Xanten

Plan

The 2nd Canadian Division planned "an elaborate set-piece attack" with the British 129th Infantry Brigade and 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade ordered to capture Xanten, with 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade to push through and onto the high ground once the town was taken. Support included a smokescreen to mask observation from across the Rhine, tank support in the form of The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment and flamethrowing Crocodile tanks of the British 79th Armoured Division, and the artillery of two entire divisions as well as corps artillery assets.¹

The 129th Brigade was to use the road and railway from Calcar as their axis of advance, and seize the main part of Xanten and the neighbouring villages of Lüttingen and Beek. To their right, the 4th Canadian Brigade was to capture the western part of Xanten, establishing a Start Line for the 5th Brigade, who were to then seize the high ground south and east of the town.

German Intentions - the Wesel Pocket

The 1st Parachute Army had been given contradictory instructions in the first days of May; while reports came in of growing Allied presence on the west bank of the Rhine, General Alfred Schlemm - the commander of the army - had been ordered to hold the Rhine in order to keep the supply of coal moving to the naval facilities on the North Sea. Schlemm realized the danger of US forces attacking from the south into his rear and by the first week of Mar Schlemm had relocated his headquarters twice - from Xanten, which was heavily bombed from the air, to a village near Rheinberg, and then the second time to the east bank of the Rhine near Wesel. He designated the Wesel Pocket as a new defensive position, bounded by a U-shaped bend in the Rhine. His line would start at Xanten, curve along the Boenninghardt Ridge (the last stretch of high ground before the river), and circle back to Rheinberg opposite the Americans. Two bridges and a ferry at Wesel were the only means Schlemm had left of keeping communications and movement flowing across the river.²

Forces

German forces in the Xanten-Sonsbeck area consisted of:

• XLVII Corps

  • Parachute Division 6

  • Panzer Division 116

  • Infanterie Division 180

The Battle

129th Brigade

The attack started in darkness and driving rain, behind large artillery concentrations. The 4th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry attacked on the left behind Flail and Crocodile tanks. Their plan was to cross a wide anti-tank ditch on the Calcar road before sunrise, with the flame-throwing tanks covering them. Once crossed, a prefabricated Bailey Bridge was to be thrown across to allow supporting tanks to cross. However, heavy machine gun fire stopped the attack cold, and the Crocodiles were unable to quiet the guns. The artillery barrage lifted as scheduled, leaving the infantry forced to go ahead alone.

There was no alternative but for each section of the leading company, small groups of riflemen, to work forward to the ditch and cross it covered by the fire of their light machine guns. This they proceeded to do, then attacked and destroyed each of the enemy machine-gun teams in turn - classic infantry fighting. ³

While the Bailey Bridge proved to be twenty feet too short (measurements had been done from an air photograph), a scissors bridge fortuitously sent ahead by the division commander spared the SLI the prospect of house-to-house fighting without their armour support.

Ninety-eight percent of the historic city - the legendary birthplace of Siegfried - was destroyed as the Germans fought savagely to maintain their last foothold on the west bank (of the Rhine)...The German paratroopers (in Xanten) fought with such tenacity that when the battle finally wound down, Brigadier Joe Vandaleur, commander of 129th Brigade, saluted the German survivors as they were marched away to POW cages.⁴

4th Canadian Brigade

On the south side of the main road and highway to Calcar, the 4th Brigade had also set off in darkness and rain. Starting from a road 2,000 yards west of the road from Sonsbeck, the Essex Scottish (on the left) and Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (on the right) advanced steadily; the Essex reached the town by noon, having paused only to clear paratroopers from farms on the outskirts of the town. The RHLI, however, had been stopped cold. Advancing up a secondary road, two companies bypasssed a 55-foot wide crater past well-concealed German troops lying in ambush. They brought down artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire on the Canadians, killing two company commanders and capturing a third after his company was cut off. Heavy fire also came from Die Hees, a hilltop forest to the south of Xanten.

At noon, with the Essex in the town and the RHLI held up, Brigadier Cabeldu sent the Royal Regiment of Canada through the Essex to assist both the RHLI and the Somersets on the left. Fighting in the town was almost finished by late afternoon, and the SLI pushed forward to Beek. To the north, 5th Battalion, The Wiltshire Regiment had advanced over open fields to Lüttingen into a costly house-to-house fight, hampered by the Germans' ability to bring reinforcements in from the east.

