The Drive North
After the Rhine
crossing in March 1945, the First Canadian Army was given two tasks: the liberation of the western Netherlands, and a drive to the North Sea
protecting the left flank of the British 2nd Army driving into
northern Germany.
Seven allied
armies (now) fanned out in a spectacular six-week 200-mile armoured
drive across Germany that culminated in the German surrender on May
8.2
First Canadian Army
became operational at midnight on 1 April 1945, with the 1st
Canadian Corps, having arrived from Italy, taking its place under
command and the 1st British Corps reverting to command of 2nd
British Army.
Strategically, on 1 April
the 1st and 9th United States Armies completed their encirclement of the
Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland, eventually cutting the pocket in
two on 8 April and completing its destruction on 18 April, destroying
Army Group B (composed of 5th Panzer Army and 15th Army) and collecting
315,000 prisoners. The 9th U.S. Army returned to American command,
having been subordinated to the 21st Army Group during operations in the
Rhineland.
In the west 1st Canadian
Corps attacked to open the Arnhem-Zutphen road, allowing 2nd Canadian
Corps to move northeast in support of their goals. Arnhem and
Apeldoorn were liberated on 14 and 17 April respectively.
Secondary objectives
made themselves apparent as the malnutrition rife among the civil
population was observed by troops of 1st Canadian Corps, indicating a
general famine in the western Netherlands. Wary of prompting German
flooding (as had been done at Walcheren), the corps stopped its
advance on 22 April and instead negotiated a truce to deliver food to
the starving population.
The advance of 2nd
Canadian Corps to their right was rapid, though enemy resistance was
still serious in places, such at Zutphen and along the Twente Canal,
where the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division was halted by
Infanterie
Division 361. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division also faced
considerable opposition, notably at Groningen. The 4th Canadian (Armoured)
Division advanced into Germany early in April, reaching the Küsten Canal
on the 14th.
2nd Canadian Corps
Across the Rhine
As the 1st Canadian
Corps was engaged in operations in the western Netherlands, the 2nd
Canadian Corps was clearing out the last pockets of German
resistance in the northwestern Netherlands, and advancing into
Germany itself.
2nd
Canadian Division
The
2nd Division crossed the Twente Canal in early April and by 6 April had
reached the Schipbeek Canal; the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of
Canada managed to cross the obstacle with the assistance of small
airborne drops of French and Belgian parachutists on 7/8 April. With the
8th Reconnaissance Regiment in the van and the armoured cars of The
Royal Canadian Dragoons on the flank, the division reached Beilan on 12
April and took Assen the next day, netting 600 prisoners. On 13 April,
the division reached
Groningen,
the provincial capital where a major battle including Dutch SS troops
occupied the entire 2nd Canadian Division for four days. Over 2,000
prisoners were taken at a cost of 209 casualties. In the meantime, the
RCD had captured Leeuwarden and reached the North Sea.
3rd
Canadian Division
The 3rd Canadian Division
cleared Deventer on 11 April, faced sparse resistance at Zwolle, Meppel
and Steenwijk, and sent the divisional reconnaissance battalion at
Leeuwarden to find The Royal Canadian Dragoons had beaten them to the
punch. In a 26 day, 115 mile advance from the Rhine, the division took
4,600 prisoners and bridged 30 canals. The division was briefly sent
east in relief of the 1st Polish Armoured Division in the third week of
April, west of the Ems, south of Delfzijl, where the Canadian Scottish
and Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment fought at Wagenborgen before handing
responsibility for the Delfzijl Pocket to the 5th Canadian (Armoured)
Division.
4th
Canadian (Armoured) Division
The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division crossed the Twente Canal on 4 April and had reached the Ems, finding
flooded terrain making poor going for tanks. The commander of 1st
Canadian Army refused to attach the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division to
the British 30th Corps while the 2nd Canadian Corps prepared for
Operation CANNONSHOT far to the south and the division continued its
drive over the Overijsselsch Canal, to Coevorden and into Meppen on
April 5. According to the Canadian Army's official history:
The following day
the 4th Armoured Brigade occupied the suburbs of Meppen on the left
bank of the Ems, while the 10th Infantry Brigade encountered
somewhat stiffer resistance at Wierden, only a few miles west of
Almelo. Evidently fearing a movement by our troops across his
northward line of retreat to Groningen, the enemy was surprisingly
active in this area, and Wierden was not finally cleared until the
9th.3
In the meantime, The
Algonquin Regiment had moved into Almelo, a town with a population of
35,000. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada had "whisked in
and out", and the Alqonquins followed in their wake to determine what
enemy was present in and around the town. Suspecting enemy forces in
sizeable numbers to the west and south-west, "D" Company was ordered to
exploit towards Wierden, 3,000 yards to the west, on 4 April. A
reconnaissance party went out in the afternoon to gather information for
the company's mission that night, mainly to secure a bridgehead over the
canal during a silent operation that night. "C" Company, posted to the
south-west portion of the Almelo perimeter, made contact with the enemy
also and located one of the German observation posts.
"D" Company's show
that night was to prove an utter fiasco. To secure surprise, and to
get across the canal without detection, a rather weird plan was laid
on. The canal in question originated just north of Almelo, flowed
westward for 3000 yards, and then went south across the highway.
