From Roosendaal to Nijmegen November 1944

In contrast to the living conditions experienced by the battalion in Normandy, accommodation in the Lowlands represented a significant upgrade with buildings replacing slit trenches. The men of the 11^th RSF were spoiled for a time in Roosendaal when they were billeted within the houses of grateful Dutch families, in homes that were largely undamaged. Nevertheless, the enduring memory of the Roosendaal area is of an unpleasant place to be in late October/early November, as Colonel Douglas recalled ‘a nasty area because to move you had to stay on top of the dyke , if you got off the dyke you were in flooded fields, if you stayed on top you got shot, if you went down in the fields you got drowned or hit by the shells and mortars. Not very funny’. The Germans may have been in retreat at this point, heading with all speed for their own national border, but the terrain and the appalling weather conditions made for a demoralising and dangerous place to be.

Polar Bears in the vicinity of Roosendaal Station at the point of liberation

30th October 1944

(The Polar Bear insignia can be seen on the rear of the jeep in the foreground).

The fighting continued. German units fought rear-guard actions in the northern suburbs of Roosendaal as the main body of troops were evacuated north of the River Maas. At this time it was the responsibility of the battalion to harry the retreat. On 4th November, the battalion concentrated at Oud Gastel, little over four miles north of Roosendaal and was placed on one hour’s notice to move. That morning the German units were hastened in their retreat by harassing fire from medium machine gun fire and salvos of 4.2 inch mortars. At 1030 hours, the battalion moved off in pursuit with ‘B’ Company advancing on the right and ‘D’ Company on the left. ‘A’ and ‘C’ Companies remained in reserve. Initially, the advance was untroubled, however, in time ‘B’ and ‘D’ Companies, now joined by ‘C’ Company contacted the enemy and came under fire.

The ability of the engaged companies to fight was severely hampered by the necessity to restrict all movement to the top of the dykes. Such restrictions ruled out any tactical manoeuvres that may have been to the advantage of the advance. These movement constraints were understood by the enemy, who despite being in retreat, were in well dug in positions. With no tank support possible, the Germans allowed the forward British units to advance close to their positions with the knowledge that such close proximity would prevent the use of artillery. With ‘B’ Company pinned down in open ground and with the light failing prearranged positions were consolidated and here the Companies would stay for the night. The enemy withdrew from their positions overnight. Patrols were able to cover some distance the next morning (5th November) to the extent that a ‘D’ Company patrol contacted the Canadians as they advanced from the north and a patrol of ‘B’ Company reached as far as Dinteloord (approximately 11 miles to the north west of Roosendaal) where they too encountered the Canadians. By mid-morning the battalion received the order to return to their billets in Roosendaal, all except ‘A’ Company who were to hold the position until nightfall before returning to Roosendaal.

In the actions described above a total of 12 German fatalities and 37 prisoners were accounted for, for 4 killed, 19 wounded and 1 missing of the battalion.

The atrocious conditions have been mentioned earlier and one specific mention of the hardship endured by the men on account of the poor weather is recorded in the Summary of Operations:

‘One platoon was immersed to the waist in water for about 5 hours and it reflects on the good training and stamina that only one man had to be evacuated the following day as a result of this long enforced immersion’. 

This paragraph struck a chord with me since one of my Grandfather’s stories told of how he spent a very unpleasant night perched on a seat of bricks, immersed to the waist in water in charge of a yardstick to monitor the rate at which the water was rising. However, when this anecdote was related to William Douglas, he stated that it was his belief that this would have been a memory of the time spent in Haalderen rather than Roosendaal.

The remainder of the month of November was very mobile for the battalion, but the days were spent in rest rather than in battle. Early in the month, the battalion was transferred from Roosendaal, eastwards and at the same time they parted from the 1^st Canadian Army to come under the command of XII Corps of the British Second Army. The battalion concentrated in the town of Soerendonk. Here they engaged in training exercises mixed with entertainment activities until 23rd November when they moved eastwards once more to Blerick on the west bank of the River Maas. From here the intention was to launch an attack on the town of Venlo, approximately one mile away on the other side of the river. Preparations were in hand with recces and patrols carried out in order to establish the nature of the terrain, the strength of the German units to the Brigade front, anything that would confer an advantage upon the attackers. In the event, the responsibility for assaulting Venlo was passed over to 15^th (Scottish) Infantry Division. However, Venlo, with its large airfield which served as a base for Luftwaffe nightfighters, was not finally liberated until 1st March 1945.

