line in a blog (address below).

In short, a Staffordshire man, located in Brighton at the outbreak of war, he enlisted in the North Staffordshire Regiment but was rapidly transferred to the 5th Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment who landed in Normandy as a follow-up regiment on 25th June as a fighting unit of the 59 (Staffordshire) Infantry Division.

In July his Company fought cheek by jowl with the 11th RSF at Fontenay Le Pesnil and Noyers Bocage to the south west of Caen. As you will be aware, as a younger Division, the 59th were disbanded in order to enable reinforcement of hard pressed older formations that had been mauled in the early weeks of the Normandy campaign. Thus it was that my Grandfather was transferred on 26th August to the 11th RSF as part of the 49 (West Riding) Division.

I have, courtesy of the Regimental Museum in Glasgow the ‘Summary of Operations from June 1944 to May 1945’ of the 11th RSF. This invaluable document was used by myself and a friend last month as our guide in our efforts to retrace the progress of my Grandfather from Turnhout in Belgium into Holland. Once over the border, Polar Bear memorial sites at Wuustwezel and Roosendaal were sought out. Key for me was to locate the village of Haalderen were I understand my Grandfather saw the worst fighting of his war.

An open question that I have in my full understanding of Jim Heath’s time in the 11th RSF relates to the Company in which he served. This level of detail is not included in his MOD records and by the same token, historians at the museum were unable to establish this information.

I do have however some circumstantial evidence that suggests that he was part of D Company of the 11th RSF. In 1973, my family travelled to Holland in the company of my Grandfather. The family holiday took a detour to Nijmegen and specifically the Jonkerbos War Cemetery within the city. The reason for this visit, as recalled by my parents (I was four years old at the time), was so that he could locate the headstone of ‘my sergeant’ whose death he had witnessed. The headstone was located on that occasion. My research has shown that the only Fusilier of the 11th RSF holding the rank of sergeant buried in Jonkerbos is one William Little. Incidentally, a photograph from the 1973 visit shows my Grandfather in discussion with my father in a position very close to the location of Willam Little’s plot.

Of William Little more is recorded since he was a recipient of the Military Medal. I do know that he was Platoon Sergeant of 16 Platoon of D Company of the 11th RSF. It is therefore, admittedly with a substantial leap of faith I can possibly place my Grandfather within Sgt Little’s 16 Platoon of D Company.

Is there any means of establishing battalion association at a company and even platoon level? Unfortunately information received from the Regimental museum has only been able to show him as a soldier of the 11th RSF with no further detail.

Were it possible to establish Company and possibly platoon it would confirm (I think) his participation in the notable waterborne raid over the Rhine as documented in the 11th Btn Summary of Operations and described by Colonel Douglas of the 11th in the IWM audio interview.

As part of my research, I was happy to obtain a copy of Fusilier Ken West’s wartime memoir which goes a long way to describe the day to day experience that my Grandfather as an infantryman of the 11th RSF would have known. Imagine my surprise then to read in the June newsletter that not only is Mr West still with us but as of May he was still active in the Association and that he was in Holland just two weeks prior to my visit.

I understand that Mr West was in 17 Platoon of D Company and as such would have known soldiers of 16 Platoon who also saw action Wuustwezel and then in the streets of Haalderen in December 1944. It is a long shot after the passage of so many years but I am left wondering whether Ken would have known my Grandfather, Jim Heath, if indeed I am correct in placing him with 16 Platoon of D Company.

Is it possible that this information could be passed on to Mr West, with a message of thanks for documenting his time in France in his book that has added the human element to the drier war diaries and helped my research greatly.

With kind regards,

Adrian Andrews

(Grandson of L/Cpl Jim Heath No. 5051929 11th Btn RSF)

P.S. My work in progress is documented via the following website which is currently up to the point of his transfer from the 5th South Staffs to the 11th RSF. It is my intention to complete the story from his wounding at Nijmegen on 7th April 1945, to his administrative role within D.P.A.C.S. at Bergen-Belsen and finally through to his 35th year battle back home to receive a war pension commensurate with the wounds that he received in Holland.

http://jameskitchenerheath5051929.blogspot.co.uk/

147 Brigade of the 49th (West Riding) Division

Within the 49th (West Riding) Division, my Grandfather's new home from August 1944, the 11th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers were a fighting unit within 147 Brigade of the division along with the 6th and 7th Battalions of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (the 6th Battalion were later to be replaced in July 1944 by the 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment).

