The intentions to document this information are long standing in that they go back some two decades to the early/mid 1990’s, just a few years before the subject of this site, James Kitchener Heath passed away.

As is the case in so many families in which a generation experienced war and all its traumas, certain aspects of service are known, but all too often the details are sketchy and disjointed. Add into this mix the passage of time and the result is invariably a collection of stories and fragments of memories accompanied by a handful of fragile and faded documents (if you are lucky) that represent the sum of information relating to the most extraordinary period in a soldier’s life. This was certainly the case in our family..... and it’s not much to go on.

In February 1995, my Father and I struggled to put together a potted service history to be read by the cleric presiding over my Grandfather’s funeral. At this point I decided to take steps to fill in some of the gaps as best I could.... sadly now without the benefit of first hand testimony.

A well known turn of phrase, ‘written on the back of a fag packet’ is defined by the Collins on-Line dictionary as something ‘composed or formed quickly and without detailed analysis or research’. As far as first hand source material for this history is concerned, no better a description could be made. The details gleaned from my Grandfather in brief (and often emotional) discussions in the 1990’s are summarised as a list of place names written in an old man’s shaky handwriting on the back of a standard envelope! (this will feature later). On the upside, a standard envelope is approximately twice the size of a cigarette packet, which immediately doubles the amount of information to work with!

By my own admission, this site is a little self-indulgent, being of primary interest to myself, my mother, my children and a handful of relatives still living in Staffordshire. In addition, it may be that the information presented here will be read by others outside of the family who have a passing interest in military or family history.

I would welcome any comments/suggestions or dare I say it relevant information to contact me.

adrianandrews@myyahoo.com

Sunday 3 December 2017

From Roosendaal to Nijmegen November 1944

In contrast to the living conditions experienced by the battalion in Normandy, accommodation in the Lowlands represented a significant upgrade with buildings replacing slit trenches. The men of the 11th RSF were spoiled for a time in Roosendaal when they were billeted within the houses of grateful Dutch families, in homes that were largely undamaged. Nevertheless, the enduring memory of the Roosendaal area is of an unpleasant place to be in late October/early November, as Colonel Douglas recalled ‘a nasty area because to move you had to stay on top of the dyke , if you got off the dyke you were in flooded fields, if you stayed on top you got shot, if you went down in the fields you got drowned or hit by the shells and mortars. Not very funny’. The Germans may have been in retreat at this point, heading with all speed for their own national border, but the terrain and the appalling weather conditions made for a demoralising and dangerous place to be.


Polar Bears in the vicinity of Roosendaal Station at the point of liberation
30th October 1944
(The Polar Bear insignia can be seen on the rear of the jeep in the foreground).


The fighting continued. German units fought rear-guard actions in the northern suburbs of Roosendaal as the main body of troops were evacuated north of the River Maas. At this time it was the responsibility of the battalion to harry the retreat. On 4th November, the battalion concentrated at Oud Gastel, little over four miles north of Roosendaal and was placed on one hour’s notice to move. That morning the German units were hastened in their retreat by harassing fire from medium machine gun fire and salvos of 4.2 inch mortars. At 1030 hours, the battalion moved off in pursuit with ‘B’ Company advancing on the right and ‘D’ Company on the left. ‘A’ and ‘C’ Companies remained in reserve. Initially, the advance was untroubled, however, in time ‘B’ and ‘D’ Companies, now joined by ‘C’ Company contacted the enemy and came under fire.


The ability of the engaged companies to fight was severely hampered by the necessity to restrict all movement to the top of the dykes. Such restrictions ruled out any tactical manoeuvres that may have been to the advantage of the advance. These movement constraints were understood by the enemy, who despite being in retreat, were in well dug in positions. With no tank support possible, the Germans allowed the forward British units to advance close to their positions with the knowledge that such close proximity would prevent the use of artillery. With ‘B’ Company pinned down in open ground and with the light failing prearranged positions were consolidated and here the Companies would stay for the night. The enemy withdrew from their positions overnight. Patrols were able to cover some distance the next morning (5th November) to the extent that a ‘D’ Company patrol contacted the Canadians as they advanced from the north and a patrol of ‘B’ Company reached as far as Dinteloord (approximately 11 miles to the north west of Roosendaal) where they too encountered the Canadians. By mid-morning the battalion received the order to return to their billets in Roosendaal, all except ‘A’ Company who were to hold the position until nightfall before returning to Roosendaal.


In the actions described above a total of 12 German fatalities and 37 prisoners were accounted for, for 4 killed, 19 wounded and 1 missing of the battalion.


