VERITABLE 1945: 51st Highland Division Reichswald Forest

Yes Chris just seen.

 

Hi Stolpi -- You have been a tremendous help in the past for me on Faces-to-Graves Foundation life stories for Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery. Now I am researching the 25 February 1945 death of Lieutenant Richard Norman Stewart , 24, a CANLOAN officer (Cdn/656) attached to the "5 Bn Black Watch 51st Division." I cannot find info on the specific circumstances of casualty for this Canadian. I know his records show a temporary burial at Goch. BUT nothing is popping up about how he died in combat. Can you help me? Cheers Kurt

 

Kurt,

Something about a Spandau is mentioned in the Wardiary of 5bn Black Watch on 25 February 1945.

Richard is killed in the late evening probably arround 21:30, C-Coy attacked (from direction Goch) the trenches just north of Robben Hof, south of Thomashof.
See also sketch from Wardiary for more exact location. And the map.

Last picture is from TIM a online tool with Lidar maps, you can still find the Trenches in the forrest.


I have all documents, so let me know what you need Kurt, so i can forward.

Bernhard

 

Thank you, so much. Is there any direct naming of Richard Stewart's death in documents???

 

It mentioned in the diary "Lieutenant R.H. Stewart was killed"

 

Hi Stolpi,

I hope you don't mind me asking your opinion about a dating question related to the German counterattack at Heijen. (post #24)

In your post, you say that the date of the counterattack (in the afternoon) was on the 13th.
But the detailed account from 1 Gordons gives the 14th.
The citation for Captain Ian Lesley Kidd gives the date of his actions as the 13th, but I think the account of his action might be consistent with being in support of the push forward to Heijen.

In addition, here is the WD entry from 61st Anti-Tank Regiment. There are no entries for the next two days to correspond with a counterattack.


I suspect the anti-tank regiment war diary might be wrong, though.

There is also this citation related to Lt Cuthbertson (and the war diary doesn't even mention this) but I think it pertains to when the 5/7 Gordons were threatened with a counterattack. I hope I didn't post this in your other thread also at some point, as this is all giving me a feeling of "deja vu" now.

 

Nice share Chris. I'm sure Stolpi has the answer and falls between my focus points (I'm Kleve, then Afferden, then Goch with just filler in between) but here's the pages from 153 Bde diary. Hope it helps.

 

Thanks Wapen , that's actually enormously helpful. I had come to the erroneous conclusion that the two Gordons had attacked on different days! Do you have the next page?

 

Hello Chris send me a PM I have the whole wardiary for the month feb 45 for you.

 

Good man Capt Roel!
Here's the next page anyway. Sorry for being tight with the shares - PhD nonsense. I'll be putting them all online when it's finished. If it's ever finished : (.

 

I'm just rewriting my section on the fighting at Goch...

Does anyone know when the Germans blew the bridges in the town? I assume none were captured intact.

 

Both bridges across the Niers in the town center were destroyed by the Germans. I do not know when.

Both were replaced by Class 40 bridges thrown across the Niers by Engineers of the 53rd Welsh Division. The westernmost one in the Brückenstrasse, the road that led up to the Market place, was called the "Goch West Bridge", the other one in the Bahnhofstrasse was called the "Gate Bridge", while it was build opposite the 'Gocher Tor', the old city gate.

 

Thanks stolpi!

 

You're welcome Chris (BTW like your avatar )

 

Great phots Stolpi. This bridge just north of town was captured intact by 5 BW about 02.00 on the 19th. Don't know how strong it was though.

 

Don't know about those in town though. Suspect the Germans blew one.

 

Medieval Goch: note that the 'old' town was build on the south side of the Niers (map is reversed or upside down - the bottom end of the map is the north). The build up area north of the river are later extentions of the town, consisting of small suburbs and industrial areas. The main entrance from the north, at the time, was across the bridge in what now is called the Bahnhofstrasse, leading into the town through the old Gocher Tor.



Zoom-in of the town center: The town gate at the western entrance of Goch, labelled No. 33 on the map, is called "Meulen Poort" (Mill Gate), nowadays called Mühlenstrasse. The road following the trace of the southern town wall is still there and called "Hinter der Mauer" (behind the wall).

 

Notgeld from Cleve and nearby Goch that my grandfather brought back from Germany. I haven't yet fully translated the Goch one's but it seems to be muchly about smuggling and may relate to local stories / poetry.

It's really tricky with auto correct to type in German - as it typically comes out garbled as something else - but the first Goch one seems to translate as -

"The Knollner Zollner rifle bangs, yes, smuggling is easy, but no more"

 

Lovely stuff!

 

Last weekend I made a first time visit to the CWGC cemetery at Rheinberg. The resting place of a large number of soldiers who fell in the later stages of Op Veritable (especially the fighting around Goch). I added some pictures of headstones to the 51st HD thread.

See:
VERITABLE 1945: 51st Highland Division Reichswald Forest

VERITABLE 1945: 51st Highland Division Reichswald Forest

VERITABLE 1945: 51st Highland Division Reichswald Forest

VERITABLE 1945: 51st Highland Division Reichswald Forest

VERITABLE 1945: 51st Highland Division Reichswald Forest