WO 171/678 - 153 Infantry Brigade - October 1944

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
	WAR DIARY or INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY	Unit: HQ 153 Inf Bde
Month and Year: October 1944	(Erase heading not required).	Commanding Officer: Brig J.R. Sinclair, DSO

Place	Date	Hour	Summary	Reference
VIEKEVORST J.9483	1		At 0845 hrs the Bde Gp recce parties left for HQ 44 Inf Bde at 419314. Bde HQ left VIEKEVORST at 0930 hrs and by 1705 hrs had arrived at 419314. The take over by 153 Bde was completed by 2310 hrs without incident 153 Inf Bde coming under comd 15 (S) Div. Dispositions of the bde were as shown on trace att as Appx “A”.	Trace “A” att as Appx “A”
	1		During the nigh a patrol by 5/7 Gordons heard enemy movement in the area of houses at 392314 and veh movement in area 387315.
419314	2		A quiet night on the bde front. A deserter from 8 Coy 1034 Regt came in to 1 Gordons at 0530 hrs. There was little to report throughout the day apart from spasmodic enemy shelling and mortaring which did no damage. The standing patrol of 2 Derby Yeo at the windmill 403323 was relieved by one sec carriers of 5/7 Gordons at 1900 hrs. Daylight patrols from 5 BW captured 3 PW and were fired on from 384319, 383329, 381328 and 380326. The woods at 385324, 384323, 385323, 386320 were reported clear of enemy. Another patrol from 5/7 Gordons contacted the enemy in corner of clearing at 387311. Projected patrols for night 2/3 Oct are att as Appx “B”.	Projected patrols att as Appx “B”
	3		Apart from patrol activity there was nothing to report during the night. Patrols from 5 BW reported the farm at 386325 occupied and heard sounds of enemy movement 70 yds South of the river at 387327. Contact patrols to 5/7 Gordons had nothing to report. 1 Gordons patrol heard voices 384304 and also along edge of wood 385306 to SE corner of wood 387305. Digging was heard at 385306. Contact patrols with 2 A&SH had nothing to report. At 0540 an enemy patrol approx 8 strong clashed with a fwd pl of 1 Gordons area 387302 and withdrew after firing and throwing grenades. No casualties were reported. There was very little enemy activity on the bde front during the day. At 1000 hrs 1 Gordons carried out a raid on enemy posn at 383304 and succeeded in wounding at least 3 of the enemy. Another raid was carried out at 1900 hrs. The raiding party penetrated 800 yds North up edge of wood from 385304, killing six enemy and wounding several more. One PW from 1 Coy 1034 Regt being taken. 1 Gordons casualties were 1 Offr and 2 ORs wounded. 1/5 Queens were placed under comd 153 Bde at 1700 hrs. Projected patrols att as Appx “C”.	Projected patrols att as Appx “C”
	4		Patrols of 5 BW reported enemy again occupying woods at 386320, 383327 and farm 386325. 1 Gordons patrols reported enemy movement at 383301, 383303 and 383305. At 2205 hrs 1/5 Queens reverted under comd of 131 Bde. There was nothing to report during the day apart from some shelling around Bde HQ area at 2230 hrs. Projected patrols att as Appx “D”.	Projected patrols att as Appx “D”
	5		There was little to report on the bde front throughout the day. Patrol results att as Appx “E”. Projected patrols att as Appx “F”.	Patrol reports att as Appx “E”, Projected Patrols att as Appx “F”
	6		Apart from usual patrol activity there was little to report on the bde front. Enemy shelling and mortaring though slight was on a larger scale than previously. Patrol reports att as Appx “G”. Projected patrols att as Appx “H”.	Patrol reports att as Appx “G”, Projected Patrols att as Appx “H”
	6		5 Seaforth relieved 7 RWF and came under comd 153 Bde. Op Instr No. 5 issued and att as Appx “I”.	Op Instr No. 5 att as Appx “I”
	7		A quiet night. At 0600 hrs a small enemy raid was carried out against ‘B’ Coy 1 Gordons. The raid was easily repulsed with 3 cas to the enemy and no cas to our own tps. Patrol results att as Appx “K”. Dispositions of the bde were as shown on trace att as Appx “L“. AF.W.3008/9 att as Appx “M”.	Patrol reports att as Appx ”J”, Projected patrols att as Appx “K”, Trace att as Appx “L”, AF.W.3008/9 att as Appx “M”
	8		A quiet night with nothing to report on the Bde front. 1 Gordons were again raided at 0510 hrs by a party of enemy approx 20 strong. Four of the raiding party were killed 1 Gordons suffering no cas. Projected patrols att as Appx “N”.
