Sword Beach to Bremen., A Veterans tale. Sapper

Hello once more to all the forum members. First may I take this opportunity to thank Otto for the work he has put in on his site. Thanks Otto! You are a Gentleman! You even managed to make my photo look good! AH, what it was to be young. Sadly that was a long time ago.

To continue this record of the Third British Infantry Division’s journey, from Sword Beach to Bremen, If every one in the Forum is happy, I shall now refer to letters sent me by comrades, and by information from the late Captain M. from my Company. A much respected and Valiant officer. This will be interspersed with my progress into civilian life, and what happened along the way. I do hope that you will find the rest of this story interesting.

The Royal Engineers, the Field Companies. Had a wonderful “Esprit de corps” For we were all “Gentlemen of the Royal Engineers” A real band of Brothers. Discipline in the British army was good, but we never forget this maxim “Once a Sapper. Always a Sapper” One other detail, while I am waffling away. I would like to put on record my appreciation of our Company officers. A courageous and dedicated team, they never asked anyone to take on any task, no matter how dangerous, that they would not do, they always lead. I thought that our officers deserved recognition, for there were many deeds of great bravery and courage that went un-noticed.
Even so, the RE had the most decorations in the Companies of Montie’s Ironsides”

Now friends, I must stop this waffling, and carry on with the story;
The Elizabethan Manor House.
Always made me Welcome.
Now came the most pleasant period of my time in Hospital, I had been sent to this old Manor House previous to having the bone graft with the express purpose of building me for the operation, after, I was taken back there again as a convalescent home.

This old Manor house in the Woodford Valley North of Salisbury, a haven of peace and tranquility, this beautiful old Elizabethan Manor House had the extraordinary ability of making you feel welcome as soon as you entered its portals, (still does, but more of that later) Rolling lawns with the river Avon running through the garden, a beautiful garden. Trout breeding ponds, even in war time. Lady Janet was the owner and the commandant (The Cunard shipping line family, I believe) looked after us and made our life there as pleasant as possible, she had made a little club house for us where we could go in the evenings, in it they served beer and drinks, the food was excellent. Strawberries and Cream. Mushrooms on toast, would you believe.

In May time it was just perfect, try to imagine what it was like for those of us who had returned from the war, with the scream of shell and mortar explosion. All the noises of war, then to find ourselves in this beautiful country manor where the loudest noise one could hear was the singing of the birds in the garden. Nearby was an orphanage and the men were given the job of helping look after the children, once a week in the afternoon. Toddlers, they enjoyed having men look after them and I am sure it had a beneficial effect on us.

Back and forth between Shaftesbury and the Manor House for treatment, it was now nine months since entering Hospital, unfortunately a good deal more time was to pass before I could get back into some sort of normal living. The Major had fixed me up with a caliper fixed to the bottom of my army boots and the weight suspended on my groin, he did not want me to put weight on my legs for six months, it got me about but! Goodness, it got very sore indeed. In the event, I made quite a brave sight hobbling about with my sticks and my caliper. The peace and tranquility that Lady Janet and the old Manor House gave me was beyond price.

For many years after, I had a constant recurring dream, where I would stand on the steps of that old House and look out over the meadow and the trees beyond, the dream was always the same, and always crystal clear.
Back to war shortly.
Sapper.

 

Hello Sapper Brian!

please excuse my delay in thanking and answering your answers to me. I had hoped to have some more information available at this time to post.

Thank you VERY much for your interesting answers. They certainly helped. I will see if I can get details about sapper Davies's death through other sources. It is very understandable that through the 'fog of war' things were/will be unclear and go unrecorded. For us (amateur) researchers it is a pity 'so little' was recorded. But it is obvious people had a lot of other things on their minds at the time. Alsao understandable that smaller units from your Coy were all over the place all the time. yet, there is a challange to find out as much as we can!

I know Weert a little bit as I did some NCO training there (is that also a British term?). It was also the place where you made a Dutch boy a rich man, I remember....

