Date of birth:

(Gillingham/Dorsetshire, England)

Date of death:

November 6th, 1944 (Boven-Leeuwen/Gelderland, the Netherlands)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Graves Roman Catholic Churchyard Puiflijk
Grave: 3.

Service number:

6857437

Nationality:

British

Leonard Phillip Ewin was born in Gillingham, Dorsetshire, the United Kingdom, as son of Leonard Phillip and Louisa Ewin. There is little information known about his youth and his years before World War II. It is known that at some time he married with Lilian Florence Ewin. Leonard served during the war with the 12th (2 Bn. The Queen’s Westminsters) Battalion, The Kings Royal Rifle Corps. It is unclear when he was assigned to that unit and when he was promoted to the rank of Corporal. However, it is likely he served with the 12th Battalion since early 1944.

That unit went through a period of intensive training during the first five months of 1944 in England. The 12th Battalion landed on the 15th June as part of the 8th Armoured Brigade in Normandy. Together with the 49th (West Riding) Division (Polar Bears), Leonard’s battalion took part in the attack near Rauray following at Caumont and Robin. Then the unit was part of the battles at Falaise and Danvou, south of Caen. In late August, when the battle for Normandy was over, the battalion advanced in northernly direction towards Beauvais. After crossing the Somme river, a fierce battle occurred in Doullens (North France). The unit then advanced with a considerable speed via Lille to Brussels and Aerschot (Belgium). Numerous prisoners were taken by the battalion during that advance.

From 17th September 1944, the unit was part of the ground offensive of Operation Market Garden. Attached with a squadron of tanks, the battalion led the 43rd Division, that advanced with the Guards Armoured Division. After securing the eastern flank of Eindhoven, the 12th Battalion pushed to Nijmegen where it would be involved in heavy fighting until early October 1944. Then the battalion was relieved and went into reserve. It was in that period, that our Corporal arrived with a part of the 12th (2 Bn. The Queen’s Westminsters) Battalion, The Kings Royal Rifle Corps, in Puiflijk in the Land of Maas and Waal.

German forces had retreated to the northside of the Waal river as of 20 September 1944. Since then they regularly sent patrols by boat across the river into the Land of Maas and Waal, for reconnaissance or revenge missions. For example on the 6th October an assault was executed on the villages of Beneden- and Boven-Leeuwen, where 43 houses at and along the dike were torched by German soldiers. In that same night two Dutch soldiers of the Princess Irene Brigade were killed in Boven-Leeuwen while they walked into an ambush of likely the same German patrol.

A month later, on the 6th of November, again, a German patrol crossed the Waal river near Boven-Leeuwen. It probably encountered an English patrol on the dike near that village. In the following gunfight Leonard was fatally hit. Corporal Leonard Phillip Ewin died, only 28 years of age.
He is buried at the Roman Catholic graveyard in Puiflijk, Druten municipality, grave 3.

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• Photo 1: Arjan Vrieze
• - Corporal Leonard Phillip Ewin | War Casualty Details 2647915 | CWGC
  - Archief Herdenkingscomité 4 mei Puiflijk
  - https://www.cwgc.org/ExportCasualtySearch/?Regimen...
  - http://www.krrcassociation.com/index.php/history/14-second-world-war/49-north-west-europe-1944
  - The Queen's Westminsters Rifles | Military Wiki | Fandom
  

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