Peter White and his Platoon in B Company of the 4th Bn Kings Own Scottish Borderers took part in the fighting in the Rhineland, from late February to early March. His first action, at the historic Dutch castle Kasteel Blijenbeek, was covered in the chapters Operation ‘Veritable’, Halted in Broederbosch and Contact Lost.
Hearts pounding and tummies aflutter we commenced advancing towards the rim of the wood and the waiting enemy, fixing bayonets as we went, cocking the weapons and pushing off the safety catches. Our armour, revving heavily in the thick sand and accompanied by the Observation Officer's artillery Weasel, was moving beside and ahead of us. As the fascine-carrying tanks lurched clear of the trees and into enemy view, the roar of their engines was overshadowed by a series of ear-splitting crashes from either two or three 88mm German anti-tank guns. As tongues of flame and darkly coiling smoke licked and billowed up from the stricken leading tanks, those high-velocity solid shots that had missed, scythed back with hideous crashing echoes deep in the woods to our rear, toppling and smashing the trees in their paths. At the same moment, to complete the dismal prospect the Germans opened up heavily with cascading mortars and field artillery on the forward rim of the woods through which we were crouching and dashing forward from cover to thinning cover towards what was beginning to look like a singularly unsavoury form of mass suicide. I could already feel my clothes were wet with my sweating, tense exertions and the empty feeling at the pit of one's stomach, which had seemed so insistent at the start line, was becoming freed by the excitement despite the prospect. The seemingly inevitable shambles that all battles appear to be had commenced. pp.169-170.
The book’s chapters on the attack on the castle and the period dug in, in Broederbosch Wood, is rich in such description. He provides a number of place names and there are contemporary resources – period aerial photos, that can broadly locate Peter White’s movements. However, it is not possible to exactly place him, so I have read the passages and used my visit in March 2003, to walk the ground and try and put myself in his position. What follows are photos of my visit (18 years later I wonder why I took so few) with my attempt to relate them to the passages in the book. Please note that Broederbosch Wood and Afferden Wood, the plantation around Kasteel Blijenbeek - are used interchangeably, they are the same feature.
North West Europe
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| Overview of attack by 52nd (Lowland) Division, 8 Feb 1945, between Goch and River Maas. |
Overview: The Rhineland Offensive, February-March 1945
Operation VERITABLE (Battle of the Reichswald), commencing
on 8 Feb 1945, was the northern part of an Allied pincer movement whose purpose
was to close with the Rhine, in preparation for the final invasion across the River
Rhine. The Operation was meant to be a short, armoured thrust across frozen ground
through light German opposition. However, freezing weather broke at the end of
January 1945 and the resulting thaw resulted in significant flooding and muddy
conditions. The Germans used these conditions to their advantage, deliberately
flooding low laying land and slowed Allied armour as it struggled in the mud. Further,
German sabotage of the southern dams on the River Roer delayed the American
part of the pincer, Operation GRENADE, until 25 February, permitted the
Wehrmacht to direct all defence to the north. What was meant to be a short offensive, lasted
over a month, until the final German withdrawal east of the River Rhine on 11
March 1945.
The operation was conducted by the Anglo-Canadian 21st Army
Group (Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery) and primarily consisted of the First
Canadian Army under Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar and the reinforced British
XXX Corps under Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks.
By the end of the second week of the offensive, the 52nd (Lowland) Division joined in the attack. Its role was to roll up the German left flank, resting to the west against the River Maas. Terrain consisted largely of rolling countryside, low hills and many wooded plantations. Flooding was used to create tactical defensive barriers to mitigate against the Allied advantage in armour.
The publication ‘Mountain and Flood: The History Of The 52nd (Lowland) Division, 1939-1946’ relates:
Kasteel Blijenbeek was a medieval castle in Holland, 4,000 yards from German Frontier. The walls of this castle were very thick and solid; 25-pounder and 5.5-in. shells made no impression. It was eventually dealt with by Spitfires with 1,000-lb. bombs. At the time of the attack by 155 Inf Bde. and 34 Armd Bde on Feb. 18, the River Maas was in full flood and the low-lying ground to the left of the anti-tank ditches was flooded or sodden. Enemy Self-propelled. guns covered by the bank of the main anti-tank ditch were able to move up and down the length of it and pickoff our immobilised tanks at short range.