Reason I asked about the Molenbeek is because I found the following picture in the book THANK GOD AND THE INFANTRY by John Lincoln. He was an officer with the Royal Norfolks Regiment, which was heavily involved in the fighting for Venray and Overloon. The battles are graphically described in this book. The Molenbeek is mentioned often, as well as the fighting over it and the mining! One platoon crossed it and a field and ordered some German stretcher-bearers that they had taken prisoner to take some wounded Norfolks back to the rear, to something called RAP. This was a Field Dressing Station? Anyway, the Germans refused and the British learned they just fought their way through a minefield without setting a single one off!

Many of these kind of stories in the book...also about the times it didn't go as well. Again, the following picture is of the overturned bridging tank near the Molenbeek. Maybe it brings back memories.

OK, Linking to my server doesn't seem to work anymore. I will get my people on it....pic will be available asap.

I checked the address you gave of Byonic Bill and he is still listed in the telephonebook. I wanted to give him a call but haven't found the time yet. Hopefully will do so this weekend.

I hope to be in the Venray area either this month or next, so I will get you some pictures/cards to show you what it looks like. I tried the internet but that didn't come up with any good pics. Here is the link to the official site of the Museum in Overloon though.

http://www.oorlogsmuseum-overloon.nl/

I hopeto have some more information to post on Venray/Overloon soon!

Thanks again and warm regards,

Stevin

[ 06. December 2002, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: Stevin Oudshoorn ]

 

HI Stevin. Oh yes, NCO is a British term, None commissioned officer. Sergeant Corporal. anything below an officer. The RAP is the "Regimental aid post"
I do have a Video about Overloon and Venraij, with some pictures of that time it was given to me by an old friend and a member of the "Market Garden Association" like myself. The Video is old and a bit blurred, but it does serve to remind us of those times.

Have you ever been to the Escaut canal at Lille St Hubert.Its such a long time ago, but I think that was the name of the place where we forced a crossing at night.

The Molen Beek for the REs was a particular nasty bit of work and those who fought there will never forget that place. My description hardly conveys just what it was like. IT was terrible. mines everywhere with heavy fire in the pouring rain and muddy conditions.

I have been trying for some time to find out where Lt Cadwallader R.E. is buried in Holland. He died while on recce the day before we assaulted the canal crossing, Suddenly out of the blue and without my asking, I have just had an E Mail from the war graves commisssion telling me he is buried at Leopoldsburg war
cemetery. plot IV. Row B. Grave 1 I shall attempt to locate his family.

Be careful if you get in touch with my old friend Byonic Bill his health has not been to good in recent years.
Weert! The Dutch folk were so pleased to see the British. Flags appeared everywhere, But they all vanished again when they saw me preparing to blow the town front. in case of an armoured attack.

I have in my possession a book entitled. Assault Division. by a man named Scarfe? That is the history of the Third Div but it is out of print. I managed to find an old and tatty copy and paid £36 for it years ago, then looking through a book shop I found a book in fine condition for £5. so I sold the other on for half what I paid for it. One thing has always puzzled me. Did that little boy remember the soldier that poured those cents from a two and a half Guilder note into his hat? I also have several old war time documents refering to the Field Companies history.
Best Regards.take Care.
Brian

 

Just a quick word.
The picture in my profile.Over my shoulder, and behind me is the entrance to Poole harbour. and away in the far distant top right is Bournemouth. Just behind is the Purbeck Island heathland.
Sapper.

 

Hi Otto.
What a good picture, that will enable the forum to have a look at the old Veteran.
You really are a gentleman. Thanks mate!.
Brian.

 

Hello Friends.
With my old friend Dick Harris’s departure for good, then my first wounding, now my second wounding and departure for good, there only remained the late Captain Edwards to continue the story. What follows, is an intermingled story of my progress, and the Captains History of the Final days of the war in North West Europe. The Victory over the evil of the Nazi regime, and the hope that at last we shall have peace, followed by the recovery from the ravages of war.

Winter on the Maas River Line, with 246.Field Co R.E.

