| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 43 Div took over from Gds Armd Div the task of attempting to reach 1 Brit and the Polish Airborne Bde who had landed 21 Sept on the SOUTH bank of the NEDERIJN. C Sqn were under comd 43 Div for this operation. At first light under cover of the morning mist 2 Tps of C Sqn at intervals of ½ hour slipped through the German lines and moving first WEST and later NORTH reached the Polish Bde who were on the SOUTH bank of the river opposite 1 Brit Airborne Div. These tps were comd by Capt . Wrottesley and Lt. Young. Meanwhile C Sqn HQ following the same route ran into trouble as 4 tks and some S.P. Guns and inf had moved down to close the route. Their leading Scout C was bazookaed and they retired with difficulty under heavy but luckily inaccurate fire from the tanks. Throughout the day 43 Div tried to get out of this perimeter defence but it was not till evening that a column of 1 Sqn of tks some inf and 10 DUKWs forced its way through to reach the Poles. Unfortunately in the half light at dusk the leading Sherman engaged Lt. Young’s Tp killing the Scout Car comd. Throughout the day Capt. Wrottesley and Lt. Young's tp had provided the sole means of communication between the Airborne Forces and 2nd Army. 1 Brit Airborne Div G.1. spoke to BGS 30 Corps via C and 2 H.C.R. Regtl Com Net. Again the driving force in arranging for the armoured column to push through in the evening was definately Major Herbert O.C. "C" Sqn. Capt. Wrottesley and Lt. Young had had hard fighting throughout the day when with the Poles and had great difficulty in preventing the Poles somewhat naturally from using as tanks their armd cars and scout cars which were the sole AFVs in the perimeter. A Sqn took over the role of B Sqn and carried out protection recce towards S'HERTZOGENBOSCH. They had several brushes with enemy infantry in the very close country of this flank. Towards evening as the main Corps axis was cut near VEGHEL A Sqn were placed in support of 32 Gds Bde who were sent SOUTH to be responsible for the corps Axis as from SOUTH of VEGHEL. A Sqn therefore recced EAST rather than WEST of the main axis. B Sqn moved just NORTH of the GRAVE Bridge to be available to assist A Sqn if required and also found an escort for RASC drawing German rations at OSS. At this time what was apt to happen was that the British drew rations in the morning - Germans in the afternoon, the Germans still being apparently quite unaware that we controlled the food dump. D Sqn were in reserve close to RHQ which remained static. |
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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