The battalion received orders to move to an area to the north of Nijmegen where they were to relieve the men of 231^st Brigade of the 50^th (Northumbrian) Division. Reaching a staging post in the village of Mill (approximately 20 miles distant to the south of Nijmegen) the relief of the 1^st Dorsets of the 231^st Brigade was effected by 1930 hours on the evening of 29th November.

The 11^th Battalion RSF had taken up positions in a notorious area known simply as ‘The Island’, an area of marshy polder that lay between the River Waal to the north of Nijmegen and the Neder Rijn (Lower Rhine) to the south of Arnhem. This tract of land was unpleasant in the extreme by the time the Polar Bears arrived in late November, low lying and flooded. The bodies of British and German fighters remained where they had fallen in the vicious fighting of late September/early October, when the Allies desperately tried to come to the aid of the 1^st British Airborne Division, then confined to the Oosterbeek Perimeter to the western suburbs of Arnhem.

‘The Island’ framed by the Waal and Neder Rijn.

The battalion would be associated with this dreadful place for a period of over five months.

The Nijmegen Bridge viewed in the direction of Arnhem. The area known as 'The Island' can be seen across the River Waal. The church in Lent can be seen in the centre of the photograph.

The area of operation for the 49^th Division was at the eastern end of the Island. The following chapter describes the actions of the 7^th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and the 11^th Royal Scots Fusiliers to repulse a determined German effort to reach the Nijmegen Bridge once again.

This was not the first time that the village of Haalderen had found itself on the frontline. During the ‘Garden’ operation of ‘Market Garden’ the necessity of holding Nijmegen Bridge and the bridgehead was well understood. The defence of the bridgehead took the fight into the villages of Bemmel, Baal and Haalderen. In late September, the 6^th and 7^th Battalion of the Green Howards (50^th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division) attempted to take Haalderen which was then fiercely defended by the soldiers of the 10^th SS Panzer Division. Consequently, the village was badly damaged as the Germans withdrew in the first week of October.

Arnhem 16th May 2015

For those people partial to a bit of military history, no visit to this part of the Netherlands would be complete without a trip to Arnhem. Last here at the age of four, there was so much for me to see on this occasion.

There is so much written about the struggle of the men of the 1^st Airborne Division in Arnhem that it is simply beyond the scope of this book to cover it here, so I will limit this chapter to a few impressions and photographs. An good starting point for a visit to the town is the museum that is dedicated to the battle. Housed in the Hotel Hartenstein, the building that served as the Divisional HQ in September 1944 it offers a real sense of the bitter fighting that took place in its immediate environs.

There is so much to see within the museum that described the battle so very well. However, one artefact caught my eye. If listening to punk rock for 35 years has instilled anything in me it is the almost childlike appreciation of a rude word. On the wall is mounted a piece of wallpaper that was preserved after the battle. On this aged piece of wallpaper beneath the proclamation of ‘Never Surrender, Fuck The Gerry’s, 1^st Airborne Division’ is a tally of Germans killed or wounded by the writer. With all joking about expletives aside, this foot square piece of graffiti speaks volumes to me about the desperate struggle in which this young soldier was engaged in as he fought for his life and the lives of his comrades.

Now I am not often in the habit of quoting journalists from the ‘Daily Express’ but again these words caught my eye:

“If in the years to come any man says to you ‘I fought at Arnhem’ take off your hat and buy him a drink, for this is the stuff of which England’s greatness is made”

War correspondent Alan Wood in the Daily Express

24^th September 1944.

Not far up the road from Hotel Hartenstein is the Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery where many of the men who lost their lives in the September fighting lie.

A short walk from the cemetery, up a very attractive tree lined road (Van Limburg Stirumweg) will bring you to another memorial dedicated the memory of the Air Despatchers of the Royal Army Service Corps who lost their lives in their endeavours to ensure the continuity of supplies to the troops on the ground. This impressive monument is set in front of the fields in which essential supplies were dropped. However, the drop zone lay in German occupied territory, so a high proportion of the supplies never reached the allies.

