Dick was killed at the end of March 1945, less than 6 weeks before the end of the war in Europe.
He met Chotie for the first time since D Day on 1st March in Pagham, where he was home on leave with his parents. Five days later they married under under special license at Chichester registry office. Their one night of honeymoon was spent at the lovely Spreadeagle Hotel in Midhurst, West Sussex. On 7th March they returned to be with family and on the 8th Dick “Left Bognor for Dover via Victoria” to rejoin the war.
Mr and Mrs Richard Williams with Dick's parents at Pagham
Meanwhile his regiment, now the 52nd (Lowland) Reconnaissance, had at last crossed the anti-tank ditch at Afferden, defended tenaciously by German paratroopers. They advanced into Germany, south-west towards Geldern and the Rhine. On 3rd March Montgomery’s pincers in the Northern Rhineland (British XXX Corps with Canadian 1st Army for 'Operation Veritable' and the US 9th Army for 'Operation Grenade') at last met at Geldern, about 10 miles from the Rhine, east of the Ruhr industrial region. Dick’s ‘C’ Squadron were nearly at Twisteden, five miles to the north-west. On 7th March 52nd Recce took over from 53rd Recce to lead the Rhineland advance.
Further south the US 1st Army’s 9th Armored Division dashed forward to secure an intact bridge over the Rhine at Remagen (between Bonn and Koblenz). They secured a bridgehead across the Rhine and successfully defended the bridge from the relentless German attacks, including the use of V2 missiles.
Chotie wrote to Dick from Pagham on 9th March: “It was very wonderful to be with you for even this short while, so it is a glorious thought that we have a life-time to spend. Don’t feel too blue – I am trying not to.”
Dick, having travelled overnight via Calais, had reached Bourg Leopold in Belgium, where he managed to spend a couple of days with his brother Bryn. He wrote to Chotie on 12th March just before rejoining his regiment – his home leave had perhaps not been idyllic:
“You must find me terribly moody. I try not to be, but since the beginning of the war I find I’m completely di-orientated at home.” (My mother said Dick ‘knew’ he was going die and they cried all night on their honeymoon.)
Meanwhile on 10th March Dick’s ‘C’ Squadron had been tasked with reconnaissance of the Rhine west bank along a four to five mile frontage near Menzelen (north-east of Geldern, near Xanten and Wesel). At Menzelen they met no opposition and took a dozen prisoners. There was more German resistance at Ginderich (nearer the river to the north) but they were soon backed up by infantry. Pushing on via Gest (en route towards Wesel) they reached the Rhine at dusk and could observe hundreds of Germans on the opposite bank. Calling down an artillery bombardment on the German defences, they also captured an enemy patrol sent back across the river to recover equipment.
From 12th March 52nd Recce rejoined their Division (52nd Lowland), although squadrons were detached to work with various Scottish regiments – ‘C’ Squadron were with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment).
Dick was at Ginderich on 13th March ‘resting’.
Photo labelled 'Ginderich, March 1945'. Dick is on the right.
Chotie wrote to him from her home in Parkstone where she was enjoying being 'Absent without leave' with her best friend, Mary Dakin. She wrote again later, after a miserable time at the dentist, having broken a tooth on her mother’s home-made toffee. She was meant to return to her unit now after 14 days leave.
Dick wrote on 14th March from a “cushy billet (no windows but everything else is OK)” where he’d had a party with three other “Bolshie subalterns” and had made a new friend, Peter Evans. Lieutenant Evans had led ‘C’ Squadron’s ‘almost copybook advance to the River Rhine at Ginderich’ (Trevor Whitfield) and subsequently received the Military Cross for this and his role in clearing the Scheldt Estuary in autumn 1944. Dick’s old friend from 61st Recce, Ronnie Jury, was now a Liaison Officer “in some Corps or other. A pretty steady job but not much excitement.” After the war he returned to painting and taught at the Slade School of Art.
Don Aiken recalls that the 52nd Recce were now pulled back about a mile from the river awaiting the Rhine crossing, which was preceded by an intense build-up of men and equipment. Like Dick, some of the men passed the time in bare-back riding the horses left by the Germans. One of Don’s troop was killed by a single shot across the river while riding.
Chotie wrote on Friday 16th March with some good news – she’d been granted another 7 days leave so would not be punished on her return. Relatives were still sending money for their wedding presents and Chotie was enjoying taking her sister Margaret’s baby, Roger, out in his pram. Her younger sister Beryl was also at home – they went to see ‘Kismet’ at the cinema.