	9		Patrolling was again the main activity during the night. Patrol reports att as Appx "O". Projected patrols att as Appx "P". Instrs to Bde Trg Cadre att as Appx “Q”.	Patrol reports att as Appx “O”, Projected patrols att as Appx “P”, Instrs Bde Trg Cadre att as Appx “Q”
	10		A quiet night on the bde front. Results of patrol activities are as att as Appx “R”. Projected patrols att as Appx "S".	Patrol reports Appx “R”, Projected patrols att as Appx “S”
	10		There was little enemy activity during the day apart from spasmodic mortaring and shelling.
	11		Patrol results att as Appx “T". Projected patrols att as Appx “U”, otherwise nothing to report.	Patrol reports Appx “T”, Projected patrols ,, “U”
	12		Quiet night on the bde front. 1 Gordons carried out a shoot on wood 382303 after which one enemy MG at 383303 opened up. Results of patrols att as Appx "V". Projected patrols att as Appx “W”. Apart from one enemy movement at 385313, 385314 there was little to report on the bde front.	Patrol reports Appx “V”, Projected patrols ,, “W”
	13		Apart from shelling and mortaring a quiet night was experienced on the bde front. Reports patrol activities att as Appx "X". Projected patrols att as Appx "Y". There was nothing to report on the bde front throughout the day.	Patrol reports Appx “X”, Projected patrols att as Appx “Y”
	14		A quiet night on the whole. A patrol from 5 BW clashed with enemy at 383329 suffering two cas. Results of patrolling att as Appx “Z”. Projected patrols att as Appx “AA”. AF.W.3008/9 att as Appx . "BB”. Patrol reports Appx “Z”, Projected patrols ,, “AA”, AF.W.3008/9 Appx “BB”
	15		A quiet night. Patrol reports att as Appx “CC”. Projected patrols att as Appx “DD". There was little to report during the day. At 1800 hrs 1 Gordons destroyed MG posts at 382303, 384302 by A tk and MG fire. An MG post at 381302 was over-run.	Patrol reports Appx CC, Projected patrols att as Appx “DD”
	16		Results of the night’s patrolling att as Appx "EE". Projected patrols att as Appx “FF”. A quiet day with nothing to report.	Patrol reports Appx EE, Projected patrols att as Appx “FF”
	17		Apart from some shelling between 0452 hrs and 0630 hrs there was nothing to report. Results of patrols are att as Appx “GG”. Projected patrols att as Appx “HH”.	Patrol reports Appx GG, Projected patrols att as Appx “HH”
	18		A quiet night. Patrol reports att as Appx “II”. Projected patrols att as Appx "JJ”. At 2235 hrs news was received from Div HQ that the bde would be relieved by 227 Bde of 15 (S) Div starting from 1200 hrs on 19 Oct.	Patrol reports Appx “II”, Projected patrols att as Appx “JJ”
	19		The relief by 227 Bde was completed by 2000 hrs without incident. The bde gp moved to a concentration area and was located as follows. Bde HQ 469338, 5 BW 488334, 1 Gordons 489349, 5/7 Gordons 472352. Heavy rain which had fallen made MT movement on tracks very difficult but the conc of the bde was complete by 2200 hrs.
469338	20		At 0900 hrs the Bde Comd, BM, GIII and IO attended the GOC's conference on the forthcoming op. Both the Army Comd and the Corps Comd spoke.
