| 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: 2nd Household Cavalry Regt. | ||
| Month and Year: September 1944 | (Erase heading not required). | Commanding Officer: Lt.Col. H. Abel Smith |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B.L.A. | 1 | Adv from VILLIERS BRETTONEUX to ARRAS. 2 HCR moved off at first light and crossed the SOMME by the bridge at CORBIE, captured the day before by D Sqn. B Sqn rt, C Sqn left, with A Sqn doing a right flank guard and linking up with the Americans. The day started with a chapter of accidents as owing to misunderstanding, new orders giving a new objective for the Gds Armd Div were not received by 2 H.C.R. till after the adv had started. Lieut Winterbottom was sent out as L.O. to pass the new orders to A and B Sqn but his scout car was shot up by friendly Thunderbolts, and all maps were burnt. It was not till 1200 hrs that the change of orders was communicated by air to the Sqn. Meanwhile B Sqn had come up against a tough proposition as they ran into an SS Battle Gp at ALBERT. An Armd car was lost and the support tp could not initially be extracted from the town - this was followed in on another route by another tp and the support tp who before long found themselves thoroughly embroiled. Capt Ward, 2 I.C. B Sqn and several O.R.s were prisoners for the day but F.F.I. and the retreat of the SS Gp left them free the next day. Capt Ward's story which tells how he started by posing as the medical officer and ended in French dungarees is most exciting. Indicidentally the M.O. lost his vehicle which was recovered intact the next day in the town. Meanwhile the rest or B Sqn had made progress by bypassing BAPAUME as far as the outskirts of ARRAS while 2 W.G. in the centre and C Sqn on the left had got right fwd ground to the objective which was the high ground to the N.W. of ARRAS. ARRAS itself was cleared with the help of the F.F.I. by 2 W.G. Along the route a deal of tpt was shot up and all the way even as far back as Div HQ enemy could be seen being hunted out of the woods and trenches by the F.F.I. and large dumps of prisoners were made in local jails where they were guarded by F.F.I. A Sqn contacted US forces and was given, together 1 Tp B Sqn the role, during the night, of watching the exits from BAPAUME. 2 HCR harboured to the NORTH of ARRAS almost on the VIMY Ridge. It was a foul wet night and one could not help casting ones mind back to the 1914-18 War when so many Household Cavalrymen had fought under so much worse conditions in the some area. RCM Jobson alone in 2 HCR had been in the same area in the last war and well remembered it. |
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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