On Saturday night Hull, where Chotie’s anti-aircraft battery were stationed, was attacked by a single Heinkel, which killed 13 people and injured 22. Chotie wrote again on Sunday 18th while packing to return there and sent another letter when she was back at Fort Godwin (on Spurn Point near Easington, east of Hull) after "an eventful journey". She’d treated herself to lunch at a Spanish restaurant near King’s Cross and missed her train. Arriving late in Hull a fellow lady in her carriage had invited her to stay so she enjoyed supper, a comfy bed and bacon and eggs for breakfast. “Everyone” back at the battery was excited about her marriage and she seemed to have told her “tale about a hundred and one times”.
On the west bank of the Rhine 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment had been assigned traffic control duties as part of the preparation for ‘Operation Plunder’ (the Rhine crossing), although their ‘A’ Squadron was now with 1st Commando Brigade – destined to lead the assault across the river.
Dick was at Kevelaer, back from the line and north of Geldern, in a 300 year old cottage “having evicted the ‘civvies’ ”. He wrote to Chotie that he’d spent 48 hours painting signs (presumably for traffic control) after a very close shave when a shell killed the bloke next to him.
Chotie wrote on Wednesday 21st: “We had a spot of excitement last night” so Hull may have been under attack again. She was furious Dick had shaved off his moustache. He’d written “I reckon I look much better without it. I now look eighteen instead of thirty-five” (he was 23). Chotie was enjoying walking on the beach in the sun with friends. On the 23rd she wrote “It is decidedly better up here, now that Spring is here” and was hoping to stay with her ATS friend Nan’s family in Yorkshire.
At 6pm on 23rd March Operation Plunder began with a massive artillery barrage along the Rhine from Nijmegen to the Ruhr – the largest bombardment undertaken by the Royal Artillery during the war. A huge smokescreen was amassed to assemble supplies near the front and at nightfall the RAF saturated the town of Wesel, on the east bank with high explosive bombs. 52nd Lowland Division, with their guns trained on the bank near Wesel was “in the front row of the grandstand at one of the most imposing spectacles ever staged". General Eisenhower watched the operation from within the Division’s beat for a while.
Sandy Handley in Dick’s No 15 troop remembered “we were on the banks of the Rhine opposite the town of Wesel” in a large bulldozed ditch. Their officer told them the artillery barrage was about to start - canon and rockets were fired with a deafening noise – and later came to their car again to tell them this was only the beginning: “he said at 11 o’clock pm ALL THE LOT was going to open up. At 11 o’clock we found out what he meant! The noise was terrible; my nerves were getting a bit jaded. There we were, in front of all these guns, yards from the actual river.
I suggested to the other chap we go under the Daimler, which we did, scooping ourselves a little dugout. We thought the deeper we dug the more safe we were…” They had a complicated code to send back messages but Sandy was so shaken he just relayed the message in phonetic terms: “At times like these certain things didn’t go text book fashion…I had experienced these artillery barrages since we landed but this was the Daddy of them all.”
The first attack towards Rees (north of Wessel), led by 51st Highland Division, was a diversion from the main attack. 1st Commando Brigade with 52nd Recce’s ‘A’ Squadron, quietly crossed the river at 10 pm. The Recce were in canvas boats with oars – their job was to provide beach control parties for the commandos and keep up communications across the river while the commandos observed radio silence. By mid-morning the Commandos had secured most of the town – of the 1,600 men with them 11 were killed and 17 missing.
The 15th Scottish Division also crossed during the night, north of Wesel while to the south the US 9th Army had crossed between Wesel and Rheinberg on an 11 mile front.
“In the early hours of the next morning the guns had ceased firing and we could actually hear birds singing. One of the Officers in charge of our section came over to our Daimler and said “Well done men!” although I didn’t think we’d done anything except cringe under the Daimler… The officer then said at 10 o’clock this morning the Airborne paratroops and gliders will come over and land on the other side of the river near Wesel … precisely at 10 o’clock we heard a roar which grew louder and louder. Someone said “Here they come”. They flew low. It was one of the greatest memorable sights I have ever seen, unforgettable. First the paratroopers, then the gliders being towed over this great river.” (Sandy Handley)
At 10 am on 24th March 'Operation Varsity' began with more than 3,000 planes and gliders dropping over 16,000 men of the British 6th Airborne and the US 17th Airborne Division. Unfortunately they were landing in ‘Flak Alley’ – the main defences for the Ruhr – and took more than 2,000 casualties. However, by nightfall they’d met up with the ground forces and captured 3,500 German soldiers. Montgomery’s bridgehead over the Rhine was established.
Don Aiken, was also on the bank of the Rhine having volunteered to assist the Royal Engineers with communications. After the air landings they went in under heavy fire to build pontoons across the river for getting ground troops across. Don was waiting for a runner to come from the next armoured car with the latest message when, poking his head out of the turret in a lull, he found the runner had been killed by a German shell landing close by.
