Dick’s 1945 diary for March:
19th Fri – Kelvaer (Kevelaer*?) Staging Camp.
*between the Rhine and Maas rivers, north of Geldern.
WAR DIARY of 52nd (Lowland) Recce Regt RAC March 1945
– Lt Col J.B.A. Hankey OBE
Date 19th Place MENZELEN: 2 casualties Weather – Fine
Strength - 905 men, 188 tanks/armoured cars/guns
‘ ‘B’ & ‘C’ Squadrons move to new areas i.e. ‘B’ at 955335. ‘C’ at 023274.’ Still shelling in area.
‘From 19-23rd ‘B’ & ‘C’ Squadron preparing staging area for incoming troops in connection with Operation Plunder.’
‘A’ Squadron meanwhile, were training for a special role with 1st Commando Brigade under Brigadier Derek Mills-Roberts.
(From the War Diary of the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset and ‘The Fighting Fifty-Second Recce’ by Carl Shilleto, Eskdale Publishing 2001.)
Meanwhile Sandy Handley had had problems with his teeth:
"Shortly, in March ’45 we moved up to the River Rhine. I had a bad toothache. I reported sick and went on a small Daimler scout car, known as a Dingo, back to Corps HQ for an Army Field Dentist. This was a journey of 20 miles. As usual I wasn’t looking forward to seeing the Dentist (compared with facing Jerry). However, I needn’t have worried. I had the tooth extracted (no pain). I was relieved to get rid of the ache.
We returned to our Unit and we were told we were moving up the Rhine’s banks. Some of the armoured cars came under the orders of the 15th Scottish Division."
(From Ex Trooper S Handley’s ‘61 Recce - Memories of Normandy etc 1944 – 1945’, unpublished.)
Recent Comments