This clearing of the extreme flank on the Maas was an operation of great importance in relation to the general advance on the broad front that stretched away to the Rhine, but it was not immediately decisive. For some days, the Germans held the Division on the line of the anti-tank ditch with intense and accurate gun- and mortar-fire and with an almost admirably stubborn refusal to move from the Kasteel. The Reconnaissance Regiment was continually in bitter action with German remnants in the spinneys about the hamlet of Rempeld on the south-western fringe of the wood. The 6th Bn., the Highland Light Infantry, ran into plenty of trouble in an approach to Groote Horst, a hamlet along the road to the east. One direct attempt to knock out the Kasteel by infantry assault caused heavy casualties among two platoons of the 5th Bn, Highland Light Infantry, for although it was held by probably no more than Is parachute troops, they were so determined, their machine guns so accurately trained on the few possible approaches to and through the thick walls of the ancient keep, that the enterprise was almost certain death for attackers on foot, who must either use a cause-way across the moat or an assault boat. The Germans are believed to have provisioned and reinforced their small garrison in the Kasteel by floating planks across the anti-tank ditch in the hours of darkness. These isolated paratroopers even advised the attacking platoons, in English, to surrender in a hopeless attempt. As a delaying action, the holding of the Kasteel was a German success. None of the Lowlanders cherish the memory of their expensive and abortive attempts to break down the strongpoint by direct assault.
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| Afferden Area, from 'Mountain and Flood' |
When, on February 18, the 4th Bn, the King's Own
Scottish Borderers, supported by the Churchill tanks of the 34th Armoured
Brigade made across the 700 yards or so of broken ground between Afferden Wood
and the Kasteel, it was to be met by such a murderous fire from the higher
ground behind the keep, and to lose so many tanks, that the attack was called
off. An attempt by one company of this battalion to rush Kasteel Blijenbeek was
another costly, if gallant, failure. The strongpoint was not silenced until a
dashing attack by dive-bombing Typhoons of the 84 RAF Group (cheered by every
man of the 52nd Division) dropped nine 500 lb. bombs upon it. We need not
grudge the Germans our meed of admiration for their pluck and toughness, even
if we know now that the desperation was that of suicide on the national scale.
They had been beaten in fair fight. They might stick to the Kasteel for
legitimate purposes of delay, but their left had been decisively unhinged by
the attack of the Lowlanders down the axis, Gennep-Afferden. The rocket-firing
Typhoons had some vicious play with the Kasteel, and there was actually a plan
to stage another full-dress divisional attack on the enemy positions
here-abouts. Events elsewhere made it unnecessary in the long run. The U.S. 9th
Army set upon the enemy in the Roer district to the south. The Canadian and
British divisions were going great guns, though with much loss of blood,
through the flat country between the Reichswald and the Rhine. The Boche
admitted the plain meaning of the writing on the wall and started to pull back
what he could of his depleted forces. He had done well according to his lights,
but it was almost his last defensive battle on the grand scale. Early in the
morning of March z the Reconnaissance Regiment of the 52nd got a small force
across the anti-tank ditch, whence it proceeded to occupy high ground near a
brick works. This success was followed up quickly by the 4th K.O.S.B., who
completely secured this stubborn bridgehead.
PETER WHITE'S ACCOUNT
Chapter: Operation 'Veritable'
The plan was
to carry out a 2-phase attack in conjunction with the 7th/9th
Royal Scots, through woods, and over 6 miles of country, with a Company
objective of some houses on a crossroads at Siebengewald, next to a large
seminary on the Dutch-German border.
In the first phase the Royal Scots were to clear Afferden
woods, several miles in extent. We were to follow through, making our way
across country via Molenhuis farm on the edge of the wood across an anti-tank
ditch, over open fields via a group of houses called Kleine Horst and clearing
several small woods, and a village of Kreftenheije, while the Royal Scots took
Groote Horst village on our right. Finally, we had a customs house and another
small wood to deal with before digging in. Our Platoon objective was the
customs house.
In view of
subsequent events, and the strength of the enemy, these objectives seemed
wildly optimistic, especially as we were in the heart of the Siegfried Line
defences. As a cross-country route march with all our kit and no enemy it
would, as we were to see, have been physically exhausting.
