1 Gordons at Rees
Operation Plunder, 24-26 Mar 1945

A Description of Rees.
From The History of the 51st Highland Division by J. B. Salmon.

Rees was a sorry sight as far as being a town was concerned. In the early days of 1945the R.A.F. had drenched in with high explosive and incendiaries. The houses were gaping ruins, the streets mass of craters and rubble-heaps. The German’s main funk-holes, of which the attacking force had no knowledge, were a series of tunnels of which the attacking force had no knowledge. The result was that the enemy could appear in a most disconcerting way from openings in the ground after the clearing troops had passed forward. Broken-down trees, mines, and trenches were further obstacles in the path of 153 Brigade.

1st Gordons Crossing.

The 1st Gordons had followed up the 5th Black Watch, and a battalion diarist has left the following note on their crossing of the Rhine. “On either side flat, green fields slowly dipped down to the river where the banks are shingle. The river looked all the 450 yards it was, the current however, not being very terrible. The Buffaloes slowly crawled over the fields, then dipped down int the water, became waterborne, and then one had the feeling of floating down out of control, yet each buffalo churned without any difficulty out of Germany’s greatest barrier and at the right place by the green flickering light. Once around the Buffaloes with vehicles took one two hundred yards inland, those with troops depositing their load on the green fields, now baked hard by the recent fine weather, at the waters edge: two dunes, each about ten feet high, stood up against the skyline, otherwise the flattened country was unbroken.

The 1st Gordons crossed without a single casualty. “D” Company took their first objective – some farm buildings – but these were set alight by an incendiary, and the Gordons had to vacate certain of their positions. “B” and “C” Companies made for the bund across some three hundred yards of open grassland, where they had the benefit of a smoke screen, and after considerable fighting in isolated house-positions they also were successful. By 7 A.M., “B” Company had made a further advance, had reached the Rees-Speldrop road, had turned right towards Rees, and fought their way up to the cemetery, leaving a clear road for ”C” Company’s advance on Rees itself. “C” Company reached the town, proceeded to a slow mut methodical clearing of houses and streets, and by ten o’clock were joined by “A” Company who had entered Rees by way of the bank of the river. “D” Company came in and liquidated opposition all the way to the main square. By midday “B” Company had cleared up the norther edge and the three companies had united. The rest of the day and the following night were spent in town clearance, and at 7 P.M. “D” Company took a strong point which was situated in the ruins of the cathedral.

1 Gordons fight through Rees.
Extract from “So Few Got Through” by Martin Lindsay

March 25th

A somewhat exhausting and not very satisfactory day, and it’s not over yet by any means.

Those of us who were able to turn in for a few hours during the night slept rather unevenly as the artillery, just across the river, were going great guns all night. In fact I dreamed that a huge demon of a C.C.R.A. was lashing the crews with a gigantic whip, crying “Faster, you so-and-so’s, faster!”

By breakfast-time the companies had all taken their limited objectives of the night before, and D and C Companies had reached the church and cleaned up all the water-line as far as that, but the enemy were still resisting fiercely in what was still rather more than one-third of the town. After breakfast the C.O. decided to move Tac H.Q. to a large cellar in a house in the nearest street in Rees, half a mile from us. He went on with the wireless set and one of two officers, leaving me to bring on the remainder of the men and vehicles in my own time. Soon after they had left, two or three salvoes of fairly heavy shells came down between us and the new H.Q., and I hoped they had been able to reach it in time. I put off our departure for about twenty minute, by which time peace reigned again. When I reached the cellar I was greeted by: “The Colonel has been hit,” and there he was, sitting in a chair, saying he was quite all right, but looking pretty green. I sent for our doctor, who said he had a small fragment in the ribs, and that of course he ought really to go back, but he didn’t think it had penetrated, in which case he would be all right. I said:

“For God’s sake go back, for you will only cramp my style if you are going to sit at my elbow while I command the Battalion,” which perhaps was not very well put. He replied, “No you go down and see how the companies are, and I will stay by the set.” Helf an hour later Jack rang me to say that the C.O. wasn’t feeling at all well and had allowed himself to be evacuated.

The first thing I heard when I got down to C Company was that Porter, another subaltern in D company had been killed by the same salvo that hit the C.O.. I was dreadfully sorry about this; he was such a good fellow and had done so well in that night attack with D Company until he was wounded by the schu-mine. His father is a doctor in Southport, and Porter was destined for the same profession but said that he wanted to fight with the infantry before starting his medical training. That make seventy officer casualties since D-Day.