The atrocious conditions have been mentioned earlier and one specific mention of the hardship endured by the men on account of the poor weather is recorded in the Summary of Operations:



‘One platoon was immersed to the waist in water for about 5 hours and it reflects on the good training and stamina that only one man had to be evacuated the following day as a result of this long enforced immersion’. 


This paragraph struck a chord with me since one of my Grandfather’s stories told of how he spent a very unpleasant night perched on a seat of bricks, immersed to the waist in water in charge of a yardstick to monitor the rate at which the water was rising. However, when this anecdote was related to William Douglas, he stated that it was his belief that this would have been a memory of the time spent in Haalderen rather than Roosendaal.


The remainder of the month of November was very mobile for the battalion, but the days were spent in rest rather than in battle. Early in the month, the battalion was transferred from Roosendaal, eastwards and at the same time they parted from the 1st Canadian Army to come under the command of XII Corps of the British Second Army. The battalion concentrated in the town of Soerendonk. Here they engaged in training exercises mixed with entertainment activities until 23rd November when they moved eastwards once more to Blerick on the west bank of the River Maas. From here the intention was to launch an attack on the town of Venlo, approximately one mile away on the other side of the river. Preparations were in hand with recces and patrols carried out in order to establish the nature of the terrain, the strength of the German units to the Brigade front, anything that would confer an advantage upon the attackers. In the event, the responsibility for assaulting Venlo was passed over to 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division. However, Venlo, with its large airfield which served as a base for Luftwaffe nightfighters, was not finally liberated until 1st March 1945.


The battalion received orders to move to an area to the north of Nijmegen where they were to relieve the men of 231st Brigade of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division. Reaching a staging post in the village of Mill (approximately 20 miles distant to the south of Nijmegen) the relief of the 1st Dorsets of the 231st Brigade was effected by 1930 hours on the evening of 29th November.


The 11th Battalion RSF had taken up positions in a notorious area known simply as ‘The Island’, an area of marshy polder that lay between the River Waal to the north of Nijmegen and the Neder Rijn (Lower Rhine) to the south of Arnhem. This tract of land was unpleasant in the extreme by the time the Polar Bears arrived in late November, low lying and flooded. The bodies of British and German fighters remained where they had fallen in the vicious fighting of late September/early October, when the Allies desperately tried to come to the aid of the 1st British Airborne Division, then confined to the Oosterbeek Perimeter to the western suburbs of Arnhem.

‘The Island’ framed by the Waal and Neder Rijn.


The battalion would be associated with this dreadful place for a period of over five months.

The Nijmegen Bridge viewed in the direction of Arnhem. The area known as 'The Island' can be seen across the River Waal. The church in Lent can be seen in the centre of the photograph.


The area of operation for the 49th Division was at the eastern end of the Island. The following chapter describes the actions of the 7th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and the 11th Royal Scots Fusiliers to repulse a determined German effort to reach the Nijmegen Bridge once again.


This was not the first time that the village of Haalderen had found itself on the frontline. During the ‘Garden’ operation of ‘Market Garden’ the necessity of holding Nijmegen Bridge and the bridgehead was well understood. The defence of the bridgehead took the fight into the villages of Bemmel, Baal and Haalderen. In late September, the 6th and 7th Battalion of the Green Howards (50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division) attempted to take Haalderen which was then fiercely defended by the soldiers of the 10th SS Panzer Division. Consequently, the village was badly damaged as the Germans withdrew in the first week of October.

'Where's The Bear?' Roosendaal, Holland 16th May 2015

Fresh off the Beveland Peninsula and a little wind burned we next headed to Roosendaal as we continued our Polar Bear trail. With not much time to spend in this city our visit was intended to be something of a ‘hit and run’ to the Polar Bear memorial before heading out of town. This would have been the case had the navigator (i.e. me) had the foresight of planning and noted down the location of this memorial in advance. As it was after completing several circuits of the central streets of the town we were on the verge of admitting defeat when we came across its location quite by accident.





Compared to the quiet dignity of the memorial at Wuustwezel, the monument in Roosendaal is rather disappointing. Sited in a small square at the intersection of Tufberg and Kade, the inscriptions on the plinth have suffered at the hands of the elements and the poor old Polar Bear that looks out across Roosendaal would benefit from the brief attention of a sand blaster. The burger van parked up against the base did nothing to enhance the moment. Nevertheless, none of these cosmetic flaws in any way detract from the significance of the memorial to the people of the city.



The inscription on the monument, translated from Dutch reads:

TO COMMEMORATE THE
LIBERATION OF ROOSENDAAL
ON 26 - 30 OCTOBER 1944
BY THE POLAR BEAR DIVISION