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Category: Community
Forum: Chat Room
Thread: On this Day |
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Thread Status: Locked Total posts in this thread: 716
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Friday, 29th December 1944
The company was somewhat under strength, due mainly to the casualties during and after the battle for Hill 112 in Normandy and to two ex P.O.W.s becoming attached to hospital units in the rear. We now had one replacement, a pugnacious volunteer from the Irish Free State. He went to town with this day’s liberty party, and came back rolling drunk and ready for a fight, first with words, then with fists. He was not really suited to a peaceful unit like ours, and next day, when he would (we hoped) be sober, he would be so informed in no ambiguous terms. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Saturday, 30th December 1944
The report of Field Marshal Montgomery taking charge of the Americans was more like a Chinese whisper than a rumour. The 9th American Army had been transferred from the 12 Army Group to the 21 Army Group but this was not the result of the Ardennes offensive. The Generals had met at Maastricht the previous month to discuss preparations for the next spring offensive, and this was part one of a plan approved by General Eisenhower. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Sunday, 31st December 1944
This, presumably, was the eve of the last New Year of this war. No New Year’s Eve Ball, no syrenading ocean liners, no street parties, no first footers with lumps of coal or wee drams o’ single malt. On the other hand, nobody was sending us to the Ardennes, so we took Scotty’s advice and counted our blessings. Hungary declared war on Germany on this day. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Monday, 1st January, 1945
A new year began on this day. Happy New Year! The Luftwaffe attempted an attack on the Low Countries, but we noticed nothing. There was nothing to distinguish the day from any other, as far as we were concerned, but this was the day that saw the United Nations formed. We had not been woken at midnight by the sound of church bells, the singing of Auld Lang Syne, the piping in of the haggis or the hooters of river boats. Officially, church bells were only to be rung in the event of a German landing in the U.K. but, by general consent, this regulation would be ignored when the enemy was defeated. The cooks, three of the genuine Scots in the unit, gave us our usual porridge for breakfast. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Tuesday, 2nd January 1945
None of us had home leave since some months before D-Day. Maybe this year would see the defeat of the Germans, but we still had two major rivers to cross, the Maas and the Rhine, as well as a few smaller ones. Now we heard that all of us would have a spell of home leave within the next three or four months! We could look forward to this but would believe it when it happened |
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cummerbun
Cruncher Joined: Jan 2, 2009 Post Count: 7 Status: Offline |
Wednesday, 3rd January 1945
----------------------------------------The frost was deeper than ever and I fancied a bit of skating. The guns had been silent for days, presumably because nobody on either side of the river could manage to defrost them, so I went from house to house, asking, "Kun ik leenen van een paar van schaatsen?", until one lady disappeared into the house and came back to the door with - a pack of cards! I got my skates on eventually and joined the throng on the canal, all happily forgetting the Germans on the other bank of the river, who were probably doing the same! |
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halda
Cruncher Joined: Jan 2, 2009 Post Count: 18 Status: Offline |
Thursday, 4th January, 1945
----------------------------------------The canal was deeply frozen and the locals were speed skating along it, while snow was falling steadily to add to what was already on the ground. We were lucky not to be back in XXX Corps, which was on loan to the American 1st Army in the Ardennes. 2nd Army now consisted of VIII Corps and XII Corps, which was more than enough to defend the river from the few Germans across it. |
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halda
Cruncher Joined: Jan 2, 2009 Post Count: 18 Status: Offline |
Friday, 5th January, 1945
----------------------------------------There were still no bagpipes to be heard. Normally, they played for reveille, parade, cookhouse and Jankers, but, on thinking back, they had not played since the "funnies" took Blerick. Traditionally, the pipers had also accompanied any advance, presumably in order to scare the enemy, but we had not advanced since Blerick. Saturday, 6th January, 1945 The Luftwaffe was no longer a fighting force. The previous day they lost 277 aircraft around Bastogne. We also lost some 156 allied fighting aircraft. Not being aircrew of those 156 was among our blessings. Not being among those 277 was an even bigger blessing. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Sunday, 7th January, 1945.
Every day the snow became thicker and the air colder. We were lucky to have stoves and a good supply of peat, so no way were we going out unnecessarily. The library was desperately short of books, mainly because of losses on Hill 112, which nobody had replaced. In consequence, the next couple of weeks were boring and there was nothing happening locally worth mentioning. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Monday, 8th January 1945
----------------------------------------Hitler ordered a German withdrawal to Houffalize However, in the face of overwhelming Allied superiority in men and hardware the Germans were forced to retreat farther east, and the US First and Third Armies linked up at Houffalize on Monday, 16th January, 1945. Tuesday, 9th January, 1945 It was on a night such as this one that I went on guard without my greatcoat. However, I did have my cap, comforter, and my new Balaclava helmet as well as my army issue khaki pullover and gloves. The field bakery was not quite dead, so I fed it with peat to keep it going. The evening mug of tea also came in handy, not as much for drinking; more as a hand warmer. [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Jan 9, 2009 2:14:45 PM] |
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