Air Despatcher’s Memorial

Oosterbeek.

The following inscription appears on the momument:

Dedicated to the memory of the Air Despatchers of the Royal Army Service Corps, who together with the aircrew of the Royal Airforce and the Royal Canadian Airforce gave their lives in valiant attempts to resupply the airborne forces during the battle of Arnhem (Operation Market Garden), 18th - 25th September 1944

Erected by their comrades and air despatchers past and present, with the generous assistance of the burgomaster and aldermen of Renkum, and other kind Dutch friends, 18th September 1994.

Leaving Oosterbeek, we headed back into the centre of Arnhem and the bridge itself. On the north side of the bridge lies the  Jacob Groenewoud Park. Captain Groenewoud was the only Dutch officer to fight in the battle for the bridge. He was killed on 18^th September 1944 in an attempt to contact the body of troops in Oosterbeek.

Within the Jacob Groenewoud Park are numerous memorials to the units involved in the battle for the Rhine bridge at Arnhem. At this point in my research I have become rather eagle-eyed when it comes to spotting Polar Bears and indeed I found one set on a twisted propeller, a gift to the Division from the Arnhem Museum.

Street Fighting Haalderen, Holland 3rd – 4th December 1944

The shattered ruins of Haalderen Church.

In the first week of December the tide of war once again broke over Haalderen (literally given the flooded state of this part of The Island). In an attempt to reach the Great Waal Bridge near Lent, the Germans launched an attack which was intended to push through to the bridge via Haalderen and Bemmel.

Before describing in any detail the first engagement for the Fusiliers on The Island it is necessary to recount the situation faced by the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. At the beginning of December The Dukes were positioned on the right flank of the Divisional front in the area of Haalderen. The conditions on the ground were horrendous with heavy flooding throughout the area. To the mud and filth that are a part and parcel of flooding were added the remains of soldiers of both sides killed in the struggles of late September/early October when Allied units tried desperately to the aid of the British 1^st Airborne then confined in the Oosterbeek Perimeter on the western outskirts of Arnhem.

Military operations in the Haalderen area were severely hampered as a result of the conditions. The protection offered by slit trenches was limited as the height of the water table restricted the depth to which they could be dug before filling with water. Moreover, the movement of man and armour throughout the sector was limited to the high ground, i.e. across the top of the dykes. Such movement was perilous for a number of reasons, notably due to the fact that the tracks that topped the dykes were constructed with light agricultural traffic in mind and not the heavyweight trucks and tanks of an Army on the move. Furthermore, the presence of men and vehicles on the top of the dykes offered the enemy something akin to a fairground duck shoot as targets were dangerously exposed in silhouette against the sky.

To further set the scene, I refer to the relevant sections of the 7^th Dukes War Diaries. From 1^st December, the Battalion positions were coming under heavy artillery fire. German forward patrols were observed to be occupying houses on the main road through the village. At the same time, the diary records ‘water rising about 3” to 6” per day. Daylight supply of Btn forbidden’. The diary elaborates some more on the worsening flood conditions stating that at 2150 hours on the 2^nd ‘’D’ Coy reported that water was rising rapidly in the coy area’. This situation calls to mind the earlier story, mentioned in an earlier chapter, that my Grandfather related of being perched on a stack of bricks armed with a yardstick monitoring the rate by which the water levels were rising throughout the night. William Douglas corrected my earlier assumption that this incident occurred in the Roosendaal area and stated that it was much more consistent with the situation in Haalderen. As recounted a little later, he arrived in the area with the 11^th R.S.F. on the morning of 4^th December.

By the morning of 3^rd December 03 Brigade advised that ‘Dykes may have been breached by weight of water or military action. HAALDEREN, the highest point of the “Island” may be attacked by the enemy. NIJMEGEN is being heavily shelled at an increasing rate. Be on the alert for counter-attacks’.

At 0710 a trip flare was triggered forward of the ‘D’ Company’s position. The Dukes remained vigilent, observing even in this dreadful place mundane domestic activities as it was reported at 0930 hours that ‘1 Boche seen to run out of house S of rd at 763662, chased chicken. Man shot chicken and went back into house’. More Germans were observed on the main Haalderen road throughout the day. In the early evening, enemy flares were spotted and sporadic Spandau fire was reported at 2235 and 2255. Something was in the offing.

