| 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: 2 Lincolns | ||
| Month and Year: September 1944 | (Erase heading not required). | Commanding Officer: Lt.Col. C.L. Firbank |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BELGIUM | 19 | Two sections of the carrier pl were in position on the right flank and a coy of 1 KOSB on the left to give supporting fire from near the canal bank. Two pls of each leading Coy were quickly across and D Coy came under fire from L.M.Gs on the canal bank immediately in front of them. This caused some casualties but the crew were quickly killed. The two leading Pls reached their immediate objective about 300 yards North of the canal. During the advance the Coy Comd. Maj. P.H.G. Clarke was wounded in the mouth by a hand grenade but remained with his Coy. C Coy crossed simultanously with D Coy and came under heavy M.C. fire from the right flank as they crossed the towpath on landing. This caused some casualties but they then captured their objective without further difficulty. A 20 m.m. gun was also firing from the right flank and occasional salvos of mortars fire caused casualties in all Coys. By 0100 hrs A Coy were across the river and established themselves on the right flank of C Coy., the assault boats now being pulled to and fro acrossed the canal by ropes manned by K.O.S.B. personnel. By 0130 hrs B Coy were across and passing through C Coy and at 0215 hrs Adv. Bn. HQ crossed and were established in C Coy area. There was some confused fighting on D Coy's front and a counter-attack by about 30 Germans was beaten off by small arms fire. It was not until first light that D Coy were able to contact 2 RUR on their left. As soon as the canal banks were cleared the Pioneer Pl commenced work on a Class V raft and R.E. on a IX bridge. At 0400 hrs A Coy were ordered to extend their right which was accomplished with some opposition. At first light (0600) the A/Tk guns crossed and 2 Coys of 1 KOSB crossed by the boats. For 2½ hrs after first light there was very heavy ground mist which greatly assisted the R.E. in building the bridge without enemy observation. By 1000 hrs the bridge was complete and the carriers and essential transport came over. At 1030 hrs 1 KOSB passed through and continued the advance forward. Offr. casualties:- L.T. P.M. London killed. Capt. C.G.R. Bennett, Lt. Gratian, Lt. D. C. Queskey wounded ( Lt. Queskey later died of wounds. At approx 1100 hrs hot tea was brought across. During the early afternoon the mist cleared and A Coy found that the enemy had infiltrated very closed to their forward posns. There were heavy exchanges of fire and A Coy claimed a number of enemy casualties with 2in mortar fire, but the rest of the day movement in A coy was very restricted. A section of carriers was sent forward to help on the left flank of A Coy. During the early evening 8 Br. Inf. Bde. began to attack trough A Coy's posns and by first light on 20 Sept 2 Bns had passed through A Coy's posns. For the night assault 3 searchlights supplied artificial moonlight from Z + 30 mins. This was very successful and once the crossing had started and surprise lost, greatly assisted the building of the raft and bridge. |
Source: Jeroen Koppes, TracesOfWar.com, transcribing: Theo Vervoort.
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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