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

Place	Date	Hour	Summary	Reference
	17		A fine morning, dull afternoon, turned to rain in the evening. It was learned early in the morning that the weather was suitable for operation Market Garden and that H hour at wich the 101 US Airborne Div was to be dropped was to be 1300hrs. Z hour at which the head of Gds Armd Div, leading ground troops of 30 Corps, were to adv was later fixed at 1435hrs. Regt contd in posn in br hd, nothing of note occurred during the morning. A1 and A Echs were moved up to join the Regt in the br hd early in the morning. C.O. spoke to as many men as could be taken from fwd posns on the forthcoming operation. Regt1 Gp was to move behind HQ Gds Armd Div which was expected to be about Z + 3 hrs. The adv was preceeded by a barrage astride the road by about 500 guns and also was supported by about 12 Sqns of Typhoons and 12 Sqns of Spitfires. In spite of this considerable opposition was met and the adv did not proceed as rapidly as had been hoped. By last light Irish Gds Gp at the hd of Gds Armd Div reached and captured VALKENSWAARD. 'C' Sqn adv at Z + 5 hours and supported the Devons whose task it was to protect the flank of the Centre Line and clear the wooded country on each side as far as HOEK 389034. Here again considerable opposition was met and the objective was not reached until last light. A number of mines were met during this operation and the C.O. who was following 'C' Sqn in his tk, and 2 tks of 'C' Sqn hit mines. No casualties were suffered except by SSM Sara's crew in which no. 4915269 L/C Batchelor W was killed and no. 547646 Sgt Pearson G and no. 4616545 Tpr Dick J wounded. 'B' Sqn advanced later in support of the Dorsets who had a similar task to the Devons from a line East and West through HOEK up to VALKENSWAARD. Owing to the slow progress made by the leading tps they did not go beyond HOEK. Remainder of Regt did not move from their previous location. Some shelling into the area where RHQ and the Echelon were harboured which inflicted slight wounds on two or three men.

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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