Meanwhile,
word came back that the attack had run into far fiercer resistance than had
been bargained for halfway through the wood. This resulted in a hurried fresh
set of 'O' Groups, and a drastic change of plan. The new plan was to try to
penetrate from the northern to the southern part of Afferden wood (it was in
two main blocks) via Kasteel Blijenbeek, a moated castle in the central
clearing, then skirt the eastern part of the southern block of woods along an
anti-tank ditch, then penetrate to a group of houses called Koepel in this
southern wood, and dig in there on high ground ready for any trouble before
first light. (pp. 164-165)
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| Approximate axis of advance |
The Ground: Afferden Wood
Our path lay
down a gradual slope, revealing the sandy rides with which the woods were split
into rectangular blocks of about 500 x 250 yards apiece, each track being 40-60
feet wide. The engineers had cut the rides that were being used as the main
axis into two sections divided by mine tape on poles and lit at intervals by
coloured, shaded lamps facing back from the enemy one side for use by wheeled,
and the other by tracked vehicles. (p. 166)
At 3 in the
morning on 18 February, sand spilling in on top of me as I tried to doze marked
the arrival of a runner from Company HQ to call -`O' Group, Mr White
Surr!' The enemy had been heavily resisting the 5th KOSB in their advance
overnight with strong points and snipers cunningly sited in the dark maze
forest sections, and had now been located in determined strength dug in in the
vicinity of the Kasteel/Blijenbeek, and on the high ground dominating the space
between the two blocks of forest.
The depth of penetration in the last plan had had to be
modified again. A and C companies were to creep from the rim of our block of
forest before first light and dig in just short of the anti-tank ditch, which
was unexpectedly flooded on the right flank. At 0730 hours a heavy barrage was
to come down on the enemy for a full hour before we in B Company, followed at
an interval by D Company to leapfrog through, were to attack over 500 to 700
yards of low, open ground crossing the Afferden—Goch road, clearing the enemy
from the sandy high ground and dig in there before full light. Churchill tanks
and AVREs were to come up with us to bridge the anti-tank ditch with fascines
for our crossing.
Aerial: then/now
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| Period aerial photo, from 'Mountain and Flood.' |
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| Modern aerial photo with period features overlaid and with references to events in text. |
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| This relates my numbered photos to location, I stitch #1 together to make a landscape and the golf course to the south of the Kasteel did not exist in 2003. |
There were no sounds of fighting ahead now, only the occasional revving of a tank engine or the squeak of its tracks faintly echoing in the wood somewhere behind us. The weight of our wet kit hung oppressively, cutting into our shoulders with the webbing, and we were glad when just before 7.30 word came to halt and dig in, covering an arc of low bogland in which our spades struck water a few inches below the surface. This was the start line for the attack, the Kasteel being in an open space somewhere through the next thin strip of wood on our left front.
We were to dig in in case of enemy retaliation during the
barrage. Most of the chaps had got some shallow sort of hole started when from
behind came the ominous increasing roar of the discharge of many guns, then
swiftly, in rising volume and pitch, the shriek of droves of shells, which we
could tell would land short, approximately in our positions. The barrage had
started.
Those of us who were lucky enough to have a sand scoop to
drop into, even if waterlogged, did so. As happened so often, the officers and
NCOs, being engaged in 'O' Groups, had none and so we tried to mould ourselves
to ruts in the track. For several minutes, until the guns had been corrected by
radio to lift up over the trees by several hundred yards, the sand blossomed
and cascaded about us, and trees toppled and splintered to the accompaniment of
the most awful noise.
This carelessness on the part of our gunners drew searing,
pithy comments from the Jocks to match the acid reek of cordite filling the air
about us. Quite a lot of snow, which had not yet thawed, lay around and we
could see from several gaping dark craters nearby, still steaming in the cold
air, that we had been very fortunate not to have any hit.
