| 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: October 1944 | (Erase heading not required). | Commanding Officer: Lt Col A.D. Taylor, DSO., MC. |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holland | 19 | Whilst trying to carrie out this order, three more tks were hit in area of the Southern of the orchard by enemy A/Tk guns firing from the thick country to the South and South East. There were also a considerable number of enemy Inf with Bazookas in the area. 'A' Sqn and RHQ who were now just North of the objective therefore found themselves in a rather unpleasant situation, being fired on from almost all sides by enemy A/Tk guns and from close range by enemy Inf with Bazookas. There were also a number of wounded men to be attended to from the three tks which had been hit and it was impossible to get any of the Medical half track vehs fwd to this posn. Inf support which was asked for could not be made available. It was therefore decided to get the casualties back on the back of tks and permission was granted to withdraw from this posn. 2nd Lieut. A.B. Wilson, whose first day in action it was commanding a Troop, was unfortunately killed at this stage when his tk was hit a second time while he was very gallantly trying to extricate it from the Southern end of the orchard after it had been hit there once. The Regt was succesfully withdrawn from this area and returned to the same locations in which they had been the previous night. The Regt had fought its way fwd onto its objective in the course of the day over very difficult country and against considerable enemy opposition. It is considered that at least 5 enemy A/Tk guns had been knocked out and possibly more. 11 of our tks had been hit by enemy A/Tk gun fire of which 5 had to be left out and 6 were brought back. One Medical half track veh also received a direct hit by enemy shell fire and had to be left out. A large amount of enemy shell fire had been directed against the Regt throughout the day. Considering the number of tks which had been hit, casualties were not heavy and were as follows:- Killed:- 2/Lt.A.B.Wilson, 7907484 Sgt Jackson L, of 'A' Sqn., 6298596 Tpr Mann N., 4626921 L/C Helliwall F. of 'C' Sqn. Wounded:- 4806810 Tpr Baybutt W., 7938179 L/C Galsworthy A., 14369495 Tpr Hill W., 321680 Tpr Keeler D., 7958157 Tpr Marshall R., 7919970 Cpl Sutcliffe J., 14427780 L/C Wingfield E., 7957368 Tpr Bradwell A., 14290016 Tpr Burge A., 7907478 Trp Durham W., all of 'A' Sqn. Lt. R.W. Payne., 4615776 L/C Whitwam N. of 'B' Sqn., 6201767 Cpl Shirvill W., 14426471 Tpr Simmins D. of 'C' Sqn. Major M. Pearson Commanding 'A' Sqn and Lt. M. Caroe 2nd Tp 'A' Sqn and Sgt Gibson, his Tp Sgt, had fought with great courage and distinction throughout the day. |
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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