75 years ago - 'The Island'

October 1944 began with 50^th Division battling German attacks on ‘the Island’ – the front-line between the river Waal (with the critical Nijmegan bridge) and the Lower Rhine either side of Arnhem where the Germans held sway after defeating the British in Operation Market Garden.  Most of 61^st Reconnaissance was still on the right flank of the ‘Garden’ corridor between Uden and Grave, at Mill, where for the first time they could look into Germany.  ‘A’ Squadron and some of ‘B’ Squadron had been split from the rest of the Regiment by attacks on the corridor and were already on ‘the Island’, under command of 69^th Brigade (the Green Howards and the East Yorks) who had received the brunt of the German offensive.  Orders were received on 1^st October for those at Mill to move to Nijmegan and Eric Brewer moved that night.

‘A’ Squadron returned to regimental control on the 2^nd October while the British and Americans (101^st Airborne) went into attack - 50^th Division’s 151^st Brigade (Durham Light Infantry)  around Haalderen and 231^st Brigade (Devons, Hampshires and Dorsets) from Bemmel, both east of Elst.

On Tuesday October 3^rd Eric Brewer (and presumably the rest of ‘B’ Squadron’s Assault Troop) were relieved and Eric was able to have a bath – the first since Bayeux!  The next day the rest of the Regiment crossed the Waal onto ‘the Island’ in Divisional reserve near Elst, although ‘A’ Squadron were given a sector to hold for the 151^st Brigade.  On Friday 6th the Regiment moved back into harbour across the Waal south of Nijmegan to carry out maintenance etc. before returning to ‘the Island’ on the 8th, although Eric Brewer continued fighting with the 101^st US Airborne at Arnhem.  The Assault troop was particularly in demand because vehicle movements were almost impossible off-road on the wet boggy ground while the roads were targeted by German bombs and artillery.  Worst was “crossing the long Nijmegen bridge because of the shelling.  You just put your foot down and got over as quickly as you could” (Eric Postles).                                               

Dick had “spent three days with a very nice family” at Nijmegan- he was harboured in an orchard but offered a room and a bed.  ‘B’ and ‘C’ Squadrons were now in forward positions on ‘the Island’, with HQ base west of Elst at Herveld – Dick sent a Field Service Postcard on the 8^th just to let Chotie know he was well.  However, the next day he found himself working as Liaison Officer with an American Colonel (presumably from 101^st Airborne) and, at last, had time to reply to Chotie. She was bemoaning leaving the comfortable farm near Cheltenham to move back to Bristol with her Ack-Ack unit and considering volunteering for work overseas.  (In September 1944 the British Army Act, which meant women serving abroad had the status of ‘camp followers’, was revoked - women in the ATS were asked to volunteer for service abroad to fill the growing need in western Europe.) Dick advised her not to:  “you’ll probably go to Egypt or somewhere and never get demobbed”.

Holding the line in the Netherlands was dangerous work. ‘C’ Squadron patrols investigating barge movements on the Waal on the 9^th were wounded and taken prisoner by the Germans.  Corporal Roy Whitehouse died that day and Trooper Maurice Raine the next day as a prisoner of war near Amsterdam - 61^st Recce lost many other men that autumn and the 101st  US Airborne had more casualties on ‘the Island’ than in the Market Garden airborne landings. 

‘A’ Squadron relieved ‘C’ at Hien (west of Herveld) on the 11^th, finding and capturing an enemy outpost the next day. Eric Brewer was at Wamel (further west on the Waal) until the 16^th, where he alternated between the Forward Outpost, directing artillery fire on the Germans, and tea at the house of a friendly girl called Annie. 

On 13^th October ‘B’ Squadron were relieved by 52nd Recce and the Regimental HQ crossed the Waal and moved to Appeltern on the Maas river (south of Wamel).  61^st Recce now held the area west of Nijmegen between the Waal and the Maas.  On 16^th ‘B’ Squadron’ position was under attack from a self-propelled gun and approaching enemy, crawling along the road and digging tunnels to avoid detection.  Lieutenant Albert Stone was wounded.