At 0315 on 4^th December, Spandau fire coincided with reports coming in from ‘D’ Company of an attack, with 18 Platoon stating that 17 enemy had passed through their positions with more approaching. Some 15 minutes later, more Germans, about a company in strength, also passed through leaving 18 Platoon completely surrounded although holding their position.

The War Diary reported ‘Heavy stonking in the bn area and BEMMEL 7367. It was the 11^th R.S.F. who were on the receiving end of the shelling in Bemmel. The ‘Summary of Operations’ takes up the story and decribes how in the early hours of 4^th December the Battalion was subjected to one of the German’s most concentrated artillery fire for a period of nearly two hours, being the prelude to an attack on the right sector of the Brigade front [i.e. the 7 DWR in Haalderen]. ‘D’ Company under Major Leslie Rowell were to take the role of counter-attack Company in just such an event. In Major Rowell’s words ‘At Bemmel on the 4th December D Coy were in reserve with the task of counter attacking in support of 7 DWR at Haalderen, at approximately 0300 hours the Coy was ordered to ‘stand to’ and later was ordered to move. The Coy commenced to its task at first light at 0730 hours’.

Meanwhile back in Haalderen, the at 0400 the & DWR War Diary described the situation as ‘very confused’ with fighting taking place in nearly every house in the village. The Germans had reached as far as ‘A’ Company HQ and the school buildings on a road junction approximately 100m along the road from the Church. White flares fired at 0500 hours from the new German positions were thought to be signals that the planned objectives had been successfully taken.

At 0515 hours the Commanding Officer, Major Hamilton, ordered the Duke’s Carrier Platoon to re-occupy the school and for ‘C’ Company to counter-attack ‘D’ Company 18 Platoon’s positions in order to close the gap in the line through which the Germans had passed. It was estimated that the German infiltration of the Battalion area was approximately one company in strength. Major Hamilton requested that the 11^th R.S.F. move up, as counter-attack battalion, to the area of Battalion HQ.

In the early hours further German advance along the main road was checked. At 0615, the Carrier Platoon successfully retook the school and ‘B’ Company reoccupied a number of houses. Nevertheless, confused close quarters fighting continued in the area of the ‘A’ Company HQ. At 0620 the 11^th R.S.F. assembled in this area (on the right, that is south west side of the main street) and received orders to attack in an easterly direction, thereby pushing the Germans towards the 7 DWR forward positions.

In darkness and in the confused nature of house to house fighting there was a real danger that the 7^th DWR Company and ‘D’ Company of the 11^th R.S.F. would sustain casualties due to ‘friendly fire’. To avoid such a clash, Major Rowell ordered that ‘D’ Company take responsibility for the clearance of houses on the right hand side of the street as far as the road junction. This was tasked to 17 Platoon under the command of Lieutenant McIntosh. Next 18 Platoon, under Lieutenant Douglas would work their way up the left had side of the street once the situation in the houses opposite ‘A’ Company HQ had been established. At this time my Grandfather with 16 Platoon, under Sergeant Little, took up reserve fire positions protecting ‘A’ Company HQ.

Crossing the start line at 0700 hours 17 Platoon cleared the first house as the 7 DWR arrived in the houses opposite and 18 Platoon set off up the left hand side of the street. In this manner both of the Fusilier platoons advanced up the street offering mutual support as far as the road junction objective. The enemy were being pushed back down the road from where they originally advanced.

At this point, I am reminded of my Grandfather, who would break off from one of our regular Saturday night games of darts in the kitchen to describe, with the aid of an invisible, but poised, Lee Enfield, just how soldiers on opposite sides of the street would cooperate in house clearing actions! I wonder whether at such times he was mentally transported back to Haalderen.

The men of ‘D’ Company received additional information about houses along the street that were German occupied as 18 Platoon of the Fusilers further advanced from the north east towards the crescent of Kolkweg. In this they were assisted by 16 Platoon Bren Corps and 17 Platoon who also provided covering fire. The 18 Platoon assault was successful. The men of ‘D’ Company were still coming under fire from houses on the street when the final phase of the attack commenced which was to clear all houses on the north eastern side of the street. The attack was led by 16 Platoon supported by covering fire from both 17 and 18 Platoon. At the point of reaching the send house off the street, the enemy surrendered. The remaining Dukes laid down smoke to aid the advance of 16 Platoon on the last objective before consolidating the ground taken on either side of the road.