Major-General Bruce Matthews of the 2nd Division sensed that the critical moment of the battle had arrived. Although the situation in Xanten was not clear, the time had come to strike for the enemy's most vulnerable point, the road and rail crossings of the Winnenhalter Canal at the edge of the Alter Rhein. He ordered the 5th Brigade to attack through Xanten as soon as they could move into position.⁵

5th Canadian Brigade

At 22:45hrs, Le Régiment de Maisonneuve drove through Xanten mounted on Kangaroos, with tanks and Flail tanks in support. Capturing 118 prisoners, they established a base on tree-covered hills south of Beek in the early minutes of 9 Mar. The Black Watch passed through to capture a road junction 1,000 yards further on. Brigadier Megill, commander of the 5th Brigade, passed the South Saskatchewan Regiment through Xanten to occupy the near side of the Die Hees forest while the Calgary Highlanders moved east to take high ground overlooking Birten and the Winnenhalter Canal crossings. Their objectives were taken before dawn under heavy shelling but light resistance.

The Maisonneuves moved through the Black Watch toward the canal crossings also against growing opposition; a captured paratrooper resulting from a firefight told of a 300-man force forming in nearby woods intending to cut off one of the lead Canadian companies. The Maisonneuves organized an attack supported by tanks and Crocodile and Wasp flamethrowers. With two troops of gun tanks isolating the woods and the flame vehicles setting trees and buildings aflame, the fight was over in short order and 200 more Germans surrendered. By the evening of the 9th, the Calgary Highlanders were able to resume the advance, and crossed the canal without opposition.⁶

Canadian armoured vehicle at Klever Tor, the entrance to Xanten, in Mar 1945. LAC Photo.	Klever Tor photographed in 2004. German Wikipedia Photo.

End of the Rhineland Fighting

The thought of "bouncing" the Rhine River now occurred to Canadian commanders; in the event, it was as unsuccessful as the plan to bounce the Walcheren Causeway the previous Oct. As a force of infantry, tanks and engineers were assembled to made a dash over the bridge at Wesel in the early morning on 10 Mar:

...suddenly, the operation was "off." From the direction of Wesel came two loud explosions as the Germans blew the last bridges over the Rhine.⁷

A handful of German parols were left on the Allied side of the river, and on the 10th the Canadians linked up with the British 52nd (Lowland) Division near Ginderich. On the 11th, Fort Blücher, opposite Wesel, surrendered to American troops.

The last battles of the bridgehead were fought by 52nd Lowland Division and a regiment of the US 35th Division. The Germans completed their evacuation on the night of 10-11 Mar and blew the Wesel bridges as ordered. This minor triumph could not hide the fact that what had been saved in men and equipment was hardly enough to offer a serious defence of the river line. On 11 Mar Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, who had so successfully slowed the Allied advance in Italy, was placed in command of all German forces in the west. The task he faced on the Rhine would be a far different proposition.⁷

 

Canadian troops in Xanten on 9 Mar 1945. LAC Photo by Ken Bell	Canadian troops pass German refugees near Xanten, 9 Mar 1945. LAC Photo by Ken Bell.

Battle Honours

The following Canadian units were awarded the Battle Honour "Xanten" for participation in this action:

79th British Armoured Division

• 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment

2nd Canadian Division

• The Toronto Scottish Regiment (MG)

4th Canadian Infantry Brigade

• The Royal Regiment of Canada

• The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry

• The Essex Scottish Regiment

5th Canadian Infantry Brigade

• The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada

• Le Regiment de Maisonneuve

• The Calgary Highlanders

6th Canadian Infantry Brigade

• The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada

• The South Saskatchewan Regiment

2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade

• The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment

Notes

1. Copp, Terry. The Brigade: The Fifth Canadian Infantry Brigade, 1939-1945 (Fortress Publications Inc., Stoney Creek, ON, 1992) ISBN 0919195164 p.182

2. Whitaker, Denis & Shelagh Rhineland: The Battle to End the War (Stoddart Publishing Company, Ltd., Toronto, ON, 1989) ISBN 0773753907 pp.263-264

3. Williams, Jeffery The Long Left Flank: The Hard Fought Way to the Reich, 1944-45 (Stoddart Publishing Company, Ltd., Toronto, ON, 1988) ISBN 0773721940 p.249

4. Whitaker, Ibid, p.275

5. Williams, Ibid, pp.249-250
6. Ibid, pp.250-251
7. Ibid, p.251
8. Copp, Terry. "The Battle for Xanten", article in Legion Magazine May/June 2003.