	21		At 1000 hrs the bde comd held a conference with bn comds to discuss the forthcoming op. Preparations for the op continued. OO No. 6 issued and att as Appx "KK'. Adm Instr No. 5 issued and att as Appx “LL”. AF.W.3008/9 att as Appx "MM”	OO No. 6 att as Appx “KK”, Adm Instr No. 5 att as Appx “LL”, AF.W.3008/9 att as Appx “MM”
	22		At 0930 hrs the bde comd held a final conference at which Bn Comds and Comds of Sp Arms were present. At 1400 hrs the bns commenced moving into the Assy Areas. This was completed by 1830 hrs. Tac Bde HQ moved up and was est at 448364 by 1800 hrs.
	23		At 0100 hrs 5/7 Gordons began their attack on WEIBOSCH 4237 and by 0600 hrs had taken all objectives and some PW at a cost of 2 killed and 11 wounded. Opposition was not great and patrols sent fwd to the SE outskirts of SCHIJNDEL 4038 reported no enemy opposition. At 0645 hrs 5 BW passed through 5/7 Gordons and took their objectives in the southern half of SCHIJNDEL without opposition reporting that the village appeared to have been evacuated. 152 Bde had equal success. 2 and 5 Seaforth linked up in the wooded area 379354, while 5 Camerons, who had suffered fairly heavy cas in their initial attack, remained in res in area 404375. At 0700 hrs one coy of 5 BW and one Sqn of tks were ordered to move immediately to 5/7 Gordons final objective in SCHUTSBOOM 3939 while 1 Gordons were ordered to move up in normal order to their objective in SCHIJNDEL. By 1100 hrs the bde gp was disposed as follows. 5 BW SCHUTSBOOM, 1 Gordons area the monastery 406378 and 5/7 Gordons at WEIBOSCH. Bde HQ was located around the post office in SCHIJNDEL. At 1200 hrs 154 Bde passed through and by dark had reached ST MICHIELSGESTEL 3540. At 1900 hrs 5/7 Gordons came under comd 154 Bde and at 2000 hrs were moved up to area 373405. 7 A&SH came under comd 153 Bde and remained in their old locn area 4141. During the night 154 Bde made a successful assault crossing of the a R DOMMEL at ST MICHIELSGESTEL.
	24		During the morning, 5/7 Gordons under comd 154 Bde, moved in Kangaroos over the br at ST MICHIELSGESTEL. 5 BW were moved up from SCHUTSBOOM to 5/7 Gordons old locn area 373405. 5/7 Gordons adv through the woods to 323383 where they debussed. They then came under comd 153 Bde and ‘D’ Coy was sent on foot down into the village of ESCH 3037 which was found to be unoccupied by enemy.
	24		The brs at 304378 and 311380 were both found to be blown and any movement in these areas was immediately engaged by enemy mortars and arty. At 1400 hrs 5 BW were ordered to move in Kangaroos and conc in area 425385 - this was complete by 1530 hrs. Meanwhile 5/7 Gordons had crossed the river at 302374 with a recce patrol. The patrol had met with no opposition but had found the river to be about nine ft deep. As a result of this, 5/7 Gordons were ordered to cross the river at this point using assault boats and a Cl 5 br and then to take up posns to cover the construction of a Cl 40 br on site of the original rd br. At 1500 hrs Tac Bde HQ moved up to house at 324384 and at 1700 hrs Main Bde moved up to area 342397. At 1500 hrs 1 Gordons moved from their locn in SCHIJNDEL to the area vacated by 5 BW at 373405. 5/7 Gordons moved off at 2015 hrs and were est on the West bank of the river by 0200 hrs covering the br site. The enemy was taken completely by surprise and 2 Offrs and 60 ORs POW were taken without casualties.	Code names for op Dunphail att as Appx “NN”
342397	25		By 0300 hrs a Cl 5 br was constructed at 301374 and a Cl 40 br begun at the old br site 304372. At first light 5/7 Gordons reported some enemy movement and mortaring on their front. By 0730 hrs this had developed into a half hearted counter attack against area 295375. Mortars and MGs were brought to bear on the enemy and the counter attack ceased.
	25		The construction of th Cl 40 br was held up by constant mortaring of the br site and was still incomplete by 1900 hrs.
