Elgin Regiment D Squadron_1st into Germany
"D" Looks Back on Job Well
Done; Hardships, Fun, Hard
Work and a Great Deal to See
Landed in Normandy in July, 1944, Then Until the End of
Hostilities Helped in
Chase Against Germans; Kept 14th Division Supplied with
Reinforcements and Tanks
By Major W.B. Brodie
Commanding "D" Division, Elgin Regiment
A record of over 4,000 reinforcement personnel posted forward to
armoured units, plus more than 800 armoured fighting vehicles,
including tanks of various types, self propelled guns, flame
throwers and armoured personnel carriers, is something for the
members of "D" Squadron, 25th Canadian
Armoured Delivery Regiment, to look back on with
pride in a job well done. Add to this the hardships, fun and hard
work involved, plus the experience of seeing a lot of country and
people in traveling from the coast of Normandy
through France, Belgium,
Holland and Germany. Altogether,
enough happenings to give members of this squadron plenty to
reminisce over in the years to come.
In giving a resume of the part played by "D" Squadron in the 9
months from the time the squadron landed in
Normandy in July, 1944 to the end of hostilities
in Europe in May, 1945, shortage of space and lack of access to
official records limits the number of details that can be
included.
"D" Squadron, allotted by Lt.-Col. G.C.
Stewart, Officer Commanding the
25th Canadian Armoured Delivery
Regiment, to supply the needs of the armoured units
of the 4th Canadian Armoured
Division in regards to reinforcement tanks and men,
landed on the Normandy beaches on 26 July, 1944, and its first
assembly area was near the village of Cussy.
The Abbey of Ardennes, mentioned quite frequently
in the recent trail of the Nazi general Kurt Meyer, was part of the
squadron area at that time. A stay of eight days there was spent
quite profitably in getting acclimatized and used to the sound of
gunfire. Armoured units of 4 Division were then gradually being
committed to action and the call for replacements was not
large.
FULL QUOTA OF TANKS
At this time, the squadron had its full quota of both tanks and
reinforcement personnel. These were soon needed, for the
Falaise action was just developing and the losses
there were numerous. Squadron personnel were quite happy that Jerry
had left behind a lot of well-dug slit trenches and this saved us a
lot of heavy work with pick and shovel.
The squadron moved from the Cussy site to the
other side of Caen and had barely arrived in the
new area when the call came for tanks and men to be sent forward.
By nightfall 22 fully crewed tanks had been forwarded to one unit
and this was followed the next day by 16 more to the same unit.
Replacements arrived from "E" Squadron during the night and the
first taste of working night and day was encountered. The weather
was quite hot and it was in this area that the squadron had its
first experience with dead cattle. They had been killed in the
fighting a few days earlier and no one had had the time to bury or
burn them. There were many and varied comments on the odors!
_______
A problem met here was dealt with very efficiently by
Major P.S. Campbell, then squadron
second-in-command, and S.Q.M.S. Ted Langley of
St. Thomas and his brother, S.Q.M.S. Bert
Langley, of Chatham. Crews from tanks
knocked out in battle were arriving back in the squadron area
needing practically everything in the way of kit. Some men only
wore boots, socks and trousers when picked up. It was inspiring to
see the way the lads were keen to take another crack at
Jerry when they were issued with a new outfit and
given another tank.
PACK, MOVE, UNPACK
Following the American breakthrough and the closing of the
Falaise Gap, the 4th Division joined in
the chase of the fleeing Germans. It was just a case of packing,
moving, unpacking, etc., for more than three weeks with never a
stay of more than three days in one location and sometimes less
than 24 hours. This was a real testing time for the drivers of
vehicles and they all did well. Driving conditions were bad in the
daytime with clouds of dust, damaged roads and endless numbers of
vehicles but at night it was much worse and vehicles were only
allowed to use blackout lights. Cpl. T.R. Salter
of Stratford, was in charge of the squadron
drivers and they included: George Rowe and
Morley Beales of St. Thomas;
Bill Haining, Woodstock;
G. Steffenson, Monominto,
Man[itoba]; "Nig" Butler of
Kingsville; Norm Moore and
Johnny Brown, of London,
Ont. and Joe Truckle, of
Brantford.
Squadron motorcyclists did exceptionally good work in liaison,
messages and controlling convoys on the move. D.R.'s included:
Tprs. N.C. Lamb, Wallaceburg;
R.S. Arnold, Toronto;
E.A. Garner, Alberta;
L.M. Hess, Stratford, and
R.F. Cunningham, Markham,
Ont.
Successive moves took the squadron over the Seine near
Rouen, across the Somme near
Abbeville and over the Belgium
border near the town of St. Omer. It was at
St. Omer that the first buzz-bomb sites were
encountered and the squadron had the satisfaction of salvaging a
few serviceable storage batteries among the debris. These were
later hooked up to improvised lighting systems in some tents.
It should be mentioned here that all the squadron locations were
in fields or meadows and at times it was a difficult task for the
advance parties of the squadron to find suitable areas for both
tanks and men. The recce parties certainly earned their pay.
