Who can help me with the War Diary of the Queens own cameron highlanders or canada Feb and March 1945. Family of Lt Col EP Thomson come to the Netherlands in September and want to visit the place where he died during Operation Blockbuster. I am very grateful for any help.
Hi there, A couple of ideas: - the Laurier institute has the war diary for July and August online - maybe they also have September? You could email them and ask. (I have not tried to search their website) http://lmharchive.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Queens-Own-Cameron-Highlanders-of-Canada.pdf LMH Archive - if all else fails I could photograph those when I am in Ottawa in early August Chris
This might help from Historical records of Queens Own Cameron Highlanders vol6. Seems he was killed in the area of Calcar. German spelling KalKar
Thompson took over command at the liberation of Dieppe, becoming the youngest battalion commander in the Canadian army.
For others information Lieutenant-Colonel E.P. Thompson of The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, at 23 years of age the youngest Commanding Officer in the Canadian Army, Dieppe, France, 3 September 1944. Item - Library and Archives Canada They may have more details TD Canada Army 3 NW Europe: Chapter 19: The Battle of the Rhineland, Part II: Operation BLOCKBUSTER, 22 February–10 March 1945 The 6th Brigade’s nearest objective was the Fusiliers’, immediately east of the Calcar-Üdem road. Although ten of the carrying tanks bogged down and one hit a mine, Lt.-Col. Dextraze’s battalion had taken its ground by 5:10 a.m.26 On the left The South Saskatchewan Regiment were transported safely through considerable machine-gun fire to their assigned positions on high ground near the Cleve-Xanten railway. The Camerons’ objective lay on the Calcar ridge two miles east of the start-line, but soon after the attacking force crossed the line soft going and mines along the Calcar-Üdem road compelled it to swing north and advance along the axis used by Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal. It was now seven o’clock. The barrage had been lost and the Cameron columns encountered heavy fire as they moved on. The Commanding Officer, Lt.-Col. E. P. Thompson, was killed by a sniper.27 The capture and consolidation of the battalion’s objectives, vital to the success of the brigade and indeed the whole corps operation, was due in great part to the gallantry of the commander of A Company, Major D. M. Rodgers, which won him the DSO Single-handed he cleared two houses of enemy snipers who were blocking his company’s advance, and taking over battalion headquarters he personally disposed of a third houseful of Germans whose fire was sweeping the headquarters area. Visiting each company in turn he ensured that all unit objectives were taken and held against counter-attack. By midday on the 26th the one or the other is a copy of the other - HyperWar: The Victory Campaign [Chapter 19] The Commanding Officer, Lt.-Col. E. P. Thompson, was killed by a sniper.27