The next day the Regiment moved back onto ‘the Island’ and were based at Driel, south-west of Arnhem on the south bank of the Lower Rhine.  Here they were really under the eyes of the Germans – all movements had to be carried out after dark leaving only skeleton crews in the forward outposts (slit trenches where everyone spent the night) by day while the others sheltered in nearby houses.  Eric Brewer was at last in reserve with the Regimental HQ at Lienden.  Dick also appears to have been there too but in very gloomy mood:

 

Letter written on Wednesday 18th October 1944

61^st Recce Regt RAC

BLA.

Wednesday October 18^th

Chotie Darling,

                                    Nothing much to write about I’m afraid, but here goes in reply to yours of the 12^th.

            Weather has been very variable of late, but after a bad start this morning things have cleared up no end, and this afternoon it’s sunny – in fact, autumn at its best.

            Was very pleased to read that you were on leave again and that Mary* was home at the same time.  I expect you had plenty to talk about….

            I had some rather bad news yesterday.  My old friend “Chunky**” was killed in the Falaise Gap, some time ago though I’ve only just heard.  It’s very sad for his wife (whom I met once in London) as they’d only been married some 18 months or so, and Chunky of course, has spent all that time in the Army.  They had a baby son David, who was about a year old.  I’m the only one of the trio left, so it’s my turn next.

            Just received a letter from Brinner.  He’s still at Base but it appears he may have to go into the Infantry – which won’t do my nerves any good, as the Officer Casualty rate with them is appalling.

            Reference ‘demobbing’*** I make the 32 group and Brinner the 42 group so we both beat you – Yah!

            Haven’t shot any Germans lately or anything else of interest.  We’ve been working all the time but haven’t had many encounters.

            The NAAFI van**** has just turned up – for the first time since Normandy and even now, they’ve got no tobacco.  Apart from what Brinner can get at his RHU, I get nothing at all.  Makes me mad to think of it, especially when people in England imagine that the fighting soldier gets everything he needs.  We’re always hearing talk of “Officer Shops” but in four months over here I haven’t been able to buy a collar stud even!

            Must close here, Precious to do some work on the car.

                                    All my love, Darling

                                                Dicker.

*Mary DakinMary Dakin, Chotie’s best friend at home.

**Chunky, the 5 ft 2” tall ex chef of the Trocadero in London, shared a room with Dick and Brian ’the Ham’ when they were training to be officers in summer 1943

***Ernest Bevin's plan for demobilisation was published on 22nd September 1944 - release was based on your age and service number.

****Reg Harper describes “the occasional appearance of ‘Towrope’ Joe Meredith with the NAAFI truck …his opening gambit puffing smoke from his pipe – ‘Sorry Corporal, no pipe tobacco.  Stuff it with Woodbines; we have plenty of bootlaces, blanco, brasso, etc!’  So I settled for toothpaste.”  (From ‘Beaten Paths are Safest’ by Roy Howard, Brewin Books 2004)

 

 

 

 

 Postcard written Wednesday 18th October 1944 from 'the Island'

 

US troops reported that an enemy patrol managed to cross the river on the night of the 19^th October but they were located by ‘A’ squadron and heavily ‘stonked’ by the artillery. 

Dick and ‘B’ squadron continued in reserve so he bombarded Chotie with a daily letter and the slightly cheesy postcards he’d been given.  On the 20th he was installed in “an amazingly clean house...you change from outdoor shoes to slippers every time you go in the house!”  Their fastidiousness seems highly practical - on the 21st he wrote “The ground here is deadly with mud.  I’ve got five pairs of boots out here (a wise precaution - taken in England) and I wear them in rotation.  By the time I’ve got through them all the first pair are dry again…"

Eric Brewer was back on the frontline beside the Rhine from the night of the 20^th “with Gerry throwing grenades over our positions and plenty of Spandau fire”.  On 22^nd a small patrol of about 10 Germans came up behind their outpost: “I shouted ‘Halt. Who goes there?’ when they were 25 yards away and they were 10 yards away when they stopped – I wasn’t half scared” before “our Bren gun and grenades soon got rid of them.”