During and between these moves, deliveries of tanks and men, as
and when available, had to be made to forward units. A stay
of ten days at Staden in early September gave all
ranks a chance for a bit of rest and also the first opportunity to
get acquainted with the Belgian people. They were
very friendly and were anxious to barter tomatoes and eggs for
chocolate, soap or cigarettes. Staden is located
not far from Ypres and visits were paid to areas prominent in World
War I.
INTO ANTWERP AREA
From Staden, "D" Squadron moved to an area near
Brugges for a stay of more than three weeks, then
made the long jump to the Antwerp area. This gave
squadron personnel a chance in their off-duty hours to see this
large port. However, about this time Jerry started
dropping his V-2 rockets in the
Antwerp area and there were a few close calls.
With the coming of cooler weather, some of the amateur inventors
in the squadron were working on improvising stoves for heating the
tents. Varied were the results with some being more noted for smoke
than heat, Sgt. "Trapper" McGregor of
Union fashioned an oil-burner that drew caustic
comments from his bleary eyed (from smoke) tent mates.
The Netherlands border was crossed near
Bergen-Op-Zoom and the next squadron area was near
Tilburg for a stay of six weeks to past the
Christmas and New Years' period. The squadron personnel made many
friends among the Dutch people. First night in the
Tilburg area was marred by a fire in the quarter
stores in one of the sheds occupied by stores and kitchen but
valiant work by all ranks kept the loss down.
The squadron mechanical staff was kept busy and had an important
job in seeing that vehicles were in as good a mechanical condition
as possible. This work was supervised by Sgt. W.E. (Curly)
Moore, of Strathroy, and his staff
consisting of Sgt. McGregor,
Union; Sgt. Sanderson,
Kenora; Cpl. W.C. Young,
Kincardine; L.-Cpl. Edwards, L.-Cpl. Glen
Miles, Norwich; and Tprs.
Quinn, of Ottawa, K.C. Williams of
Goderich and O.A. Zepik of
Toronto. Sgt. T.J. (Tojo) Ovens,
of Cobourg, was in charge of armament and
Sgmn. Heikkila, of Ravensworth,
Ont. Was responsible for keeping the wireless sets in good
working order. The above group were later assisted in their work by
a small detachment of technicians on attachment from 4th
Armoured Division Workshops
From Tilburg the squadron moved to
S'Hertogenbosch and from there took a long hop to
the Reichwald Forest in Germany.
Next move was to Calcar area where the squadron
remained until moved back to Tilburg area for a rest in preparation
for the attack across the Rhine.
FIRST INTO GERMANY?
There was plenty of friendly rivalry between C and D Squadrons
as to which was the first to enter Germany. D Squadron have the
honour of being the first squadron of the regiment to move into
Germany complete and also going the furthest distance but C
Squadron was first across the Rhine. Incidentally, D Squadron
showed the C Squadron lads how to play softball too!
After crossing the Rhine, D Squadron moved by various stages to
Meppen and thence to Oldenburg, where they were
when hostilities ended in May.
During this nine months period the health of the squadron was
quite good with nothing more serious than a wave of dysentery with
its customary unpleasantness, and a few colds.
L.-Cpl. Jim Bowle, of St.
Thomas, the squadron medical orderly, was adept at giving
first aid and saw to it that all ranks received inoculations when
due. Two other important jobs in the squadron, postal and water
duties were well looked after. L.Cpl. N. Mitchell,
of Montreal, kept the troops happy with plenty of
mail and Tprs. G.A. McCulloch, of Owen
Sound, and Morley Beales, of St.
Thomas, made certain of a good supply of pure water all
the time.
In the cooking and handing food D Squadron was well served.
Cpl. Stan Kennedy, of Clinton,
Ont. Was in charge of the kitchen staff which included:
Ptes. M.F. Gray, Lyndhurst;
G.L. and M.R. Hill of Tiger Hill,
Sask.; J.M. Riggs, Steveston,
B.C. and S.J. Middelton. They really
could turn out 'melt in your mouth' pie crust and delicious
doughnuts. J.J. Meider, of Wosley,
Sask., looked after sanitary duties and Tpr. J.W.
Robins, of Woodstock, was the equipment repairer or 'Jack
of all trades'. Technical stores were in charge of Sgt.
F.G. Ralph, of Norwich, and Tpr.
W.C. Cardiff, of Blyth, and any electrical troubles were
capably taken care of by Tprs. R.C. Shorten,
of London, Ont. and W.T. Mells,
of Woodstock.
Squadron headquarters group consisted of S.S.M. Pat
Sanford, of Kingsville, with
S.-Sgt. R.F. Scott, of Windsor,
Cpl. R.H. Adlington, of St.
Thomas and Tpr. W.E. Beattie, of
Winnipeg, Man., capably handling the enormous
amount of clerical work necessary. Capt. (now Major) F.R.
Greene was with the squadron all the way and at the war's
end was acting as second-in-command and in charge of
administration.