| 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: September 1944 | (Erase heading not required). | Commanding Officer: Lt Col A.D. Taylor, MC. |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | A lovely Sept day. Regt still under comd 159 Inf Bde Gp providing right flank protection to 30 Corps with remainder 11 Armd Div. Moved out from leager about 1030hrs in order 'A', RHQ, 'C', 'B' in reserve. Moved up road N.E. and took up posn about junc 3977. No opposition met. 'A' Sqn took up posns to the East of rd junc facing East with 'C' Sqn to the South facing Soutwards. 'B' Sqn in reserve in area wood 3878. Recce patrols sent out in Easterly and Southerly directions. No opposition encountered.Earlier in the morning 3rd Mons and 3rd RTR had successfully attacked enemy posns in area LAAK 3474 and during morning they cleared the woods East of that place. About 1400hrs orders were received to send one Sqn to BREE 5084 to try to discover situation there and if possible sieze the bridge over the Meuse-Escaut canal East of it. 'A' Sqn and 2 patrols of recce under Lt.KF Butler and Sgt Patterson were sent on this task and the Commanding Officer went with them. 'B' Sqn were moved up to take up 'A' Sqns posn East of the road junc. 'A' Sqn advanced without incident to the South East outskirts of BREE where despite persistant civilian information that there were no Germans West of the canal, a numer of German Inf men were seen and engaged. As strict orders had been received not to get in any way seriously involved or suffer casualties, it was decided not to risk entering the town but to work round the North West of it. While doing this 2nd Tp of 'A' Sqn met enemy Inf with Bazookas and Sgt. Marlow's tk was fired on at short range and the turret penetrated by one of these. No. 14224302 Tpr Harrat A. the operator was killed and no. 6343455 Sgt. Marlow G. and no. 7961125 Tpr Fellowes F. both slightly wounded. In order to avoid becoming more deeply involved, the Sqn was then ordered not to adv further. Meantime Lt. Butler's patrol had been fired on by Inf South of the town and by a gun from his East, it was thought from the East of the canal. Shortly afterwards Sgt Patterson's patrol which was working in North Easterly direction towards the bridge reporting the blowing up of the bridge. The Sqn was then ordered to make a demonstration by firing HE from long range into the town and the area of the bridge mainly for purposes of deception. This they did and returned to the area of the rd junc 3977 at last light. The Regt harboured for the night in this area. |
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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