WO 171/1334 - 2 Lincolnshire Regiment - October 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: 2nd Bn The Lincolnshire Regt.
Month and Year: October 1944	(Erase heading not required).	Commanding Officer: Lt.Col. C.L. Firbank

Place	Date	Hour	Summary	Reference
	14	0600	"A "and "B" Coys plus forward command group moved forward and took up positions in area 7431 followed later by "C" and "D"Coys and reamainder of Bn HQ. During the night 13/14 "B"Coy were moved to the rear of the wood held by the RUR with the intention of moving to the forward edge of the wood at 753299 and sending out at 600 hours a Recce patrol to find out if (a) the stream was passable to tanks and (b) if the North Easthern corner of wood to the South was held by the enemy. Guides from the 2 RUR were late and took much longer to guiude the Coy through the wood than had been allowed for. Consequently it was almost 700 hours and daylight by the time the Coy reached the forward edge of the wood and the patrol was cancelled. H hour was to have been 700 but was postponed until 730. At 730 the Coy crossed the start line which was the forward edge of the wood occupied by the RUR. Order of advance was 12 Platoon left 11 Platoon right and 10 Platoon behind 12 Platoon and Coy HQ behind 11 Platoon. The Coy advanced under a 10 minute concentration of Arty. Before the Coy had advanced 100 yards the enemy opened fire from a track about another 100 yards ahead. The advance continued and the track cleared of the enemy. This yeilded about 10 prisoners and a few dead. As soon as the prisoners were clear , enemy DF came down on the Coy and four or five MGs opened fire from the left flank. 12 Platoon were ordered to advance uner covering fire from 10 Platoon but in so doing half of their number . The 2IC of Coy went back to the start line to the gunners OP to bring down fire on the houses to the left of the Coy but the rounds fell short and were not of much assistance. The Coy Comd decided that to advance would be a great loss and so under cover of smoke he withdraw his Coy to the area of the two Coys of RUR and dug in. During this part of the action the Coy lost Lt Burton (wounded) and 34 ORs killed or wounded. It was decided to launch an attack by the battalion and plans were formulated accordingly.The Commanding Officer held his "O" group at 1300 hiurs and following his orders Coy Comds uner the Commanding Officer made a quick recce of the ground. The order of the battle was "D"Coy left- "A"Coy right - Advanced BN HQ and "B"Coy following "D"Coy and "C" Coy following "A"Coy. During this recce several of the enemy were seen moving in the area of the stream in front of the wood. It was appreciated that the enemy holding the Battalion objective were probably a Coy strong and that the most troublesome feature of the defence would be the DF. H hour was fixed 1530 hours and 1515 hours the Battalion moved to the FUP which was just behind the start line . At 1530 hours the Battalion supported by Arty and a Sqn of tanks crossed the start line. Immediatly the Battalion came into the open it was subjected to intense Arty and Mortar fire but in spite of heavy casualties pressed steadily on to the objective. During the advance "D"Coy located two Spandaus at 743294 and these were succesfully dealt with by 17 Platoon who killed the enemy. Another MG was located in area 754294 and supporting fire from tanks was directed against this position until the enemy ceased fire. On reaching the objective "D"Coy re-organised in area 752283. At 'Stand To'in the evening (1700 hours) one Platoon was pushing forward and dug in on the forward edge of the wood. Soon after "C"Coy had consolidated their position a number of enemy were seen trying to escape from the rear of the wood. Immediately fire was brought to bear on them and a number of casualties were inflicted. During this action the Battalion suffered very heavy casualties, our losses being: -Killed- Major Dawson, Major Smith and Capt Sutton. Died of Wounds - Capt Mander. Wounded - Lt Burton, Lt. Pogson, Lt Munton and Capt Curnow who refused to be evacuated.

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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