As Prisoners of War were taken back, it was established that the units engaged with the Dukes and Fusiliers were men of the German 16^th Parachute Regiment of the 6^th Parachute Division (6. Fallschirmjäger-Division).

By 1215 the original 7 DWR Battalion positions had been restored and the Dukes claimed a total of 108 P.O.W.s and many enemy dead. For their part, the 11^th R.S.F. accounted for 77 P.O.W.s with one Fusilier killed and two wounded. Those Germans not killed or captured retreated across the fields back towards their frontline. 4^th December closed with a heavy artillery bombardment on the battalion area.

On 5^th December, ‘D’ Company were located at the south eastern end of the village located in the ruins of some semi-detached houses that overlooked fields that stretched out in the direction of the German frontline positions. Of that time William Douglas, then commanding 18 Platoon recalls a deadly game of ‘cat & mouse’ with a German railway gun. ‘So I ended up at the far end of the village in some ruined semi-detached houses looking out across the open fields, the Germans of course knew exactly where we were because they’d been there and somewhere up in the Arnhem area they had a very big railway gun and you could hear the confounded thing, you knew when it was going to fire, so you were fairly safe, you could hear it going tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, then the most tremendous bang and you could practically see the thing coming through the air. Of course, when it landed it would destroy several houses, and they started firing at the village with this confounded thing and of course we had positions in all the windows looking out across the fields. But fortunately all these Dutch houses had cellars, so into the cellars we go and as soon as the firing stops we rush back into the positions, you hear him fire again, back down into the cellars, this confounded gun, every time it fired it seemed to come closer and closer to the house that we were in. Roofs were disappearing on the other side of the road, entire houses going down, oh God! It was one of the most frightening times of the whole thing, there was nothing that you could do about it, you just sat there, 10 chaps down in this cellar, you as the officer, trying to appear frightfully brave and not the least bit worried and getting ready to shout ‘Go!’ the moment you thought he’d finished firing and your back up top in case they were coming again. This went on for a couple of hours, it was not amusing. I always remember when they say ‘Were you ever frightened?’ and I say ‘Yeah I was pretty frightened down in that cellar I have to say! The next one’s gonna land on us!’.

Later ‘D’ Company of the R.S.F. were relieved by ‘C’ Company who entered the area for this purpose and to reinforce the tired Dukes. Between 1700 and 2130 on 6^th December, the rest of the Regiment moved into the village to relieve the 7 DWR who moved back to Bemmel.

What Did You Do In The War Grandad?

How's this for an inauspicious start to understanding and further researching a family member's military career. I mentioned in the introduction to this blog that in terms of first hand source information this is pretty much presented here in its entirety.... written on the reverse of a tea stained envelope.

And here it is......

A check of the addressed side shows that the letter was delivered to my Grandfather's house in Burgess Hill, West Sussex and it is postmarked with the date 27.11.92. This means that my Grandfather was 78 years old when he recalled these locations and committed them to paper.

The list reads as follows (spelling uncorrected):

• D Day
• Aromanches
• Rouen
• Caen
• Bolbek (ENSA)
• Le Harve
• Falaise Gap
• Clark's Forces
• Corridor
• Ardennes
• Corridor
• Nymegan
• Arnhem
• Bruxels
• Belgium Engine
• Home
• Schwarine
• Baltic Coast
• Belsen
• Home way of 1st Canadian Hospital
• 108
• (obscured) British

Now I know that this was put together in roughly chronological order and looking at it, it follows a logical route from the Normandy beaches, through France, into Belgium and Holland with the Allied Forces throughout 1944. Jim ended his period of service in an administrative role within the infamous Belsen (Bergen-Belsen) concentration camp within Germany itself.

Many of the names on this list speak for themselves, known from a combination my own interest in the history of the Second World War, a reasonable knowledge of the Geography of Europe and too many dreary Sunday afternoons spent watching war films under duress (Dad dominated the TV in the late '70's!). Other names are more challenging, but where possible I want to investigate the significance of each name on this list.