WO 171/846 - 15-19 The King Royal Hussars - November 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: 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
	30		Zero hour for the first operation to be 1000hrs. 'B' and 'C' Sqns and RHQ tks moved out at 0900hrs and took up posns. Attack began according to plan at 1000hrs with Inf following behind the flails.The latter blew up a considerable number of mines but with the exception of one tk which was damaged, cleared a path through these and reached the area of KASTEEL closely followed by the Inf. It appeared that the Inf had got into their objective and in fact they reported that they had done so. Supporting fire by both 'B' and 'C' Sqns was therefore ordered to stop. There was a considerabled lapse of time during which it was not clear whether the Inf Coy had reached and were clearing the objective or not and comm with their fwd troops broke down. After some time C.O., with C.O. 3 Mons, went fwd into the orchard just South of KASTEEL where it was discovered that the Inf had not in fact got into KASTEEL but had gone to ground in the orchard just to the South of it. The Coy appeared to have lost all its Officers and there was no one to lead the final assult on the objective. Any movement in front of this drew small arms fire. Shortly after this, Lieut-Colonel R. Stockley, Comd. 3 Mons was killed while very gallantly leading the men of this Coy over the bridge into the castle. The C.O. and Adjt. then blasted the castle with 75mm H.E. from very close range and a little later a P1 of the reserve Coy 3 Mons came up and got 16 prisoners out of the castle. It appreared that these were all the men that had been in it and they seamed to have suffered remarkably little damage in spite of the very heavy pounding it had been given by our own arty and our own tk guns. Meantime the second phase of the operation, the attack on the village of BROEKHUIZEN by 'D' Coy 3 Mons had begun. This Coy adv about one third of the way up the village from its Southern end but they appeared to be getting no further and once again comm with it broke down. During this action 'C' Sqn had had a good deal of trouble with gun stoppages and 'A' Sqn were therefore ordered to come out at about 1300hrs and assist the operation. As soon as 'A' Sqn arrived a further attack was put in aimed at the centre of the village of BROEKHUIZEN from KASTEEL to the West. This was to be carried out by the reserve Coy 3 Mons closely supported by 3rd Tp 'A' Sqn moving with the Inf from the West and by fire from other Tp of 'A' Sqn from the South. By last light this attack had succeeded in capturing the whole of the village and in all about 70 prisoners were taken out of the two places. These turned out to be from 6 Coy.11Bn. RO (Grassmel) Para Regt, they were all young men between the ages of 19 and 23 and were considered to be some of the best troops met for a long time. The 3rd Mons suffered very severe casualties in this operation, losing their C.O., 2 Coy Comds and their I.O. killed and approx 90 Officers and O.R.'s killed and wounded besides. In the Regt no. 554383 SSM Hague W. and his operator no. 14417181 Tpr Dewar D. 'A' Sqn and no. 406128 SSM Sara A and no. 402460 Sgt Seawright A. 'C' Sqn all received head wounds from shell splinters. No other casualties were suffered in the Regt. One tk of 'C' Sqn hit mines South of KASTEEL and was so severely damaged that it could not be recovered, and two or three other tks were hit by A.P. shot from East of the river, but did not receive serious damage. No. 7899642 Sgt Speakman F., Mech Sgt 'C' Sqn, and no.813601 Tpr Fisher A., driver of one of the medical half trach vehs were particularly noted for most excellent and gallant work during the day. Sqns all returned to their normal locations at the end of this action.

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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