The bridges were constructed and in a few hours the infantry had crossed followed by tanks. Soon the pontoon bridge was a two-way highway: “all the paraphernalia of an attacking army was crossing into Germany” and “long lines of German soldiers were being marched out to Prisoner of War camps somewhere in England”. 8,000 Royal Engineers assisted the crossing of the Rhine.
The rest of 52nd Recce, now based in a tented camp in woods near Sonsbeck (between Kevelaer and the Rhine), were given the administrative job of getting the leading battalions and regiments from their concentration area up to the river bank.
Dick wrote on 24th March: “Well my darling, I’m in a smashing billet away from my troop in charge of about 20 miles of road as Traffic Control Officer. Imagine it, armband and all! I look quite a dog…I’m with two other subalterns who share my taste in living so we’re really very happy. I’m afraid it won’t last for long though – it’s much too cushy for that.”
Chotie was on watch between 10 and 3 am that night when she wrote to Dick:
“The news is good again today, darling, - it can’t be long now. When you come back and when we can be together always, well, won’t it be wonderful?
One day next week, if we get a spot of ‘off duty’, a whole crowd of us are hoping to get cracking on a ‘binge’ - celebrating my third week of being married or something.”
By midnight on 24th/25th March 80,000 Allied troops had crossed the Rhine, including Winston Churchill who went over the river in a landing craft near Wesel. Over the next couple of days there were more Rhine crossings by the Americans to the south and the US 1st Army broke out of their Remagen bridgehead and marched south to join up with Patton’s 3rd Army forces.
Chotie wrote to Dick again on the 26th, having received a letter from Brinner: “It’s marvellous that you are so near to each other. I hope you manage to meet.”
“Just think, darling, tomorrow we have been married 3 weeks... I spend quite a lot of my time just dreaming of things to come. Have built us a home and furnished it (all in my imagination) most marvellously. I think I had better see what I can do with a Missen, probably have to.”
By 27th March the Rhine bridgehead north of the Ruhr was 35 miles wide and 20 miles deep and 52nd Recce’s ‘A’ Squadron reverted to regimental command.
52nd Reconnaissance Regiment “moved over the Rhine under a full moon in the early hours of Good Friday, 30th March, 1945; crossing on one of the various pontoons and Bailey bridges built in record time by the Royal Engineers. Mile after mile of vehicles queued for the limited space on the roads, therefore it was mid-afternoon before the regiment was concentrated near the town of Mehr (north-west of Wesel), just a few miles east of the Rhine, ready to take part in what was a rapid advance into Germany” (Carl Shilleto).
Dick wrote his last letter to Chotie: from “a windowless ‘brewed-up’ house with with half a gale blowing but having so much spiritual warmth I’m not unduly cold. My cushy post has gone with the wind and I’m now back on the job again…Nothing very thrilling to write about – so I’ll close here.
Your loving husband
Dicker.”
Photos from the BBC's VE Day 70: A Party to Remember - Honeysuckle Weeks and Laurence Fox read extracts from Chotie and Dick's letters.
At Mehr ‘C’ Squadron were placed in reserve, earmarked for Prisoner of War duties. Dick learnt that Bryn’s unit was in the vicinity and set out to visit him in his small Daimler Dingo. He was taking Bryn back when the car hit a small crater in the road, made by a shell or bomb. Dick was killed instantly while Bryn escaped with cuts and bruises.
Sandy Handley remembered:
“Sometime in the afternoon Mr Williams’ brother came towards us and introduced himself and said “Mr Williams, your Troop Officer, is dead”. Naturally we were stunned…
Later we (the No. 15 Troop) attended a small burial ceremony conducted by the 52nd Division Padre for the burial. I think we all wanted to pass our condolences on to Mr Williams’ brother, who sat in another staff car with his fellow officers…
We would miss Mr Williams. He had been with us from Normandy June ’44 to March ’45. From a trooper’s point of view this Officer had looked after his eleven men and never asked us to do or risk anything that he couldn’t do himself. We liked Mr Williams and we were going to miss his coolness. He thought his troop were a good team too…
It seemed ironic that a man could live through the many hazards and horrors of war, from the beaches of Normandy (where the 61st had become the first Reconnaissance Regiment to come ashore) and through the terrible fighting on the Rhine, only to be killed in a traffic accident. Perhaps most tragic of all though was that the young officer had just returned from some leave and had been married for only three weeks.”
Chotie, at Spurn Point in Yorkshire, was “in the large mess hall, full of people. The Sergeant-Major handed me the telegram to say Dicker had been killed. The saddest moment of my life.”
Lieutenant Richard Kelner Williams is laid to rest in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery south-west of Kleve in Germany.
We will remember them.
Alex de Groot's memorial photo of Dick's grave.
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