The ammunition expended on this barrage must have been
phenomenal. The sky overhead pulsated with a solid, continuous, moaning shriek
of descending projectiles, while the muffled, vibrant drumming of explosions
seemed to quite carpet the enemy positions. This display was to be surpassed by
subsequent barrages shortly to follow. No wonder a captured German RSM asked in
all seriousness later if he could be allowed to see our `belt-fed 25-pounders'. (pp. 167-168)
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| Photo 1: Landscape of open ground to north of Kasteel Blijenbeek in which A and C Companies dug in. The position of my photos of trench remains in Afferden Wood is marked. |
Advance to Contact
As the hour of the barrage drew to its close, and we were
gathering our thoughts for the coming effort, the roar of powerful engines
throbbed into life down a track on our right, and a Weasel carrier followed by
three Churchill tanks, each carrying a large fascine of brushwood, came into
view. These were to bridge the anti-tank ditch for us. At the same moment Smyg
gave us the word in 10 Platoon to move forward after Tommy Gray's platoon,
bordering the track towards the open, keeping within cover of the trees.
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| Churchill tank with fascines (brushwood) being dropped into ditch. (Wikipedia) |
So far everything had gone according to plan in the approach. Although the two forward companies had had a very hurried task in getting dug in on their positions overlooking the anti-tank ditch before dawn, they had managed to probe for a few hundred yards with a couple of quick recce patrols. These had established that on the left the bridge was blown and that on the right the land was flooded. It would be the job of these two forward companies to give us covering fire as we attacked. (p. 168)
I was moving with my Pln HQ on the track rim with about 30 yards to go to the edge of the wood. The head of this track was now luridly lit with towering sheets of petrol-, oil- and rubber-fed flame, darkening the surroundings with the smoke-pall: a heart tearing sight in its implications. The artillery Weasel was blazing furiously about 20 feet away, with ammunition starting to cook off inside. A smoking figure, we supposed the driver, tumbled out of this furnace and staggered to collapse in some bushes. It was not clear whether the rest of the crews of these vehicles had got out, but the crash of the shells cooking off inside the tanks told it was too late anyway. To add to the worries of the forward platoon, whose every effort to advance clear of the wood was driven back by intense machine gun fire and sniping, they and we waiting our turn now realised we would have to forfeit the support of the tanks both in their covering fire and in their bridging the ditch. This inferno of explosion, smoke and flame and the singing pelt of metal in the air induced the commander of the remaining unhit tank beside the Weasel to assess the odds as too heavy. He crashed noisily into reverse and churned frantically back to get out of sight of the German guns, flinging sand over us from his spinning tracks while two of my Jocks jumped clear as the hot-fumed monster ripped past scraping the bank and trees. (p. 170)
Platoon Digging In, Afferden Wood
Meanwhile, as it was impossible under the circumstances to
press the attack in its present form, there was the inevitable uncomfortable
delay while hurried '0' Groups were held at a higher level, and we crouched
waiting. There was no roofing to our foxholes and the shrapnel was a menace,
cascading down in a hail of steel when each bomb or shell exploded on touching
the trees overhead. Young Smith, my batman, and the other new chaps, though
tense, drawn and frightened, were standing the first loss well.
As time went on the tracks splitting the wood were becoming
increasingly difficult to cross due to accurate sniping. Lt 'Jock' Beattie
trying to cross one fast, tripped and fell, rolling into a tank rut and was
accompanied by pursuing bullets. There he was stuck for a long while. He
confessed to me later that while trapped there he had overcome with difficulty
the idea of holding up an arm or leg to get an easy 'Blighty wound'.
Smyg, back from his 'Orders' Group at Battalion HQ in the
next block of woods behind us, revealed that we were all, starting with my
Platoon, to dig in over the track; however, I was to cross with him first to
carry out a recce for the new Company positions south-west through the wood
towards the village of Rempeld.
We both paused at the edge of the track before showing ourselves, to try to sense the rhythm of the snipers' activities, then with that same odd feeling of excitement experienced as a child in evading the haphazard blows of a pillow in 'Blind-man's buff', we both dashed for cover on the far side. The crackle of bullets into the bushes behind us confirmed we had been wise in our caution. A couple of hours later Capt David Colville, trying to get back to report to Battalion HQ, was fatally shot through the head and his sergeant was wounded when they chose the wrong moment for the same crossing; a very sad loss to the Battalion (of Colville's Steel family).
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| Photo 2: Track due south of Kasteel, remains of trenches on Wood's edge. |
Once over, we both moved forward very carefully in case any enemy were still dug in there as we were moving on the extreme right flank of the Battalion area, with a gap between ourselves and the Recce Regt. As we moved we could hear the mortar bombs were pasting Bn HQ a bit back towards the track junction.
We heard later that one of the Alsatian war dogs there had
gone quite bomb happy, cowering whimpering in a hole and refusing to come out.