The 147 Brigade first saw action in the Second World War when it participated in the ill-fated landings in Norway of 15th to 17th April 1940. The intention of the landings was to regain control from the Germans of the key ports of Narvik and Trondheim. However, with the invasion left in disarray, the Brigade and the rest of the 49th were withdrawn in May 1940 and posted to Iceland.*

Despite its reputation as a barren and often inhospitable island, its location was of critical strategic importance to the Germans and British alike. Control of Iceland meant control of both sea and air traffic over the North Atlantic region. From May 1940 to April 1942 the men of 147 Brigade safeguarded British interests in Icelandic region.

This near two tenure in Iceland provides the explanation as to why the men of the 147 Brigade, including 11th Battalion after September 1942, were identified as soldiers of the 49th (West Riding) Division by the insignia depicting a lone polar bear standing on an ice floe.

1940's Insignia of 49th (West Riding) Division

'The Polar Bear Division'

Yorkshire is certainly remote in parts and often cold, but even so, it is many thousands of years since polar bears roamed over the Ridings!

Thenceforth the Division were more often than not referred to as 'The Polar Bear Division'. This association was further enhanced after the 49th were engaged in fierce fighting around the village of Rauray. In one of his propaganda broadcasts, William Joyce better known in notoriety as 'Lord Haw Haw' described the soldiers of the Division as the 'Polar Bear Butchers', an epithet that was to be carried by the men as a badge of honour as opposed to the insult that Joyce intended.

Cartoon postcard depicting the 'Polar Bear Butchers' in Rauray, Normandy

December 1944

* The 11th Battalion R.S.F. was not at this time a part of 147 Brigade.

49 (West Riding) Division Memorial, Fontenay-le-Pesnel

Memorial to the 49 (West Riding) Division

Fontenay-le-Pesnel

Just at the point of the turn off to the Fontenay-le-Pesnel War Cemetery stands an imposing monument to the men of the 49 (West Riding) Division, 'The Polar Bears' and the sacrifices they made in the fighting of 1944 and 1945,

Detail from the 49 (West Riding) Division monument

The walls of the monument carry separate memorials to the Brigades of the Division including the 147 Division to which Jim Heath was transferred, as part of 11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers, on 29th August 1944 upon the disbandment of the 59 (Staffordshire) Division.

The plaque to 147 Division can be seen towards the end of this short piece of video footage of the monument.

After the Battle Of Noyers

As described earlier, the prize of the village of Noyers was not delivered into British hands during the fighting of 16th to 19th July, but in terms of the overriding aim of Operation Pomegranate it was considered to be a successful action. The Battle had, as intended, drawn the enemy away from the Caen sector and the U.S. forces then looking to break out at the base of the Cotentin peninsula.

Throughout the Battle of Noyers the men continued to learn combat skills that were to be critical to their survival such as the importance of close collaboration between infantry and the supporting tank crews. Nevertheless, the casualty list was long and in all 59 Division recorded 1250 men killed, wounded or missing, a tally that mirrored the toll in the Battle for Caen earlier in the month.

The remainder of July was taken up with intense patrolling in the area. The full complement of the  three infantry brigades of 59 Division in the front line was achieved when 197 Brigade moved up to relieve 70 Infantry Brigade of the 49th (West Riding) Division in the area of Juvigny-Vendes on 21st July. The brigades of 59 Division each had two battalions in the line with one in reserve.

Under brigade command, squadrons of the 59th Recce Regiment moved into the line in order to allow the infantry to move into rest areas company by company. On 23rd July, 33 Armoured Brigade left the divisional area as 59 Division came under the command of XII Corps and 31 Tank Brigade came under the command of 59 Division.

Operation Pomegranate - The Allies

49 (West Riding) Division

The 49 (West Riding) Division was committed into action at an early stage of the war when two brigades of the Division participated in an attempt of the 15th to 17th April 1940 to take the Norwegian ports of Trondheim and Narvik back from the control of the occupying German Army. The landings were a disaster and the units were withdrawn in May.

