| Instructions regarding War Diaries and Intelligence
Summaries are contained in F.S. Regs., Vol. 1.
and the Staff Manual respectively Title pages
will be prepared in manuscript. |
WAR DIARY or INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY |
Army Form C.2118 |
| Unit: 15th/19th Hussars | ||
| Month and Year: November 1944 | (Erase heading not required). | Commanding Officer: Lt Col A.D. Taylor, DSO., MC. |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | A very wet day, rained increasantly throughout most of the day. Regt, less 'B' Sqn, moved out at 0630hrs to area GRIENDTSVEEN 7017. General plan for the op was as follows:- 4 KSLI to move down the general line of the rly with objective the eastern edge of the wood 763173 closely supported by 'A' Sqn . 'A' Sqn , less one Troop, was to move up the track to track junc 755186 and then turn South down the track 735177 and thence follow the track Eastwards North of rly line to AMERICA. One Tp to move along the road running South of the rly and support the Inf on this side. 'C' Sqn to follow behind 'A' Sqn up the track to track junc 756193 and then turn Southwards on as broad a front as possible and assist the attack from the North. 'B' Sqn remained in ZEILBERG in Bde reserve. In order to carry out this plan as far as the Regt was concerned it was necessary to bridge the streams at 726183 and 735186. An assault bridge was used for the first gap and a scissors bridge for the second. After some delay the first bridge was succesfully thrown across the gap and 3rd Tp 'A' Sqn - Lt. C.C. Egerton got as far as approx 745175 where they were held up by mines. 2nd Tp 'A' Sqn which was to go along the road South of the rly was unable to adv beyond the rd junc at 726175 owing to obstructions and cratering of the road. 1st Tp 'A' Sqn which attempted to follow 3rd Tp became seriously bogged on the track running North and South at about 736180, and this track was obviously impassable for any more tks. After some trouble owing to the boggyness of the tracks, the scissors bridge was succesfully put into posn and it was then decided that the remainder of 'A' Sqn should cross this and try to work up the track in North Easterly direction. They were however unable to get further than 200 or 300 yds beyond the scissors bridge owing to the boggyness of the country which was getting steadily worse due to the incessant rain. In view of these difficulties of the going etc, 'C' Sqn were held in GRIENDTSVEEN and not committed. The Inf meantime adv succesfully against no opposition except a certain number of mines and reached their objective fairly quickly in spite of the difficulties of weather and going. As soon as 4 KSLI reached this objective, 1st Herefords, who had moved round the previous evening and taken up a posn behind 15(S)Div in the general area 7614, attacked Northwards and occupied AMERICA without opposition and contd their adv Northwards hampered only by mines and by a large number of trees felled across the roads. By the evening they were in occupation of the general area 7819 and 7919 and the 4 KSLI occupied AMERICA. 'A' Sqn after a very wet and difficult day spent a wet night in the posns they had reached with a number of their tks bogged and immovable. This was very unpleasant as everybody was wet and there was no cover of any sort. RHQ and 'C' Sqn remianed in GRIENDTSVEEN and 'B' Sqn in ZEILBERG for the night. At the same time that this op was going on, adv elements of 15(S)Div reached the area HORST 8318. No way passable for vehs was opened to AMERICA that night and the Inf could only get such supplies as were carried to them by men on their feet in the early hours of the morning. |
Source: Jeroen Koppes, TracesOfWar.com, transcribing: Mia Litjens.
Disclaimer: This War Diary is based on its original, but typos might be corrected. Locations are calculated, so might not be in the correct place. For historical research, always check the originals.
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