On 8th February 1945 British and Canadian troops launched a new offensive from south-west of Nijmegen towards the Reichswald Forest in Germany – Operation Veritable.
WAR DIARY of 52nd (Lowland) Recce Regt RAC February 1945
– Lt Col J.B.A. Hankey OBE
Date 8th Place BOXMEER 7640 Weather - Fine
‘Take over from 3 Recce Regiment completed by 1700 hrs, with under command 8 Canadian Recce Regiment, 1 Platoon Medium Machine Gun 7 Mans, and 1 Platoon 4.2 mortars, 7 Mens, also 2 & 3 Companies of Dutch Forces. In support 1st Mountain Regiment, Royal Artillery.’
“We were taking over a stretch of the Maas line from 3rd Recce but we were unable to take over their exact location because there were now no roads …Such buildings as they had occupied were now islands in a sea of mud. The morning the advance party arrived they heard at dawn the opening barrage of ‘Operation Veritable’ “.
(From ‘Time Spent or The History of the 52nd-Lowland-Divisional Reconnaissance Regiment January 1941-October 1945’ by Trevor D.W.Whitfield, published by Mountain 1946 and the War Diary of the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)
Dick’s 1945 diary for February:
8 Thurs & 9 Fri – Easy time with new vehicles. Nothing much doing.
11 Sun – as previously
Field Service Address card written 8th Feb 1945
Don Aiken was pleased with the new vehicles:
"I was at last able to fully take up my role as a 'Driver/Operator' rather than a 'Gunner/Operator' because the Scout-cars in this Regt. were Daimlers, not Humbers, and the light armoured cars were manned only by two men, the Commander and the Driver/Radio Operator. These were wonderful vehicles, highly maneuverable, and fitted with pre-select gears and the ability to change gear whilst in reverse selection; theoretically allowing the car to go as fast in reverse as forwards."
(Extract republished from 'From the breakout to the Rhine' by kind permission of Don Aiken)
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