After the Norwegian landings, the 146 and 147 Brigades were transferred and stationed in Iceland, and it was from here that the famous Polar bear on an ice floe insignia originated. The third Divisional brigade, the 148th was reassigned as a training battalion outside of the 49th Division.

1942 saw the Division transferred back to the UK with the incorporation of 70th Brigade (reallocated from the disbanded 23 (Northumbrian) Division) into her ranks.

In the immediate aftermath of D Day, the 49 (West Riding) Division moved to Normandy as part of XXX Corps. After engaging the enemy, it was the traitorous British broadcaster William Joyce, better known as 'Lord Haw Haw' who referred to the Division as 'the Polar Bear Butchers', as a consequence of their reputation for tenacity and aggression in the field. Soldiers of the 49 Division took a grim pride in this epithet as evidenced by a Christmas card produced in 1944.

After the Normandy campaign, the 49th saw further action, most notably in the Arnhem region, as part of the First Canadian Army fighting in support of 'Operation Market Garden'.

The 49 (West Riding) Division is also a fundamental part of this narrative as after the disbandment of the 59 (Staffordshire) Division in August 1944, my Grandfather was transferred to the 11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers (R.S.F.) which formed one infantry Division of 147 Brigade within the 49 (West Riding) Division.

59 (Staffordshire) Division

Positioned in the centre of the line of the Pomegranate front.

A follow-up formation described at length on this site.

53 (Welsh) Division

In many aspects, the World War II history of the 53 (Welsh) Division runs parallel to that of the 59 (Staffordshire) Division. Part of the Territorial Army from 1921 it was mobilised at the outbreak of the war in 1936 and detailed initially to protect the ports of South Wales. However, in October 1939 the 53rd transferred to Northern Ireland where it trained and also maintained a keen eye on the activities south of the border. In November 1941 it was replaced by the 59 (Staffordshire) Division who you may recall were dismayed to surrender their new transport and armour in the North East of England only to take on the tired equipment of 53rd (Welsh) in Ulster!

As with 59th, training continued apace with the Division spending a further period of time in the Welsh borders before being moved down into Kent to defend the south coast during the 1942-1943 period. Reorganisation occurred in October  1943, with the 71st Infantry Brigade taking the place of the 159th Infantry Brigade who became part of 11th Armoured Division. The Division then concentrated those aspects of training that would serve them best when the time came to take the fight to France.

The 53 (Welsh) Division landed in Normandy as a follow-up formation under the command of VII Corps on 28th June 1944, just a few days after the arrival of the 59th (Staffordshire) Division. After the Battle of Caen, the 53rd was taken under the command of VIII Corps at the tail end of Operation Epsom. Here the 53rd relieved units of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division in the salient. Operation Greenline followed which held up German forces that would otherwise have threatened the Goodwood assault to the east of Caen. 

Throughout the remainder of July, the 53rd Welsh were involved in bitter fighting in the Odon salient and suffered very heavy losses. Moving east the Division further advanced in early August in the direction of Falaise, crossing the Orne river at Grimbosq on 16th August. It was in an action on that day that Captain Tasker Watkins of the 1/5 Welsh Regiment earned the VC by leading his men in an infantry charge against superior numbers of the enemy as well as putting a German machine gun position out of action.

Captain Tasker Watkins VC

1/5 Welsh Regiment

53 (Welsh) Division

After the destruction of the 7th German Army in the Falaise Pocket on 21st August, the Division moved up to the River Seine to continue the rapid advance through France and Belgium. After the fall of Antwerp, the 53rd guarded the port and its surroundings before advancing into Holland on the commencement of Operation Market Garden, thereafter continuing to fight hard in the 'Island' area between Nijmegen and Arnhem. Of these places there will be much to say later as these were the battlefields also trodden by my Grandfather after August 1944 with the 11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers. 

53 (Welsh) Division continued to see action in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge (16th December 1944 to 25th January 1945)). It saw some of its fiercest engagements in the closing months of the war as it took on the last desperate, but determined, stand by German paratroops in the Reichswald forest.

The Division reached Hamburg on 4th of May and the war came to an end. Soldiers of the Division were retained and formed part of the British Army of the Rhine.

In their 10 months of active service in North West Europe, the Division suffered 9,846 casualties, killed, wounded or missing.