The work of tracing and marking minefields in the area had to go on and five sappers were wounded by Schu mines during this work. The area was heavily infected with mines and while we were in this camp, training courses were held, and another 2400 Mk.V mines had to be laid in defences along the front of the 3rd. Recce Regiment, east and northeast of Overloon. In November . We had, also, to refresh our knowledge of our automatic weapons and the use of the PIAT, Projector Infantry Anti-tank. During this training Lance Sergeant Gallagher, our Instructor in the use of the PIAT, was killed in a firing accident and we lost a determined and efficient NCO, remembered for his initiative in getting ashore on D Day, on which day his brother had been killed.

Lieut. R. A. Fields RE and Sergeant J. G. Davies were posted from the Company, to serve as Instructors at the Royal Engineers Training School on the Belgian coast on October 28th. They had both served without a break since we landed on June 6th., a long and exhausting period and I am sure that they welcomed the change. Lieut. John Sparkes RE was posted to the Coy. from HQRE to bring us up to strength again. Meanwhile 250 more A/Tk. mines were laid, and the RE Dog Platoon came to assist us in the detection of mines, particularly the “schumines”.
These mines were small, made of wood, and very difficult to detect as they could not be picked up by our mine detectors. Many ideas were tried to aid movement In dangerous areas. Some of the experimental devices were shown to Air Vice Marshall Tedder and the Corps Commanders during a Demonstration on the 8th. of November.
(Remember the article, The garden Roller man)

Fir Track soon required a further extension of 1200 yards southwards, and this work was carried out during the period 11th to the 15th. November, whilst mine clearance continued.

The Division was now occupying an area along the River Maas and as part of our infantry training our CRE, Lt. Col. R. W. Urquhart RE arranged to put the Company into the line to form a garrison at Vortum, between the 16th. and 19th. November. Half of the Company at a time remained there for a period of 24. hours. The other half stayed out on the banks of the Maas as standing patrols. Anti personnel minefields were laid around the positions and these had to be relaid from time to time because of the wastage by wandering cows and pigs.

No direct contact was made with the enemy, there was a continuous exchange of artillery fire and in one case our OC and the recce party he was with came under small
arms fire during a daylight patrol. Our only casualty, in fact, was one sapper wounded
by one of our own Ap mines. Colonel Urquhart always had instilled into his Sappers a
special pride, an example of which was an occasion near the Chateau de La Londe when I was about to take out a mine laying party, at night, into “No man’s land” “Tiger” asked me “have you any infantry protection” and when I replied in the negative, he asked me what I proposed to do should we be attacked during the work. I replied that we were prepared to fight back, if necessary, rather than withdraw. No other answer would have been acceptable to him anyway, and he reaffirmed his view that “ a Sapper is a fighting soldier first and Sapper second”.

On the Company’s return from Vortum, the ever necessary maintenance was applied to the roads, and Fir Track was checked over while preparations were being made for a 9 Brigade attack beyond Schoor. The Attack started on November 23rd but the enemy was found to have pulled back out of their positions the night before. Immediately we started on maintaining, tank routes forward, and constructed a 40 foot SS Bailey bridge on the Venraij to Horst road at Schoor Bridge. Here a number of trees, which were felled on the enemy side of the bridge, had to be cleared, and the site was found to be heavily mined with “R” and “Schu” mines. One of our sappers was wounded on a “Schu” mine. The Bridge was opened to traffic at 1710 hours in spite of these difficulties, and elements of the Company then supported the forward movement of 8th. Brigade to Smakt, during which advance another 17 “R” mines were lifted.
Sapper Brian.

 

Hi Forum. Winter in Holland prevented any large scale actions, they would have bogged down immediately. It was now patrols and exchanges of hate by artillery fire and mortar. Reading back, I am particularly struck by the fact that I never managed to get in on these ‘easy’ tasks. We young ones seem to get the more ‘Active’ actions.

The Division’s new area along the River Maas brought a spate of activity, over 1100 British anti-personnel mines, laid by the 11th. Armoured Division around Schoor had to be lifted, and, on November 25th. a 30 foot SS Bailey bridge was built at Smakt 799320, and opened to traffic at 1215 hours.