Company H.Q. was in the corner house opposite the square, and I decided to run the remainder of the battle from there. A Company was now moving across in the middle to clean up to a line between the church and the station, and D Company was occupying the houses just east and south of the church. B were then to move forward through C and D to clean up the rest of the water-front as far as the eastern corner of the town. It all sounds very easy when one writes it down, but this is far from being so. The clearing of every single house is a separate little military operation requiring a special reconnaissance, plan and execution. And the enemy have resisting fiercely all the time with spandaus, bazookas and snipers, and only withdrawing a little further back at the last moment when their position becomes untenable.

...

The enemy are now pushed back to a quite small area, about 200 yards by 200 yards, at the very east end of the town. B Company is trying to clean them up, as indeed they have been trying to do for the last three or four hours, while A, D and the Black Watch to the north are acting as stops to prevent the breaking out. Those Hun parachutists are incredibly tough. They have been chased out of France, Belgium and Holland, into Germany back over the Rhine, and now street by street across Rees into a corner. Yet they are still fighting it out. B Company had had a very difficult fight and the last two hours’ work has cost us three more officers. This morning I told Halleron that Porter had been killed. He replied “Oh, God! He was my greatest friend.” An hour later he himself was killed, shot through the back by a sniper while doing a recce at a street corner. Then MacDonald was hit by a whole burst of spandau or schmeisser; he has been evacuated but is paralysed and cannot possible live. Then Burrell, shot in the head. He was a spare office in B Company who only came up to take over the platoon to-day and off he went to it, full of great enthusiasm, to be killed within the hour.

It is 7 p.m. and we have just had a conference of company commandrs. Geroge arrived from B, saying; “Never say steel helmets aren’t any good”. He had been hit on his by a glancing bullet from a sniper, just at the join of the crown and the brim where the metal is of double thickness. It undoubtedly saved hi life.

The situation now is that the enemy are confined to the last hundred yards, at the very tip of the east end, but they are in a strong position with deep trenches and concrete, and any attempts to get at it are met by heavy fire. I am going to make a last effort with C Company, who are going round by the Black Watch to try to take this position form the rear. This has not hitherto been possible as 5th B.W. have only recently finished clearing up that area, for which they were able to use tanks. C Company will have one complete street to clear and then this final position, and if this comes off the job is finished and we can all get out our pyjamas. If they don’t succeed I shall get the street cleared with a bulldozer during the night and try to get two crocodiles up to the position at first light, and I have sent for a Brigade L.O. so that they can take preliminary steps to get hold of the crocs. Before this I will pull everybody back 200 yards and put down the hell of a stonk with NcNair’s 3.7 howitzers. O.C. C. Company and his platoon commanders are now visiting the Black Watch and doing a recce.

March 26th

Well, it came off, and the job was finished last night, thank goodness. Before C set off, B sent in four or five prisoners, including a captain who said he was in command. I appearedthat as soon as it was dark he told them all to split up into small groups to try to get through to the Geran lines. He was marched in front of me as I sat at my table poring over the map, and gave me a spectacular Hitler salute, which I ignored. I was very annoyed that, instead of bing killed to a man, they had appearently won in the end, excaping with their lives after shooting lots of our chaps. He was a nasty piece of work, cocksure and good looking the a flashy sort of way, but I had to admire the brave resistance which he has put up. The strain of the battle was apparent in the dark black of this eyes. He said that they had left eight badly wounded men in two dug-outs.

“Very well” I said. “You will guide C Company to them and you will have your hands tied behind you so that you do not slip away in the dark.

He began to complain that the soldiers who had taken him prisoner had stolen his note-case.

“My good man,” I replied, “the German Army has plundered everything they can lay their hand on in Europe. You surely don’t expect and sympathy from me?”

Then B Company sent word to say they had entered the strong-point which had caused all the trouble and that it was unoccupied, so we knew that C Company would have no trouble. About the same time we heard the Burrell was not dead, but hit in the back of the neck and lost a couple of fingers, and that they got him back as soon as it was dark. The doctor says he will recover, which is excellent news.

It was a great moment when at 10 p.m. we were able to send the signal that the town was clear. Since then we have been overloaded with congratulations. The Corps Commander and the Divisional Commander both visited us specially, and the Brigadier says he thinks it is the best thing the Battalion has ever done. The Corps Commander said that, in his experience, the best troops are whacked after twenty-four hours’ street fighting, but we had kept it up the forty-eight hours, against the best part of two enemy battalions of picked parachutists. Let us hope that these congratulations pay a dividend in the form of a good crop of decorations for the other ranks who have done so splendidly.

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