WO 171/846 - 15-19 The King Royal Hussars - December 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: December 1944	(Erase heading not required).	Commanding Officer: Lt Col A.D. Taylor, DSO., MC.

Place	Date	Summary	Reference
Holland	1	Weather fine and clear. Regt in same locations. Recce of general area, possible posns and routes to be used in the event of counter attack carried out.
	2	Weather fine and cold. Sqns carrying out maintenance.
	3	Weather fine and cold. Church Service held in morning at RHQ.
	4	Weather cold and cloudy. Sqns carrying out minor trg. Refresher courses in wireless and gunnery for recently joined reinforcements and any others considered to need it were started.
	5	Weather wet and cold, some sleet. Nothing of ineterst to record.
	6	N.T.R.
	7	Weather very wet. Roads and tracks to RHQ and all Sqns becoming increasingly bad.
	8	N.T.R.
	9	N.T.R.
	10	Maps:- Eastern Holland 1/25000 Sheet 4502.
	10	Weather fair, occasional showers. Chruch Service at RHQ at 1130hrs. In the afternoon RHQ moved into two houses on the road at 885189 owing to the very bad state of the track up to their old location.
	11	Weather fair after a very wet night. 2nd Tp 'A' Sqn carried out minor trg with P1 of 3 Mons in area 7919.
	12	Weather wet and overcast. N.T.R.
	13	Cloudy morning turned to rain in afternoon. 2nd Tp 'A' Sqn again carried out minor trg with 3 Mons.
	14	Slight frost early morning, fine clear day. C.O. with O.C. 'A' Sqn and Lt. C.C. Egerton carried out recce with Bde Comd for demonstration of Inf - Tk co-operation on P1-Tp level, to students of 159 Bde School now running in area West of SCHADIJK approx 7919.
Holland	15	Maps:- Belgium and NE France 1/100000 Sheet 4, France and Belgium 1/50000 Sheets 27 & 37 & 48.
	15	Frost during night, fine clear frosty morning, turned to dull afternoon. Information received during the day that 11 Armd Div, less 29 Armd Bde, with under comd 4 Armd Bde was to move on the 17th and take over from 53(W)Div sector from ROERMOND 7790 to MAESEYCK 6379. Recce parties to recce area the following day.
	16	A fine frosty day. 2nd in comd and recce parties from Sqns went to recce new area in area KELPEN 6694. C.O. attended O Gp at 159 Bde HQ at 0930hrs, about move to new area and posns to take up and role in new area. 11 Armd Div with under comd 4 Armd Bde was to hold sector from incl MAESEYCK 6379 to rly from bridge over the R.MAAS 7793 running West to WEERT 5896. 4 Armd Bde with u/c Inns of Court Regt to be on the right, 159 If Bde on the left. Inter-Bde boundary - canal running from junc with R.MAAS 7186 to rly bridge 6495. Regt to revert to comd 11 Armd Div at 0600hrs the following day and to be positioned in area KELPEN as Div reserve. Present sector handed over on this night and on the previous night to units of 185 Bde of 3(Brit)Div. Sqns handing over and preparing to move.
	17	Maps:- Belgium and NE France 1/100000 Sheet 4. France and Belgium 1/50000 Sheets 27 & 37. E. Holland 1/25000 Sheet 4502.
	17	A wet day. Regt moved at rear of 159 Inf Bde Gp in order of march 'A' 'HQ' 'C' 'B'. Bde start point - X roads 832202, head of Regt to pass S.P. at 1045hrs, route VENRAY - DEURNE - HELMOND - Canal rd to NEDERWEERT 6100 - KELPEN. Move went very well without incident. In new area Sqns located as follows:- RHQ at station 662952, 'A' Sqn in hamlet 672959, 'C' Sqn 698945, 'B' Sqn at OLER 668923. Owing to nature of the ground and the availability of accommodation, Regt was positioned right on the northern edge of the Div area and in fact was largely North of the rly in the area of the Div on our left - 15(S)Div.
	18	C.O. and Sqn Ldrs carried out recce of the 159 Bde sector. Sqns doing maintenance.
	19	Further recce's carried out. Sqns still on maintenance. Owing to poor accommodation in their present posn, 'B' Sqn moved to VOSJES 701949. Very foggy, visibility over front very limited.
	20	Still foggy and visibility bad. N.T.R.	½
Holland	21	Sahagun Day. A fine day. The normal programme for this day was able to be carried out. Throughout the morning very successful sports were held in the field just SW of the X rds 662941. An Inter-Troo Basket Ball Competition was held which was won by Hq Tp 'C' Sqn. An Inter-Sqn Football Competition was won by 'HQ' Sqn. Cross country run which in fact, owing to the risk of mines, was run down the road, for a distance of 3½ miles was won by Cpl Howard 'A' Sqn and this Sqn also won the team event. The Inter-Sqn Tug of War was won by 'C' Sqn, and the Sgts beat the Officers in their annual Football match by 2 goals to 1. Sqns all had excellent dinners, to provide which Sqn cooks had made great and very successful efforts, and in the evening all Sqns held Smoking Concerts and the Sgts Mess as usual entertained the Officers and others until the small hours of the morning. In general a most enjoyable and successful Sahagun Day was celebrated considering the conditions and accommodation available.