Once again the R.E. Dog Platoon was used and they located 127 Schumines without casualties in peaceful conditions. The mined road blocks which we had laid on the eastern approaches to Venraij were now lifted, and a considerable amount of work was done to remove obstructions to the flow of water in the many “beeks” in our area. This work was done at the request of the civil drainage authorities in a effort to lower the water table before the frosts came. Before that work one only had to lift a turf to see the hole fill with water. Near Kleindorp we had 50% completed the construction of an Air op landing strip when the order was cancelled.

The enemy still held Geijsteren Castle , just ahead of us, and the position was recce’d by Major David Willison, our OC, on the night of 27th/28th.November. On the following day our Second in Command, Captain G.W.(Peter) Pope RE was posted to our 15th. Field Park Company RE as 2 i/c and Lt Edwards was promoted to Acting Captain, and Second in Command on the same day, the 28th.November. Lieut A.C.Lowe R.E. who had recently come to us a reinforcement officer and two Drivers were wounded in a Schumine field when going to the assistance of a civilian who had been wounded by a Schumine. One of our wounded, Driver Hartley, was later awarded the B.E.M for his courage in attending to the injured when he, himself, was wounded.

Following the recce of the night of November 27th. the Company provided 2 men per assault boat to support the Suffolks attack on Geijsteren Castle during the night of 29th/3Oth of November. YUK”

The 70 foot SS Bailey bridge at Meerlo was doubled up to 70 foot Double Single Class 40 during the same night under shellfire, but the job was finished at 2300 hours. During the next five days general mine clearance continued, sometimes with the assistance of the Dog Platoon RE and a number of DUTCH COLABORATORS were put to work on road maintenance on the south and east of Venraij.

Soon another task came our way, on December 2nd,in the shape of a 124, foot Kapok Assault Bridge for the Royal Ulster Regiment in their area east of Meerlo at 869258. Tank fording places were then prepared alongside ready for a 9 Brigade attack on Wanssum. Our route clearance parties accompanied the RUR, but the battalion entered Wanssum unapposed and another 60 foot Kapok assault infantry bridge was then constructed between East and West Wanssum. At the same time a heavily booby trapped wire fence was partially removed and the remainder marked off, and the deck of the bridge south of Meerlo was surfaced with fir slab wood laid on the decking.

The Company had been on operational commitments almost continuously since our last rest at the Monastery on September 25th. so that when we were, at last, relieved from responsibilities on December 5th. we were ready for rest. “Rest” In our present situation, however Is purely relative to what was going on around us, and we now commenced another intensive training programme on bridging and anti-tank mines.

The war was changing and the actions were now fluid. Gone was the tight “bridgehead” complex, gone also were the rolling hills, the hedges of the Normandy “bocage” so reminiscent of Pembrokeshire, and the sunken roads. Now it was flat, wet, cold and, to me, not very interesting country. There was little or no horizon, except for the sight of a church spire. I cannot admit to liking Holland very much. Our usual maintenance tasks, of course, remained as always. From the 5th. December to the 17th. civilian labour was used in the 9 Brigade area on the roads. The minefield clearance or marking off proceeded as usual but we removed only what was absolutely necessary. One platoon at a time was detached from these jobs to concentrate on platoon training.
(There was much going on at this time, mainly to prepare for the day when we could drive into the Fatherland)
Sapper Brian.

 

Yes sir, I am reading your posts. I know very little of the British end of D-Day and will enjoy any posting you do. Please continue.

 

Tell GrandPa he was very eloquent and should post again, maybe with a few of his Veteran stories. We will listen....

 

Good show Brian ! Handsome gent you are

thumbs up

E

 

Excellent picture Sir--showing the great gentleman that you are. Very nice scenery as well--kinda reminds me of being near the beaches here in Corpus Christi, Texas.

 

Hello Texas Fred, Carl and Erich.
Thanks for telling me how good looking I am! And for the interest in this Veterans tale. You will notice Erich, that I do not let the crutches appear in my photo. To be quite honest, I have one hell of a job getting round without my elbow crutches. Poor old soul!