We quickly fixed rough layouts in our minds for the Platoon areas and Coy HQ,
and were making our way back when we both paused in astonishment to listen, not
quite trusting our ears that we were hearing correctly. About 50 yards ahead of
us the wood finished on a road that ran along its rim, beyond which lay A
Company pinned in full view of the enemy. Along this road from the right we
could hear the sounds of an approaching convoy of 3-ton trucks which we knew
from their distinctive revving whine were ours.
Whoever they were, they obviously did not realise they were
placidly wandering right across the front line lengthwise, and in excellent
view of at least two 88mm anti-tank guns and all that the enemy possessed in
the way of small arms. That they had got as far as this from Afferden village
and through Rempeld village unscathed seemed to be only due to the fact that
the enemy must have been even more staggered at the sight than we were.
As Smyg and I crawled forward to peer down from a ridge of
high ground in the wood to make out what was going on we heard voices of
shouted warning from A Company.
The trucks, five 3-tonners, must either not have heard or not have understood for the drivers continued steadily on in convoy towards the smashed Weasel and burned-out tanks. As the vehicles drew level with us down a slight slope through the trees, the air overhead and in the trees about us crashed deafeningly to the bark of an 88mm gun's missiles and the numerous crackles of small-arms fire. Smyg and I dropped to the sandy pine-carpeted earth and crawled frantically backwards as fast as we could down the reverse slope to get out of line of the pelting hail of metal which cut ricocheting through the trees with an appalling, echoing racket.
One by one the trucks crunched to a stop with engines still running. The drivers piled out and fled back through the wood past us to the right, crouching and tripping in their desperation to get clear, running like chased rabbits. Within seconds the first three trucks, then the other two, were burning furiously. The reason for their hurried retreat, we soon realised, was not just to get clear of the shooting. Frank had just joined us to see what was afoot when a series of indescribably devastating explosions occurred, each blast being followed by towering 60- to 100-foot sheets of flame and reddish-black smoke leaping and coiling high above the tree-tops. At each fresh explosion — and there seemed no end to them — the flames towered to greater heights. Pieces of the trucks, axles, wheels and bits of engines of all sizes buzzed and sizzled through the air at tremendous speed, then clattered and thudded heavily into the trees over a wide area.
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| Photo 3: Track on rim of Afferden Wood on which lorries were attacked (looking south-east). |
The three of us rushed for some cover more substantial than a tin hat and scrambled panting and puzzled into a German dugout. We could not think what it was the trucks contained to produce so vast and sustained a display of flame and explosion which continued for over half an hour. The answer was supplied later by a sheepish driver, almost unnerved by his experience, who stated that the trucks had been loaded with several tons of 5.5-inch shells and many hundreds of gallons of petrol and oil in jerrycans. These numerous containers instead of all exploding in one go, had cooked off steadily in batches in the increasing heat. We later heard that A Company had nearly been 'cooked' as their wet clothes steamed dry some yards distant. These trucks should have stopped far to the rear, but a military policeman had wrongly directed them. When the worst of the explosions and spinning debris had spent its fury, we scuttled back to the Company to bring them over the track to dig in. The double traversing of the track was accomplished in safety despite the still active snipers who were now also using a machine gun in short bursts.
Seeing our movements the enemy had obviously passed back information on our new positions to his heavier weapons. As we spread out through the pine woods in section groups to dig in, our self-congratulation at having cheated the snipers was cut short by the depressing whoosh-whoosh of ascending Moaning Minnie rocket projectiles in the distance. (173-175)
My Platoon, with positions laid out
to cover all approaches, had just commenced digging in when the enemy,
evidently hearing or seeing us through the trees from his hill, gave us as a
Company all he had with his mortars. Several of us dived for cover into one of
the few holes then available. Ironically, this was an old enemy mortar pit dug
near the crest of our Platoon hill in a clearing. Being on the highest spot in
that tract of wood was unfortunate.