	22	Sqns carrying out maintenance, minor trg and continuing to recce suitable posns to take up and routes to reach these in event of any enemy attack into this sector.
	23	Maps:- France and Belgium 1/50000 Sheets 27 and 37. France and Belgium 1/25000 Sheet 37.
	23	Sqns continuing as on previous day. C.O. carries out recce with Comd 159 Inf Bde to consider possibility of carrying out shoots on certain objects on and across the river. Principle amongst these were the weir over the MAAS at 733871, enemy posns around the lock at 733880, enemy posns in and around OOL 7589 and enemy posns just over the bridge on the road leading into ROERMOND 775003. C.O. after carrying out careful recce's of these during the afternoon decided that none of them were practicable, owing to the nature of the ground and difficulty of getting tks into a posn from which they could bring effective fire to bear on these places, with the exception of OOL. It was arranged that 'B' Sqn should carry out a shoot on this place the following day. Arrangements also made during the day for Recce Tp, streghtened by a certain number of other men of 'HQ' Sqn to take over a posn about Cross Rds 751920 in the sector at present occupied by 1st Herefords in order to assist them to hold their long front more adequately. This Tp to take over their posn the following day and come under comd 'A'Coy 1st Herefords.
	24	A hard frost overnight, contd to freeze most of the day. Froggy again, but cleared a little later in the day.O.C. 'B' Sqn took up posn as O.P. before daylight in the house 738898. One Tp of 'B' Sqn and two 95mm tks from FHQ took up firing posns in the sand dunes about 734907 in order to carry out shoot on OOL area. Owing to the bad visibility no shoot could take place until about 1500hrs. Around this time a large number of shells were put into the area but nothing came back. In the afternoon, Recce Tp under comd Lt. Sparrow, took over its posn in 1st Herefords sector.
Holland	25	A very hard frost, very cold but lovely still, bright sunny day. Regt1 Church Service held in the large barn at RHQ at 1100hrs. This was very well attended and was taken by the Rev. J.Du B. Lance, Chaplain to Inns of Court Regt. Commanding Officer visited all Sqn dinners which were again very good. After this a quiet an uneventful Christmas took place.
	26	Another loverly frosty day with very hard frost. N.T.R.
	27	Maps:- NE France and Belgium 1/100000 Sheet 4.
	27	Cold, bright and frosty day. Capt. G.W. Luttrell - Gunnery Officer, went over to recce A/Tk ranges in area LOMMEL 3095 and make arrangements to establisch a Regt1 School for gunnery and mines in the area close to the ranges.
	28	Weather dull and foggy. 11 Tks and the men of one Tp from each Sqn went over to LOMMEL to shoot on the ranges the following day. These were accommodated for the night at a place which Capt. Luttrell had found for the Regt1 Gunnery School, located at 272936.
	29	Weather still rather dull and foggy and light not very good for shooting. Shooting was delayed by damage to the bridge over the canal at 308977 which necessitated the tks doing a long detour to get to the ranges, which were located at approx 290982 firing in a Notherly direction. These ranges consist of canvas targets at ranges varying from 800 to 1400 yds with an additional number of small targets for engagement with Besa. Shooting eventually began about 1230hrs and contd till 1515hrs when the fog came down again and blotted out the targets. During this time one Tp from each Sqn was well excercised in firing 75mm and 17 Pdr. The shooting on the whole was quite good. The Tps which had fired returned to their normal locations after firing and one more Tp from each Sqn came over during the afternoon to fire the following day.
	30	Weather fine and bright. The light on the range was very good and a very good and valuable day's shooting took place. Shooting was again quite good. The tks remained at the Gunnery School for further shooting to take place the following week.
	31	Another bright, clear, frost day. N.T.R.
	31	During the course of this month news was received of the following awards to the Regt. M.C's:- (1) Major H. Pearson for gallantry at HELENA HOEVE on 19 Oct. 44. (2) Capt. C.N. Weatherby for ops in area NUNEN 4822 on Sept. 21st whilst under comd 101 U.S.Airborne Div. (3) Capt. M. Jennings for gallantry during the adv to YSSELSTEYN on 17th Oct 44. (4) Lt. M. Roderick for gallantry in the ops in the bridge head over the MEUSE-ESCAUT canal on 14th Sept 44. (5) Lt. T.D. Seigne for gallantry in ops in area HASSELT on 10 Sept 44. (6) Lt. C.C. Egerton for gallantry in the ops about NUNEN 4822 on 21st Sept 44 and also the ops South of LIESSEL 6714 on 24th Sept 44. M.M's. (1) Sgt Speakman F. for gallantry in the op at BROEKHUIZEN and KASTEEL on 30th Nov 44. (2) Cpl. Lucas for gallantry in the op about ZONDHOVEN on 10th Sept and at LACTARIA on 27th Sept 44.(3) Tpr Fisher for gallantry whilst driving the ambulance ½ track in the op of 30th Nov 44, C-in-Cs Certificate for Outstanding Good Service:- (1) Sgt King, (2) Sgt Forward.

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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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