	25		By 0900 hrs 1 Gordons had moved up to area 328348 and commenced to patrol to the SW. Meanwhile 5 BW began to move over the river and took up coy posns to the South of 5/7 Gordons in areas 286574, 292379 and 297373. The 5/7 Gordons coy which had previously been at 297373 moved up to 295387. At 1100 hrs one coy 5 BW mounted on one Sqn of tks, moved up to nr 323402 with orders to turn West to 303348 and then swing South to 5/7 Gordons area. However, at 328348 they found a traffic block where 7 Armd Div’s leading bde was held up by a tk guns firing from area 312392. As a result of this, the attack was called off and the BW coy reverted to Bn comd and took up posns at 292368. At 1600 hrs the GOC, CRA and the Bde Comd held a conference at Bde HQ to plan an attack by 1 Gordons round the same route as that of 5 BW coy and 144 RAC gp projected op. 1 Gordons patrols then reported that sqs 2935, 3035, and 3135 were clear of enemy. Codewords for Op "Dunphail” issued and att as Appx “NN”.	Codewords for Op “Dunphail” att as Appx “NN”
	25	1900	The bn comds of 5 BW and 2 Seaforth arrived at Bde HQ and were given orders to push fwd as follows. At first light 26 Oct 2 Seaforth were to adv to the Eastern outskirts of EIND and to patrol fwd into the village. 5 BW were to adv at first light and clear the woods area 285397.
	26	0005	1 Gordons op commenced when the bn adv with A & C Coys leading. By 0100 hrs Phase I of the op was complete, no opposition having been met beyond some rather weak DF. At 0350 hrs 1 Gordons reported that they had taken all objectives with the exception of Frobisher, where quite hy opposition had been encountered. The Bn Comd decided not to push on further until first light when he could get tk sp. At 0700 hrs with one sqn tks in sp. 1 Gordons renewed their attack and by 0730 his had taken Frobisher. Cas to 1 Gordons were 2 ORs killed. 3 Offrs and 10 ORs wounded. 45 PW were taken all from 1034 IR. At 0720 hrs the Cl 40 br at ESCH was open.
	26	0730	5 BW and 2 Seaforth began their adv onto areas 290323 and EIND respectively. 5 BW met little opposition apart from mortaring and by 1100 hrs were on all objectives. About 1000 hrs enemy were seen withdrawing to the NW in sq 2637 and were engaged by arty. 2 Seaforth met sterner opposition and two tks were knocked out by an a tk gun firing from 297393. The bn had taken its first objectives by 1000 hrs and was pushing on towards EIND in which spandaus were still active. At 1400 hrs bn was in outskirts of EIND and was still meeting spandau fire. Here the bn was halted and dug in. They had taken 1 Offr and 55 OR PW mostly from 1034 IR, themselves having only 6 ORs wounded.
	27		During the early morning, 2 Seaforth patrolled fwd to EIND and HAREN and reported both places clear of enemy. 0715 hrs 2 Seaforth reverted u/c 152 Bde. and 5 BW and 5/7 Gordons began to push fwd through 2 Seaforth onto HAREN and EIND while the ‘C’ Sqn 2 DY followed. HQ 153 Inf Bde moved North to the Semenerium 252379. No opposition was met and by 1200 hrs Bde HQ, 5 BW and 5/7 Gordons were in posn and 1 Gordons were passing through 5 BW and moving on OISTERWIJK. 1400 hrs 1 Gordons reported OISTERWIJK clear of enemy. By 1500 hrs the Bde Gp was disposed as follows. 5 BW area HAAREN 2586, 1 Gordons area OISTERWIJK 2334, 5/7 Gordons area EIND 2636, Bde HQ Semenerium 252379, 144 RAC beside Bde HQ, 'C' Sqn 2 DY area RAAM 2638.
	28		At 1000 hrs the Bde Comd was called to conference at HQ 7 Armd Div where he met the GOC of 51 (H) and 7 Armd Divs. 7 Armd Div was held up in area LOON OP ZAND 1539 by determined inf and a tk opposition. 152 and 153 Bdes were ordered to pass through 7 Armd Div to clear the woods to the North of LOON OP ZAND and occupy area KAATSHEUVEL 1343 and SPRANG 1444.
