Monday, June 18, 2018
Monday, January 16, 2017
Friday, May 29, 2009
The Battle of Kapelsche Veer:26 January-1 February 1945
Soldiers of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment within the village of Kapelsche Veer - February 1st 1945. From left: Pte. F.L. Russell, Pte. J. Sneddon, Cpl R.S. Marshall, Unknown Man.
Kapelsche Veer is a ferry harbour set into the north shore of a long narrow island on the Maas River, just north of the Dutch town of s'Hertogenbosch. A small garrison of German Paratroopers surrounded the harbour and manned a network of slit trenches and tunnels which surrounded two farm houses. The 1st Polish Armoured and the 47th Royal Marines had already attempted to dislodge the Germans in December and on January 15th, but had failed.
The land is very flat, and doesn't afford much cover. Also the only way onto the island by land is on an seven meter high dike which was open and treeless. In winter the soil is moist and muddy, making movement difficult. Only the hard packed earth of the dyke is good for quick movement.
The 4th Armoured Commander, Major General Chris Vokes, thought of it as a waste of time and good men to dislodge the Germans. Therefore, he ordered canoes be brought up to the front so as to complete the task. Thinking the canoes would never arrive, he thought then that the attack would be abandoned. To everyone's surprise Peterborough canoes arrived at the front and the attack orders were refreshed.
On the morning of the 26th of January the Lincoln and Welland Regiment launched a pincer attack on the German Paratroopers at Kapelsche Veer. The attack was hampered by cold and the canoes didn't work all that well, as the water close to shore was frozen. Most of the canoe operations were cancelled. The land at Kapelsche Veer is mercilessly flat and the attack had to be mounted onto a dike which ran parallel to the river. To complicate matters, the Germans had tunneled into the dike with their machine guns pointed out. The enemy held their fire until the Canadians were virtually on top of them, then opened up so effectively that within minutes all officers of the two companies attacking from the east were hit. After a fierce German counter-attack, they were withdrawn from the island.
On the west side, despite all it's platoon commanders being killed, B Company gained a foothold, beating off enemy counter attacks and held it's position until it was reinforced by D Company. On the opposite flank the Anti-Tank Platoon, a company of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and two tanks from the South Alberta Regiment had managed to gain a similar position by nightfall.
From the east and the west the Lincs and the Argylls worked towards the German positions, digging in after every short move. For four days of acute cold and misery they clawed their way forward while the artillery pounded the German positions.
Early on the morning of the 31st the flanking Canadian forces met in the ruins of the small town. They had captured 34 prisoners and counted 145 German dead on the battlefield. The remainder of the Germans had escaped. The Canadians had suffered 234 casualties, of whom 65, including 9 officers, were fatalities. After the war the commander of the 6th German Parachute Division said that the defense of Kapelsche Veer had cost him between 300 and 400 serious casualties plus 100 more men disabled by frostbite.
In all, nearly 1000 men of both sides were killed, wounded or went missing in the snows of Kapelsche Veer.
My 1942 Jeep
This is the WWII Ford GPW Jeep I own Canadian markings. Great fun to drive (and I do drive it all summer long in Muskoka) and it sure turns a lot of heads. The illustration at the top is how the Jeep is marked and equipped when going to shows or reenactments.
When purchased, my Jeep was painted in the markings of the 101st Airborne Regiment - BIG fan of Band of Brothers. But I kept being asked why it wasn't done up to represent a Canadian Jeep, so have bowed to that and it is now done in the markings of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment as it would have been in 1944 / 45 in Holland. The 'Links and Winks' have a great history as a fighting regiment (traced back to 1777), but were well and truly bloodied in Holland during the latter part of WWII.
In June 1940, the 1st Battalion, Lincoln and Welland Regiment was mobilized for active service. The 2nd Batallion was to remain in reserve. The 1st Batallion arrived in the United Kingdom in July of 1943 and on 19 August became a part of the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division. After landing in France in July of 1944, the Regiment formed part of II Canadian Corp's "long left flank" of the Allied advance. For the next nine months, it fought its way through Belgium and the Netherlands into Germany. This was some of the bitterest fighting of the war, consisting largely of clearing built-up areas and canals. From Tilly-la-Campagne on 31 July 1944 until Bad Zwischenahn on 1 May 1945, the Regiment distinguished itself in many actions. Over 1500 men of the Regiment were casualties. Of the original men who enlisted in 1940, only 3 officers and 22 men were on parade in St. Catharines in 1946 when the 1st Battalion was dismissed. More on the regiment in another post.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
A Beginning
This brand new blog is going to become a real labour of love for me. My hobby is WWII and, in particular, events, history, uniforms, weapons and vehicles that served the Allies during that war. Of course, as the header says, I intend to concentrate on the Canadian (and hence, to some degree, the British) contributions to the war effort.
I don't intend this blog to become a place where great and endless discussions pertaining to all things military are posted to death, but rather a place where those with a keen interest in the Allied efforts from 1939 - 1945 can place collections of anecdotal stories about relatives, illustrations, graphics and photographs, collections of semi-technical data regarding weapons or the materials that the Canadian in particular used in that great conflict. I want this blog to be fun, informative, educational, very visual and eye-pleasing and, hopefully, of some use to like-minded folks who enjoy exploring the times, things, events and materials that made the Canadians forever known and respected as a young nation truly Forged in Fire.
I'm going to begin this blog with a series of illustrations I've been working on (MAC rules), to illustrate the most classic Canadian WWII vehicles. I've started with the soft-skinned vehicles, as I have always felt that the Canadian CMPs have been overlooked whenever someone starts documenting and portraying "The Vehicles of World War II". This is only the beginning of the 'collection' and will grow as I delve into and study the history of vehicles used by the Canadian Forces in WWII.
So please - feel free to comment, add to, join in and contribute - your knowledge of WWII is welcome.
All these illustrations have been done by me in Adobe Illustrator CS3.
Enjoy blog 1.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)