Thanks Carl, it’s always interesting to hear from you. Now about Texan and the Falaise pocket, That was a very interesting little description that you put in the forum site. The odd thing about war is that a short distance away there can be a totally different battle going on. I know that the units trying to close the neck of the Falaise bag had a terrible time, and paid a very great price for the dubious privilege of having the “Honour” of doing so.

Recently, Stevin sent me a photo of the “Bridging tank” that bogged down over the Molen Beek between Overloon and Venraij. It was not so much the photo of the tank, but the atmosphere of those times that the photo was able to create. It sent little shivers down my spine and brought back many memories.

Christmas 1944 in Venraij,Holland.

We were still occupying the hutted Dutch youth SS camp near Venraij. A good meal was served as usual, we borrowed a piano from a Dutch family In Kleindorp and we managed to persuade an ENSA band and entertainment group to spend Christmas Day with us. The one large hut in the camp was heated up well by a cast iron barrack stove, and a very good concert was given. When the concert was well under way, the double skinned wooden wall of the hut was seen to be smoking a bit. Further examination then showed that there was a fire beginning to roar up between the Inner and outer skins, just behind the stove pipe, which was almost red hot. A few of the lads ripped off the outer timbers and then hosed the woodwork down, no one inside enjoying the concert, was really aware of what was happening, except that there was a cloud of steam around the stove.

After the concert, and while we were preparing to take the party of men and women back to the base, a few shell bursts could be heard in the woods around us. When they asked why this could happen so far back from the front line, we told them that we had, quite against the regulations, taken them up into the front line. They were quite proud really, that they had been so far forward, but I got a good natured ticking off from the leader for not telling him before. Christmas Day was soon gone and we were back to normal next day.
The next episode; The Luftwaffe returns with a vengeance.
Sapper Brian

 

Hello Friends. Thanks for all the messages. Continuing with the Captains record.

The New Year. 1945. The Luftwafft Comes Back.

For some time, most of the actions in which we had taken part, had been relatively free of any determined attacks by the Luftwaffe. We were quite used to aircraft overhead but they were usually ours. During most advances we took part in the RAF Typhoon aircraft would be there, circling above us in their “cab rank” ready to pounce on targets with their multiple rockets, and It was a familiar and comforting sight to witness the “Tyffies” coming down one behind the other to shoot up the enemy, when their positions were indicated by coloured smoke shells fired by our gunners to pinpoint the targets.

But on January 1st. it was, for a short time, somewhat different. In the Venraij camp that day we went about our business as usual, the CO was away In Brussels for the day, and without warning we realised that the sky was humming with aircraft. We assumed that they were ours until one came roaring down on the camp firing its cannons. I gave the order to the Bren guns AA crews to open fire, perhaps unwisely as at the same time as everyone was dashing for the nearest gun. I reached the one just outside the Company HQ first, and let off a burst of tracer at its tail. The fighter zoomed away in a wide circle and in a few moments came in again from the same direction.

I could see the cannon shells bursting on the track in a straight line for my position and in a split second I dived aside. Everyone else was firing off every weapon they could lay their hands on, pistols, rifles, Brens, the lot, but as far as I know we recorded no hits. We suffered little damage, a few holes in the already damaged huts and a couple of dents in one of the armoured bulldozers, but it gave us a welcome chance to let off a little steam. When the OC came back that evening he told us that the Germans were making a push towards our fronts, supported strongly by the Luftwaffe, and that Brussels aerodrome had been hit.
Sapper Brian.

 

Brian :

what a waste of manpower and equipment. The Luftwaffe staged this early morning attack to deal a death blow to the Allied airfields hoping to catch the Allies in a drunken stupour......nope ! The only Luftwaffe a/c that seemed to manage during this operation was the Ju 88G-1 and Ju 88G-6 night fighters that were allocated to each one of the day fighter wings for orientation purposes. As the Ju 88's banked away to return to base so they wouldn't become chicken fodder to Allied fighters, the German fighters themselves got lost. Almost a third of the wings involved attacked the wrong air bases or did not find suitable side fields to attack so therefore roads/junctions, stray MT vehicles, buildings and such were strafed. Only JG 3 was able to attack Eindhoven with success and remove themselves from the area relatively unscathed. Some of the top wing and staffel commanders of the Luftwaffe were lost during this bold assault(s).

