World War 2 Talk - View Single Post - Irish Guards, 3 Bn. War Diary, June 1944 -

dbf · 02-05-2008, 10:50 AM

Extract from War Diary

September 6, 1944 DIEST
We left BRUSSELS at 10:00 hrs amid the usual scenes of cheering and enthusiasm and move without incident through LOUVAIN as far as DIEST. 32 Gds Bde Gp was leading the advance with the I.G. Gp in reserve. On reaching the ALBERT Canal the W.G Gp found that all the bridges had been blown and we were compelled to halt whilst a bridge was constructed during the night.

The only casualty during the day was one OR wounded.

September 7, 1944, BERINGEN
The Bn took over the Bridge head on the ALBERT Canal from the W.G. Group at noon. The day was an unpleasant one with considerable shelling from enemy S.P. guns which caused several casualties. Capt. W.R.R..S. BRUCE was killed early in the day and Capt.. WHITE and LORD PLUNKETT wounded.
In the early evening, No 3 Coy (Major M.V. DUDLEY) carried out a sweep in co-operation with a sqn of tks to clear the Germans from a slag heap to the WEST of the town which was dominating the bridge head. The attack met with considerable success but was unable completely to clear the large factory area and had to be content with limited consolidation. Several S.P. guns were knocked out and from this moment, the shelling of the bridge head diminished considerably.

Total OR cas for the day were 8 killed and 16 wounded.

September 8, BERINGEN
The Bn remained in the bridge head until 17:30 hours when the town was handed over to 11 ARMD DIV. In an unfortunate concentration of mortar fire during the morning, Capt. R.B.H. INGLEBY, Capt. G.A. JEFFRIES and Lt. M. AIRD were all wounded ["Lt Aird was peppered with shrapnel wounds"] - so the Bn was getting very short of officers.
In the evening, the group moved up to HALCHTEREN and reached the town just as darkness was falling. A sqn and coy of the W.G. group were in possession but had been unable to clear up the local German resistance outside the town. We were therefore compelled to do a night clearing which proved eminently satisfactory and the W.G. moved on to join the remainder of their group.

O.R. cas for the day totalled one killed and 8 wounded.

02-05-2008, 10:50 AM	#25 (permalink)
dbf Silly old moo Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Co Down, Northern Ireland Posts: 950	Sketch map of Beeringen - 6-8 Sept 1944 Extract from War Diary September 6, 1944 DIEST We left BRUSSELS at 10:00 hrs amid the usual scenes of cheering and enthusiasm and move without incident through LOUVAIN as far as DIEST. 32 Gds Bde Gp was leading the advance with the I.G. Gp in reserve. On reaching the ALBERT Canal the W.G Gp found that all the bridges had been blown and we were compelled to halt whilst a bridge was constructed during the night. The only casualty during the day was one OR wounded. September 7, 1944, BERINGEN The Bn took over the Bridge head on the ALBERT Canal from the W.G. Group at noon. The day was an unpleasant one with considerable shelling from enemy S.P. guns which caused several casualties. Capt. W.R.R..S. BRUCE was killed early in the day and Capt.. WHITE and LORD PLUNKETT wounded. In the early evening, No 3 Coy (Major M.V. DUDLEY) carried out a sweep in co-operation with a sqn of tks to clear the Germans from a slag heap to the WEST of the town which was dominating the bridge head. The attack met with considerable success but was unable completely to clear the large factory area and had to be content with limited consolidation. Several S.P. guns were knocked out and from this moment, the shelling of the bridge head diminished considerably. Total OR cas for the day were 8 killed and 16 wounded. September 8, BERINGEN The Bn remained in the bridge head until 17:30 hours when the town was handed over to 11 ARMD DIV. In an unfortunate concentration of mortar fire during the morning, Capt. R.B.H. INGLEBY, Capt. G.A. JEFFRIES and Lt. M. AIRD were all wounded ["Lt Aird was peppered with shrapnel wounds"] - so the Bn was getting very short of officers. In the evening, the group moved up to HALCHTEREN and reached the town just as darkness was falling. A sqn and coy of the W.G. group were in possession but had been unable to clear up the local German resistance outside the town. We were therefore compelled to do a night clearing which proved eminently satisfactory and the W.G. moved on to join the remainder of their group. O.R. cas for the day totalled one killed and 8 wounded. Last edited by dbf; 02-05-2008 at 11:31 AM. Reason: Tidying up