Our hearts were going like ticking-over motorcycle engines. One's feelings at these times when apparently closest to a quick but foreseen end in which one could keep track of each sound and visualise the moves made by the enemy mortar crews in the process, seemed to clear one's mind to an intense aliveness and awareness of life. Thoughts raced as though boosted with a supercharger. The knowledge that at any instant this keen appreciation of life — the scent of roots rotting in the damp earth, the sight of Cutter's tense ashen face alongside mine as we watched the sand trickling from the pit side loosed by each concussion and listened to the sigh of the wind in the pine-tops — that this thread and one's thought with it could be suddenly blasted into violent oblivion, seemed to hold a quality of dreamlike unreality about it more persistent even than the awful material evidence the explosives all too often produced.
It was essential in a wood to provide a slit trench with some sort of roofing stout enough to withstand at least the smaller pieces of shrapnel from above, at the same time leaving one end open as a fire position for the two men who usually shared a trench. Quite a few casualties were needlessly suffered before this lesson was driven home. About 200 yards behind us in the woods were some typical German dugouts constructed of interlocking heavy logs piled over with earth and the inside floored with straw. We made use of these portable materials once it became clear we might be stuck in these positions for some time. (p. 176-178)
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| Photo 4: Deeper entrenchments I found in Afferden Wood - former German bunkers? |
Chapter: Halted in Broederbosch Wood
After 'stand down', I propped my mess tin over three twigs and a pile of Hexamine tablets on the rim of my hole, feeling stiff, heavy eyed and thick headed, and cooked up some Spam and tea to eat with some biscuits for breakfast. It was a crisp, cold morning and steam was soon wisping off the hot mess of the Compo tea mixture in which chips of Spam floated in the unrinsed mess-tin. Everyone once again looked worn, red eyed, greyish in the face with dirt and tiredness, and with quite a growth of beard. It was not much use attempting a shave or wash until we could get more than our precious pint or two a day of tea water. (p. 182)
The Germans, I thought, must have knocked off for breakfast. The side of a ration box lay next to me. I had some chalks handy, so I took the opportunity of doing a sketch with which to decorate my hole. It took the form of an inn sign on which was pictured a pair of boots belonging to someone taking a header into a slit trench. Underneath was the legend: 'YE OLDE HEADER INN, Proprietor: I.B. WELL-UNDER'. This seemed to provide the Jocks with infinite mirth and the laughter helped put things in perspective again.
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| 'Morning cuppa. Platoon HQ in Afferden Wood' |
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| Photo 5: Trench remains, Afferden Wood: the site of 'Ye Olde Header Inn'? |
A little later the sound of aircraft engines overhead drew our eyes to follow the shapes of four of our Typhoons wheeling high over the Kasteel Blijenbeek like a group of vultures checking on their prey. One after the other they slipped swiftly sideways and down, the note of their engines roaring harshly up the scale with increasing volume. Already the first at full throttle seemed to be plummeting straight to destruction in the woods when a sudden formation of white wisps of smoke streaked forward of the plane, then a whoosh of discharge of these rockets reached us. At the same moment while the plane seemed almost into the trees, black streamers of smoke filmed back from the leading edge of the wings. We thought, with a catch in our throats, that he had been hit, as he vanished from sight among the tree tops. Instantly there was a tremendous blast of explosion. For an awful split second it seemed this was the sound of the plane gone straight into the earth, but instantly it reappeared, banking steeply, and soared fast out of small-arms range, making way for the next one shrieking down into the pall of reddish dust and smoke rising up from the Kasteel. The clatter of cannon fire explained the black smoke. Several times they came again in sets of four to repeat their fascinating performance. They were a great morale raiser and a delight to the Jocks to watch, each one being greeted with a cheer echoing through the woods as it came and cries of unprintable approval. I took the opportunity of drawing my impression of the attack on a sheet of notepaper as the planes dived down. (p. 183)
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| 'Sketched from my slit trench as the Typhoons were still at it.' |
Patrol from Afferden Wood
The ground ahead was about 500 yards of sandy soil planted with pine seedlings, then some rougher ground and pasture towards the silver streak where the flooded ditch was. Behind that rose the dark, clear shape of the hill and woods held by the enemy. Waiting for a cloud to cover the bright moonlight, we crept one after the other over the parapet and down a slight slope towards scattered, stunted young seedlings, crouching as we went to present as small an object against the sky as possible to anyone on the ground ahead. Every few yards I paused, and the other two shunted to a halt behind me. In the silence we peered, listening intently, each with an arc to cover. I looked ahead and Brown to the left, McKenzie to the right. (p. 185)
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| Photo 6: German held high ground, to west of Kasteel; photo looking west, Goch-Afferden road, farmland and Afferden Wood visible at distant right. |
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| Photo 7: Same ridge behind Kasteel, look east. |
FOO Trench on Wood's Edge
During the following day I took a section to dig a concealed position right on the very rim of the wood, giving a good view of the enemy frontage opposite. This was to provide cover for the FOO, or Forward (Artillery) Observation Officer, and his assistant. From there he kept watch all day and sometimes in the evening for signs of enemy movement so that he could direct the guns onto it via his 18 set radio and later a field telephone. It took a long time to dig and camouflage these positions, as we had been ordered to do it in daylight. To start with the chaps dug lying on their sides till the hole was deep enough to stand in. We supplied the FOO with a section of Jocks dug in covering him from behind. (p. 189)
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| 'The Position we dug for the F.O.O. Artillery chaps on the rim of the wood.' |
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| Photo 8: Taken on edge of Afferden Wood looking south towards the Kasteel (distant centre). |
Withdrawal
B Company, 4 KOSB handed over their forward positions to the
6 HLI about 23 February. Two days later, the weary Battalion withdrew 2 miles
to the rear into Brigade reserve.
