| 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: The Hallamshire Bn. The York & Lancaster Regiment | ||
| Month and Year: December 1944 | (Erase heading not required). | Commanding Officer: Lt. Col. T. Hart Dyke |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Once more the morning was quiet. The afternoon was enlivened by an unusual incident. 11 Boche presented themselves on the dyke with a Red Cross Flag. They were reluctant to adv but eventually did so assisted by 3" mortar smoke dropped behind them. Eventually they came over, were blindfolded, and led into "A" Coy's locality where they protested that they had come to collect the four dead who had participated in the patrol on 23 Dec. This story was not credited and they were brought back. Preliminary interrogations showed that there were four genuine medical personnel among them, the remainder being ordinary inf. The whole affair was regarded with the gravest suspicion in view of the considerable recce activity on this front and more particularly in view of the persistent rumours and threats of attack. The party were sent back for further interrogation. It appeared that HUIS DE KARBRUG and the rest of the canal must be unoccupied because the enemy had been very quiet during the whole of this op. Consequently, it was decided to seize the opportunity to make good the line of the canal as an outpost posn. A sec of "D" Coy moved up to the near side of the br at HUIS DE KARBRUG and a sec of "A" Coy moved fwd to the canal in front of their posn, to est themselves in the bank between the two dykes. Snipers preceded both parties and seized both the outpost posns without difficulty. On the right however, the sec was unable to get in posn as the ice would not bear the weight of a fully equipped man. The sec took up a temporary posn South of the dyke and eventually returned to the Coy area. On the left, the sec reached the near side of the br but was unable to cross it as it came under fire from 746698 751698 and 748696. It had been intended to reinforce this section up to pl strength, but in view of this fact it was decided to leave it as a sec outpost. The Pl Comd. Lieut. Bassett going up with a telephone. At about 1900 hrs 6 enemy approached the post from the North coming down both sides of the rd. The outpost fired on them and they ran away. Later at about 1930 hrs the enemy put in an attack with about 20 men straight down the rd. Covering fire on to the br was provided by the 3 MG posts already located. The house in which the sec was located was not bullet proof and one cas was suffered. The outpost fired on the enemy who split up and started to come round the flanks of the posn. Arty DFs were fired around the posn and MMG fire was brought to bear on the rd running North from it. 4.2 Mortars were fired on the houses at 751698. This fire was not very effective, as the enemy were already too close. The C.O. gave permission for the outpost to withdraw. This they did bringing the wounded man with them. |
Source: Jeroen Koppes, TracesOfWar.com, transcribing: Hans Houterman.
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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