	28		At 1200 hrs the Bde Comd held an 'O' Gp at HQ 152 Bde. 1 Gordons commenced their adv on LOON OP ZAND from the East at 1600 hrs and by 1800 hrs had occupied the village without much trouble. Patrols to ST PAULS at 149504 met considerable opposition. About this time, news came from Div HQ that 5 Camerons would not be attacking through the woods to the rd at ST PAULS as the trees were too dense to allow free movement. Consequently 5 BW was ordered to attack in two stages, first taking ST PAULS and OXFORD CIRCES and second adv before first light 29 Nov to the area of HORST 1443.
	28		Codewords for Op “Plunge” issued and att as Appx “OO”.	Codewords for Op “Plunge” att as Appx “OO”.
	28		AF.W.3008/9 att as Appx "PP".	AF.W.3008/9 att as Appx "PP"
193377	29		By 0140 hrs 5 BW had two coys est areas 149405 151406 and a third coy area 149408. The situation appeared quiet and 5 BW had not had much trouble in reaching this point. At 0500 hrs about one pl of enemy cut the 5 BW axis area 150404 but they were cleared up by a tp of tks and by 0830 hrs 5 BW were adv on their final objective area HORST 1443. At 0400 hrs 5/7 Gordons had commenced to move up through LOON OP ZAND but the bn missed its way in the dark and the leading coy did not arrive in the area of X tracks 145423 until 0830 hrs. At 1000 hrs OC 5/7 Gordons made his way on foot to the edge of the wood 139428 to observe the village of KAATSHEUVEL 1343. No enemy movement was seen and a fighting patrol was sent into the village to see if in fact it was unoccupied. The patrol reported X rds area 137433 clear of enemy and two coys were sent into the village straight away occupying X rds 1371433 and 138435 by 1300 hrs against only slight opposition. The remaining two coys passed through and reached X rds 132435 and 133438 by 1430 hrs. Apart from some shelling and sniping, opposition had been slight.
	29		3 Offrs and 30 OR PW were taken all from 10 Demonstration Coy of the Hermann Goering Regt. At 1600 hrs Bde HQ moved to 151405. During the night 5/7 Gordons patrolled fwd to 134444 and found the enemy gone but sounds of movement were heard from 145448 and 145437.
151405	30		A quiet night with some shelling on LOON OP ZAND. At 1000 hrs 1 Gordons passed through 5/7 Gordons in KAATSHEUVEL and adv on SPRANG 1444 which they occupied without opposition by 1230 hrs. At 1400 hrs orders were received for 153 Bde Gp to move East and take over the section of the front from excl ‘s HERTOGENBOSCH 3146 to incl the 20 Easting grid from 71 Bde of the 53 (W) Div. Bde recce parties left Bde HQ with the Bde Comd to do this but at 1500 hrs the orders were cancelled. There was to be no move for the bde gp to-day but on the 31 Oct 153 Bde was to relieve 160 Bde in the 's HERTOGENBOSCH area. Bde HQ moved to the convent in LOON OP ZAND at 1600 hrs. OO No. 7 issued and att as Appx “QQ”.	OO No. 7 att as Appx “QQ”
LOON OP ZAND	31		At 0930 hrs the Bde Comd held a conference at Bde HQ and gave orders for the take over of the 160 Bde area. The Bde Comd and Bde Gp recce parties left at 1000 hrs to recce the new area. At 1400 hrs the 1 Gordons leading vehs arrived in ‘s HERTOGENBOSCH followed by Bde HQ, 5 BW and 5/7 Gordons. The take over of 1 Gordons from 4 Welch was complete by 1500 hrs and of 5 BW from 1/5 Welch by 1700 hrs. Comd of the sector then passed to HQ 153 Bde at 1830 hrs. 5/7 Gordons relieved the 2 Mons at 2200 hrs. The take over went without incident and by 2359 hrs the bde gp was disposed as per trace att as Appx “RR”.	Trace att as Appx “RR”

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Source: Jeroen Koppes, TracesOfWar.com, transcribing: Hans Houterman.

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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