An excellent video that gives an overview of the Kasteel and surrounding ground: ©2016 Kasteel Bleijenbeek Afferden LB on Vimeo
HISTORY OF BLEIJENBEEK CASTLE/KASTEEL BLEIJENBEEK
KOSB attack on Kasteel Bleijenbeek
The crackle of passing bullets whenever anyone attempted to
cross the track alongside us told that this was dominated by a concealed set of
snipers ahead. It was now established that the Germans, well dug in on the high
scrubland, overlooked and dominated our position with heavy fire power, and in
the fortified Kasteel Blijenbeek, a prepared area of their choosing, meant to
stand and fight it out. Already two attacks on the Kasteel by C Company had
been repulsed with casualties. They alone lost more than forty men during the
day. In the first attack a Platoon under Sgt Welsh using the mist as camouflage
crossed a bridge, the only way in to the courtyard of the Kasteel, just as it
was becoming light. The enemy did not show a sign of their presence until half
the Platoon were inside, at which the main doors swung back, and the Jerries
opened fire with all they had at 10 yards range, hitting seven men, three
fatally. With amazing presence of mind, and good fortune Sgt Welsh managed to
withdraw the others swiftly into the mist, leaving the wounded. A short while
later he volunteered to try to contact A Company on the right, but in the
attempt was fatally wounded by a sniper who shot him in the head. Though he was
evacuated to the UK within about 24 hours, he died soon afterwards.
Meanwhile, Capt Hill MC, the MO, together with Pte McBeth MM insisted on going to the Kasteel to attend to the wounded. At a later period, arms were issued to the Doc as personal protection as the enemy showed so little respect for the red-cross flag, but on this occasion they were unarmed but for flags and arm bands, and in spite of being fired on, disappeared into the Kasteel. After half an hour, he strolled back with McBeth, bringing a wounded chap with them. He said while he lit his pipe, that he had had an interesting talk with the German MO while there. (p. 172)
The castle was still in a state of disrepair when I visited in 2003. From the account below, I understand that it had been swept for ordnance and the structure stabilised, however, the grounds were overgrown and the building was open to the elements. Overall, it looked like the ruins of a once grand building that had suffered significant wartime damage and never repaired. I note the recent conservation efforts at the site and it is looking in a very different condition. Also, since my 2003 battlefield walk, the area to the south and south west of the Kasteel, on the heath behind the then German held ridge, a golf course has been constructed with several water features. There is a YouTube video (in Dutch) detailing the restoration work.
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| Kasteel Liberation Route © Gemeente Bergen |
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| Kasteel Liberation Route © Gemeente Bergen |
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| Kasteel Bleijenbeek, March 2003. |
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| Kasteel Bleijenbeek, March 2003. |
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| Kasteel Bleijenbeek, Present day (Traces of History). |
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| Kasteel Bleijenbeek, Present day (Traces of History). |
Castle Origins
On 21/22 February 1945, Bleijenbeek Castle was destroyed by bombs from the RAF. Little has happened after the bombardment of the site within the moat. The ruins have been neglected for more than 60 years.
