| 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: February 1944 | (Erase heading not required). | Commanding Officer: Lt Col A.D. Taylor, MC. |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FELTON | 22 | At first light the Regiment moved up again into the area of WOLD BARN. At about 0930 hrs the enemy tks and inf began to appear over the skyline between KEMP HOWE 4385 and CHERRY WOOD 4284. For about one hour and a half the enemy filled up these forward posns with Cromwell tks from his Recce Regiment, the 2nd Welsh Guards, and with the Shermans of his Armd Regiments. One Sqn of Shermans moved off to our East towards HELPERTHORPE. Enemy inf moved towards us from the South East and then dug in on a forward slope at 425877 approx. Our artillery was meanwhile shelling all enemy concentrations of tks and inf and enemy artillery was evidently shelling us. We did not open fire with our tk guns at all.Owing to heavy shell fire 'B' Sqn was made to withdraw from their posns South of WOLD BARN, but soon the shell fire ceased and they were abled to return to them. It appeared that the enemy armd bde had Tnot as yet seen our posns which was remarkable as enemy O.Ps were observing us. The enemy armour came further and further down towards us and by about 1200 hrs there was the best part of the Guards Armd Bde formed up, chiefly on the North side of CROOM DALE PLANTATION 4186 and BELLE VUE COTTAGES 4386. Eventually, the 2nd Coldstream Guards advanced towards our posns and 'B' and 'C' Sqns opened fire. It is probable that about 20 enemy tks were put out of action, but it was a pity that more of the 28 Armd Bde could not bring fire to bear at the same time. The Regiment then withdrew through the minefield at WEST LUTTON to the 'Tiger' posns of the day before. During this withdrawal the Recce Sqn remained in fire posns on the Eastern flank of the WOLD BARN posn and probably accounted for some more enemy tks. When the Regiment was completely through, the minefield was closed. The enemy consolidated their posns and at about 1600 hrs mounted an inf attack on WEST LUTTON under cover of smoke. This attack was successful, but would probably been pushed back had we been allowed to counter attack. Enemy tks were pushed through the gap but 28 Armd Bde were able to move into fire posns and the 15th/19th Hussars and 1st Five and Forfar Yeomanry fired at them in the low ground North of EAST LUTTON. The 28 Armd Bde then disengaged and moved to area South of GANTON 4697. RHQ,'B' Sqn, 'C' Sqn, Recce Sqn and 'A'1 Echelon harboured at WARREN HO 4694. 'A' Sqn had to harbour on the road South of GANTON because an RHQ tk got stuck on the hill. |
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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