Afternoon reconnaissance had disclosed no enemy near Almelo, so it
was decided that one platoon would cross at this near point, while a
second, remaining on the near bank, would parallel their advance
west toward Wierden and the highway. In that way, the near platoon
could protect the far one in the event of trouble. Company H.Q. and
the third platoon would proceed up the highway, sweeping for mines
as they went, and keeping the Engineer bulldozer handy to clear the
tree-obstacle which clocked the road. Unfortunately, communication
was by runner only, wireless being impractical at the time. The
runner messages came in regularly, reporting progress as planned,
culminating with the information that both platoons were across the
canal and dug in, with no casualties. The signal was given to get
the bulldozer cracking, and the third platoon began to move swiftly
up the road toward Wierden, just as first light broke. Immediately
there was a terrific hail of small arms fire spraying the length of
the road. Several vehicles of the Engineers were hit, but there were
no casualties. At that moment came another runner, and in a second
it was tragically clear how far away from their objective the other
two platoons were. Somehow, in the darkness, they had taken a wrong
turn, gone eight hundred yards north instead of west, returned,
crossed what they thought was the canal required, and dug in. Later
in the day they were found 2000 yards back of the company H.Q. and
the other platoon. Needless to say, the C.O. was not very pleased
with this, and "D" Company had to make a second daylight effort
right down the highway, this time supported by artillery. The second
attempt was also a failure, and a costly one. The enemy concentrated
his fire on the narrow highway area, knocked out one tank and
narrowly missed another, and mowed down the infantry advancing to
the canal. One officer, Lieut. Richard, was killed, and Lieut.
Dirassar was wounded. The lead platoon suffered fourteen casualties,
three-quarters of their strength, the second one suffered three
more. Wierden was evidently going to be a tougher nut than had been
at first appreciated.4
The Carrier Platoon,
looking for revenge, carried out a raid on the northern outskirts of
Almelo on 6 April, and in a short fight against an estimated 160
Germans, killed 20 and captured 15 more using flamethrowers, mortars and
Bren guns, driving the remainder back to the north. "C" Company to the
south-west also sent out a patrol to clear out the OP they had spotted,
came under fire, but sent in a successful platoon attack later on the
evening of 6 April. At midnight, an enemy counter-attack aimed at
cutting the road to the south was beaten off by "C" Company with the aid
of a searchlight battery and a light anti-aircraft detachment. On the
night of 6/7 April, information gathered from civilians indicated the
Germans were pulling back from the canal and a platoon from "A" Company
crossed the obstacle and established a position inside a factory, while
engineers bulldozed a large crater on the highway. However, the enemy
was not withdrawing from Wierden itself, and attempts to reinforce the
platoon across the canal failed, as did an attempt to get "D" Company
across the water to the south. During the day on 7 April, Typhoon
fighter-bombers were called on to attack German anti-tank guns with
rockets and bombs. The Mortar Platoon established itself in the former
headquarters of Anton Mussert, the Dutch Nazi. By 9 April, Algonquin
patrols established that the Germans had slipped away from Wierden and
"C" Company moved in; the regimental history credited a day of rocket
and bomb attacks by Typhoons on the 8th for persuading the Germans to
pull out.5
While the Algonquins were occupied at
Wierden, the remainder of the division was on the move north again. The
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's),
fighting with the 4th Canadian Armoured Brigade, made an assault
crossing of the Ems at Meppen and captured the town with the loss of
only one casualty. German prisoners included a number of 17-year old
youths with only six to eight weeks of total military experience.6
Beyond
Meppen lay Sögel, and the Lake Superior Regiment had to fight off
several German counter-attacks before declaring the town cleared.7
Plaque commemorating The Algonquin
Regiment, Wierden, Netherlands, 2 July 1945. (L-R): Major Robert
Saville, Major L.C. Taylor. LAC photo.
5th
Canadian (Armoured) Division
After Operation CLEANSER,
the 5th Division moved north to relieve the 3rd Canadian Infantry
Division south of Delfzil and ordered to clear the Germans from west of
the Ems estuary. The division fought to clear the
Delfzijl Pocket between 25 and 30 April. With the port captured, The
Irish Regiment of Canada advanced to the west, capturing 4,150 more
prisoners in their final actions of the war.
German prisoner of war
camps, such as Stalag VI C, began to fall to Allied soldiers, as well
as concentration camps. German resistance ended by early May,
following the fall of Berlin and the suicide of Adolf Hitler. Victory
in Europe Day was announced on 7 May 1945 to take effect at one minute
past midnight on May 8.
Notes
-
McKay, A. Donald Gaudeamus Igitur
(Bunker to Bunker Books, Calgary, AB, 2005) , p,226
-
Whitaker, Denis & Shelagh Whitaker
Rhineland: The Battle to End the War (Stoddart
Publishing Co. Ltd., Toronto, ON, 1989)
ISBN 0773753907 p. 346
-
Stacey, C.P. Official History of
the Canadian Army in the Second World War: Volume III: The Victory
Campaign: The Operations in North-west Europe 1944-45
(Queen's Printer, Ottawa, ON, 1960), p.557
-
Cassidy, G.L. Warpath: From
Tilly-la-Campagne to the Küsten Canal (Ryerson Press,
Toronto, ON, 1948) PaperJacks Edition 1980 ISBN 0-7701-0147-X
pp.336-338
-
Ibid, pp.338-340
-
Stacey, Ibid
-
Williams, Jeffery The Long Left Flank: The Hard Fought Way
to the Reich, 1944-1945 (Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd.,
Toronto, ON, 1988) ISBN 0-7737-2194-0 p.276
References
- Terry Copp and Robert Vogel,
Maple Leaf Route: Victory, 1988