In December 2009, the Bleijenbeek Castle Ruin Foundation was founded, which acquired the leasehold right over the site from the owner ASR for fifty years.
Around 1990 ASR bought the estate of more than 600 hectares from a family foundation, founded by the previous owner, Rudolf Jurgens from Nijmegen. He had bought the estate in the early 1930s from his friend Lothar Reichsgraf von und zu Hoensbroeck. That family became the owner of Bleijenbeek Castle around 1600 after the death of the most famous inhabitant of the castle, Maarten Schenck van Nijdeggen, also known for his castle at Lobith on the Rhine, the Schenckenschans. The Van Hoensbroucks lived there until 1850. After 1850 it served as a monastery, first of nuns, then of Jesuits, expelled from Germany by Bismarck's Kulturkampf.
Maarten Schenck was a 'condottiere', an army superior with his own cavalry who fought during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) on the side of everyone who recognized his right to Bleijenbeek. First it was the Spaniards, then the States-General. At that time Bleijenbeek (Bliënbeck) was the northernmost castle in the Overkwartier of Gelre. The area did not enter Dutch hands until after 1815, and was added to the province of Limburg.
Bleijenbeek Castle is to be created at the end of the 14th century, when the castle in Afferden, lying on the Meuse, was destroyed. Probably partly because of the water of the Meuse. That place is still called 's Heerenwaard. The castle was moved about two kilometres to the east, on the road to Goch. Behind them were fens and marshes, bisected by the Gochsedijk on which Bleijenbeek is located. The castle therefore controlled the only route along the right Bank of the Meuse, between the castle and the Meuse.
The shape of the castle, when it was destroyed, was largely
as it was around 1700. In 1704 the tower was built, in the inner course. The
Jesuits built another large chapel on the west side, which has been demolished
again. In the archives of Schloss Haag the leases of the farms on the estate
have been kept since about 1600. This shows that the possessions stretched over
a large area, from Heijen to Well. The Maasduinen, in which the area is
located, were largely heathland, only after 1945 mainly planted with forest.
Recent History
After February 1945, the ruins were desolate. The whole of
Afferden was in ruins, so, understandably, people liked to remove stones from
the front house in particular (which was only from 1911, so no old bricks).
Neighbour Roovers of Castle Heijen also came later, with permission, to get old
stones to repair the damage on Heijen.
There was some compensation for war damage, but it was entirely spent on the reconstruction of the tenancy farms. The castle ruins were seen as hopeless. Due to fire, everything had collapsed to the roof of the basement, insofar as non-direct hits – especially on the east side – had destroyed everything. What would have been the point, at that time of the restoration of the hard-hit Netherlands, of restoration of such a badly destroyed castle in a secluded place.
There was a search for bombs and grenades by the explosives disposal service, and a lot was removed. In the early 1970s, the entire outer canal was also carefully dredged, with many explosives also found. After that, the canal temporarily became a kind of pond for a fishing association.
That's how the remains went. Overgrowth by plants and trees (very romantic!) and use of the terrain to grow corn on it as pheasant food. When ploughing by Harrie de Best, one of the rangers, the team continued to hook on a piece of metal, years later...a bomb that had come up through ploughing. Fortunately, it ended well.
Around the tower a reinforcing band of wood and iron was built, because it threatened to collapse. Once a year, the Afferdenaren held a "Roofridderfeest" on the premises. This although of course there have never been predators living on the castle: around 1400 - when the construction of Blijenbeek began - they no longer existed, those knights.
Rudolf J. Jurgens (born 1875), the castle lord since 1937, did not want the estate to be split among his heirs after his death. In 1947 he transferred it to a private foundation of the Jurgens family, the Hollyden Foundation, named after his villa in Nijmegen. He became chairman of the board. He died in 1954. His son, Rudolf G. Jurgens in Wassenaar (born 1903) succeeded him as chairman of the foundation. His attention was focused on the management of the 625 ha estate. The ruin received little attention.
When Rudolf G. died in 1987, his son Wilfried Jurgens (born
1931), together with his cousin Leon Velge, was commissioned to sell the
estate. In 1994, the Real Estate Department of the Life Insurance Company took
over the estate.
(http://kasteelbleijenbeek.nl/historie/ via Google Translate)
4 KOSB Casualties
Fatalities suffered by 4th Battalion The King's Own Scottish Borderers in February 1945.
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