E

 

Thank you sir, and always looking forward to your next posting(s)

 

Hi Friends. This being the time when major actions were suspended until the ground became ‘useable,’ while we waited for the thaw, all sorts of training took place. For a start, there were so many fresh and green young faces that had to be made aware of the realities of war. For, many reinforcements did not have the slightest idea of what it was all about, without the help of the experienced ‘Veteran’ nineteen year olds they would have been cannon fodder.
Bridge Training and Assault River Crossing Techniques.
Jan. 9th.16th.

For the next ten days a training camp was set up at Gassel, near Grave and we
.exercised on the following equipment:-
Bailey Pontoon Bridging.
Folding Boat Equipment.
Close Support Rafts Class 50 & 60 Rafts.
Storm Boats.
MAT Bridging.

On January the 17th. a demonstration of all of these sets of equipment was given before the Divisional Commander, the Brigade Commander and Officers of 8 Brigade. In the afternoon a Regatta was held and won by 3 Platoon. Ice and snow conditions were severe throughout this period. This was a welcome refresher for everyone because we had been concentrating mainly on short span crossings up to now, but the Rhine was ahead and we had to bring all platoons, Including reinforcements, up to our usual standard.

We continued our engineering commitments In the northern half of the Divisional area along the Maas front from January 19th. to February 8th. Back at Schoor, once again, the reinforced concrete box culvert was completed and filling brought up to the underside of the twin Baileys by February 14th. The biggest hold up to the job’s progress was the severe frost. The routine jobs of picketing the roads, drainage, haunching and potholing was left to the civilian gangs under our direction.

The corduroy surfaced “Fir Track”, now 6200 yards in length, when it became covered in snow it was “rolled”, graded and super elevated by the autopatrol graders and the surface treated with gravel when it became available. We were quite proud of our road, complete with a “Piccadilly Roundabout” and a surface capable of carrying traffic at speeds up to 40 miles an hour with light vehicles. A parallel tank track code named “Hare” was constructed from the Overloon, Oploo Road to the north of Vierlingsbeek, marked by pickets and an American bridge In Treadway equipment was strengthened to Class 40. During this work it was necessary to gap and mark our own minefield on the track’s alignment.

The Company formed a Demonstration Team to tour units of 8th. Brigade to show them methods of shoring up buildings for their defence. Three Mines Courses, each of two days duration, were arranged for the Pioneer Platoons of the infantry Battalions to train them in the new mine clearance methods and drills developed in the past months. Near Smakt a tubular scaffold observation tower 35ft.high.was made for the Royal Artillery and a road block, consisting of large concrete blocks, found locally, was prepared for the 3rd. Recce Regiment, north of Sambeek. A bridge demolition scheme for a bridge to the west of Sambeek was prepared and the stores stacked nearby.

Back to the railways, the line from Venrai station to Tienray was converted to a double width roadway using two of our angledozers and two blade graders and this completed another ¾ miles-by February 1st. The final consolidation of the track was completed on February 5th.

Lieutenant Charles Boyse, R O.1. and Major David Willison, the CO, recce’d the banks of the River Maas, during February lst. to the 3rd., in the area Grubbenvorst -Venlo to prepare the way for a planned 3 Div. crossing of the Maas on February 15th. During the night of February 4/5 Charles Boyse and two sappers went to the Maas again, launched a motor tug at Wanssum Creek and took a patrol of infantrymen across the river, opposite Marshees, bringing them back again after they completed their mission.
Sapper Brian.

 

Morning Carl and Erich. Thanks for that.

Just as I said, this was a time of waiting. lots of aggresive patrols, But soon the whole thing was due to erupt into some very violent action. Those fresh young faces that were everywhere soon to find out what war is really like. While I was still in hospital back in England.
Its always nice to hear from you.
Brian.

 

Quite welcome Sir, its always a great pleasure and experiance reading your great stories.

Also ive just sent you a private message.

Take care--Carl.