4th/7th Dragoon Guards March 1945

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by alberk, May 11, 2022.

  1. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Hello,

    does anyone have access to the War Diary for the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards for March 1945?
    (especially actions during Rhine crossing / Op. Plunder)

    Thank you!
     
  2. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Alberk - War Diary 4/7 Dragoon Guards March 45 send per We Transfer; I've also added to it 8th Armoured Bde, March 45.
     
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  3. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Many thanks, stolpi! I am still trying to figure out what the burning Stuart is all about. Apparently the HQ squadron in a tank battalion had a few light tanks...
     
  4. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    Recce Troop - 11 Stuart tanks in HQ Squadron...

    20220511_200348.jpg

    They had arrived a year earlier - March 1944...

    FB_IMG_1652296047684.jpg

    There are a few audio interviews that relate to the 4th7thRDG Recce Troop here...

    Oral History - RDG Museum
    Downloadable audio. The first (audio) has the 4th7thRDG recce troop Stuarts landing (it sounds a bit like after D-Day but this is perhaps not entirely clear) and joining their Regiment later on Point 103, so for the 4th7thRDG it seems to be similar to the situation with the SRY.
    I haven't listened to the second one yet* but with "move up through battle area" in the description that sounds like a match.
    * Listening to the second one, Mr Stewart Osborn, also covers landing but again hard to tell a date, then mentions "wandering" about for a few days before joining the Regiment.
    Mr Eric Johnston
    4/7RDG 1942-1947 interviewed at his home in Aberdeen by John Speers on 18 September 2013.
    Topics covered; Joining RAC;Bovington;training in 58 Trg Regt;chose 4/7RDG;Maj Gen Hobart;DD tanks training;training for D Day, Studland Bay;Normandy landings;to recce tp on Stuart tanks;regimental casualties D Day;Hill 103;tank knocked out by bazooka;5 Panthers knocked out;DLI casualties;Operation Epsom;Gen Horrocks;crossing river;POWs;Guards Armd Div, Arnhem;Seconded to US 2nd Airborne:Nijmegen;Largest artillery barrage;Geilenkirchen;hits land mine;night in monastery;new Stuart tank;on to Rhine;travel on autobahns;Bremen - Becks brewery; German surrender;Bremerhaven.
    Mr Stewart Osborn
    5 Innis DG 1942-1946 interviewed at his home in Gosport by Billy Walker on 24 May 2014.
    Topics covered: Introduction and career summary;training at Ludgershall and Barnard Castle;joining regiment;training;in recce tp;1943 moved to Northampton;Ex Spartan;incidents;at Kirkcudbright when informed of D Day;Norfolk;to Fareham Aug 44;ship to Normandy, pontoon onto beach;Stukas firing on beach;incidents;equipped with Stuarts;move up through battle area;bombed;Villers Bocage;ration packs from 1914-18 war;incidents;V2 sites; RAF Typhoons;Rhine;jaundice-hospitalised and evacuated;back to regt at DP camp at Brunsbuttel near Kiel Canal; incidents;demob 1946.
     
    Last edited: May 12, 2022
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  5. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Hi Ramiles - good stuff. Thank you for this!

    Best
    Alex
     
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  6. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Alberk - The problem is that it also could be a Canadian tank of 2nd Cdn Armoured Bde.
     
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  7. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    But they crossed later - which would mean that the Stuart/Honey was hit or fell victim to a mine at a relatively late stage...

    From the War Diary you just sent me I know that:
    4/7 Draogoon Guards started crossing in the evening of March 24th
    13/18 Hussars started crossing late at night on the 25th
    Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry crossed in the course of the 26th.

    The pictures that show the blazing light tank are from a series to be found here on Flickr:
    Crossing the Rhine, March 1945 | Flickr

    The guy who took the pict was probably in Royal Signals unit - and the destroyed DD-tanks and some other images suggest he was taking pics near the Rhine...

    What do you think, stolpi?
     
  8. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

  9. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    Agreed, it is always tricky - the comments I saw say Canadian, I only really find out much re. the 4th7thRDG when it impinges on something "to do" with former 24L or when there is some combination with the actions of the SRY.

    All the best,

    Rm.
     
  10. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Alberk - The fact that a Canadian truck is pictured, IMO indicates that the picture was taken later ... probably after the Canadian CL40 'Blackfriars Bridge' was completed ... which was on 28 March. The bridgehead at the time still was under occasional shellfire; it might have been a lucky hit or as you said a hidden mine.
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2022
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  11. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Alberk - While browsing through my WW2talk thread on the Rhine Crossing I bumped into post #16. The pictures of Canadian Infantry of 9th Cdn Inf Bde crossing the Rhine on March 24th, 1945. They were in the second wave of the attack and therefore crossed in Storm Boats. The landscape and setting of the approach to the river much resembles the picture with the burning Stuart/Honey tank. Maybe the latter also was taken on the west bank of the Rhine?

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The sequence of the 9th Cdn Inf Bde crossing on March 24th was:
    0425 : Highland Light Infantry of Canada
    1100 : Stormont Dundas Glengarry Highlanders
    1345 : Bde HQ
    1600 : North Nova Scotia Highlanders
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2022
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  12. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Hi stolpi,

    our lines were crossing - I am just at this moment writing on the tanks of 8th Armoured brigade in my thread "Bank Control on Rhine March 1945"
     
  13. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    I would suggest that this photo with the burning "Stuart/Honey" was taken on the 25th or 26th... Canadian trucks bringing up stores or whatever while other infantry marches forward into the bridgehead... my working hypothesis...
     
  14. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Hello Ramiles,
    I would like to point out the photos I am referring to were not taken by Warhurst. He was in the same bridgehead at the same time but the photos discussed here were taken by a soldier of 1st The Royal Dragoons. I am giving more detail in this thread:
    Bank control on Rhine March 1945 | WW2Talk
     
  15. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    Agreed, apologies if it looked ambiguous, I was merely referring to the link I posted in that prior post to the pictures that Bill Warhurst did take.

    Best regards,

    Rm.
     
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