Eric Postles had a lucky escape when the squadron were at Arnhem; having called down artillery fire on some Germans, who had got through the embankment to their positions, the last shell fired was so close it blew him over and stunned him. “I found a hole in my greatcoat where a piece of shrapnel had passed through.  Luckily it hit the compass in my trouser pocket putting it out of action but leaving me with no more than a few bruises.”

Dick wrote again on the 22nd sounding rather bored after three days of rest with no other officers around, but was busy again from that night when ‘B’ Squadron were sent to the front-line and he went “up to Squadron HQ tonight to take over duties of 2^nd in command”.  Sandy Handley recalls looking out for “any Airborne chaps who’d managed to get away from the Germans.”  100 of the British Airborne who’d evaded capture were rescued near Renkum (6km west of Driel) on the night of 22^nd/23^rd October.

61^st Recce war diary (only October and November 1944 are available) reports a German deserter surrendering to them while Reg Harper recalls one quiet prisoner who turned out to be an American deserter.  Thirty abandoned vehicles were recovered while the Regiment was at Driel, cited in Captain Joe ‘Tow-rope’ Meredith’s MBE and Lt. Laing’s Military Cross.  Front-line positions were mortared, shelled or machine gunned during the day and enemy patrols tried to get past the outposts at night.  By the 25^th there were “plenty of Gerry dead” around Eric Brewer’s outpost.

In another letter on 26th October Dick describes his work as 2^nd in Command as “nothing very thrilling – just a lot of painstaking work.  It falls to my lot to issue all rations, clothing, rum, etc and entertain visiting Colonels…”  His father was trying to sell their “old London town-house”, Clevedon Lodge, (which had been damaged by flying-bombs) for £1,500.  Dick’s brother was “still at the Regimental Holding Unit… whether Brinner will ever fire a shot in anger seems a moot point”.  Although Dick also wrote “people seem to think the war’s all over…the biggest and most bitter battles are yet to come”.  He was still advising Chotie not to volunteer for work abroad. 

On 27th October the Durham Light Infantry attacked the German front-line through the ‘B’ Squadron position and found it very thinly held: “all active patrolling is being carried out by SS troops…47 Fortress Battalion has shown none of the aggressive qualities, which are apparent in the patrols”.  Orders were received for 61st Reconnaissance to be relieved by elements of the 101st US Airborne, although ‘A’ Squadron was to stay on ‘the Island’ at Zetten (west of Elst) - one of the most unpleasant sectors on the 2nd Army front.  (Troopers in Observation Posts sometimes stood in foxholes in two feet of flood water, with constant shelling.)

The next day Dick’s ‘B’ Squadron and the rest of 61^st Recce moved back across the Waal to the Winssen area, west of Nijmegan.  Dick had “flu or something” but “as I was 2^nd in command I couldn’t go sick.”  He was much better on the 30th when he wrote to Chotie from “a lovely old farmhouse” “rambling, thatched and whitewashed”, with a date ‘1660’ in wrought-iron metal figures.  The daughter of the house had got married that morning “so needless to say everything is pandemonium – even worse than the morbid business of getting married in England”.

Eric Brewer had at last been released on leave and arrived in Antwerp on Monday 30^th.  He had a wonderful time staying in a hotel, enjoying “perfect” meals, dance halls and ice cream and marvelling at the ‘legal’ black market with its eye-watering prices.  He wrote in a letter home “the working classes are very badly off…nearly all of them are undernourished and in many cases starving.  You can thank God that we have a government who stops the black market and that stuff is rationed fairly – else these rich people would grab the lot.”  He would soon be returning to face another month on ‘the Island’.