McAuliffe Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Following url links you to a diary of 1st. Bn. The Black Watch (RHR) of Canada during the months of September and October 1944. Blackwatchdiary Starting 18th. of September and during the month of October the 2nd. was pretty active in the area where I live now and grew up. They cleared the north bank of the Albert Canal near Antwerp, where they needed six weeks to liberate my hometown - Merksem (suburb of Antwerp)(not much info on the German units, but I know that there was a Flemish SS-unit involved) and to march towards the villages of Woensdrecht and Hoogerheide located at the dutch/Belgian border, (beginning of the causeway which linked the peninsula of South Beveland with the main continent) There they fought the 85. ID KG Chill. (mainly remnants of german parachute units) Terrain : partly moors, forests and inundated polders ------------------ Belgian Combat Mission Scenario Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Originally posted by McAuliffe: Following url links you to a diary of 1st. Bn. The Black Watch (RHR) of Canada during the months of September and October 1944. Blackwatchdiary Starting 18th. of September and during the month of October the 2nd. was pretty active in the area where I live now and grew up. They cleared the north bank of the Albert Canal near Antwerp, where they needed six weeks to liberate my hometown - Merksem (suburb of Antwerp)(not much info on the German units, but I know that there was a Flemish SS-unit involved) and to march towards the villages of Woensdrecht and Hoogerheide located at the dutch/Belgian border, (beginning of the causeway which linked the peninsula of South Beveland with the main continent) There they fought the 85. ID KG Chill. (mainly remnants of german parachute units) Terrain : partly moors, forests and inundated polders We should compare notes sometimes; I have scanty info on KG Chill at my site (plus photos of Hoogeheide etc.) at http://members.home.net/calgaryhighlanders/ Do you have any detailed info on KG Chill? A gentleman is working on a Woensdrecht scenario for my site; his early drafts seem pretty good. Still looking for detailed info on German units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Great website! On the subject of inadequately trained reinforcements, here is a quote from the diary of the Black Watch: "2) The N.C.O. situation in the Bn. is now very serious. We have reached rock bottom as far as creating N.C.Os. from the ranks goes, because casualties have drained the Bn. of trained privates and the reinforcements arriving are not sufficiently trained. There have been only three N.C.Os. included in the reinforcement flow this month (apart from a few returning N.C.Os. of our own), and they had been recently converted to Infantry from other arms. (3) With regard to personnel in the Bn. refer to the results of the questionnaire on training as infantry, of all ranks in the Rifle Companies. This clearly shows the critical situation now existing in the Bn. resulting from the great percentage of our reinforcements being personnel from R.C.A., R.C.E., R.C.O.C., R.C.A.C.C., who with very little training are sent forward as infantry. This is our greatest problem and the solution is not yet in sight as the necessary training time is evidently not available. 2. MORALE The morale of the Bn. at rest is good. However it must be said that "Battle Morale" is definitely not good due to the fact that inadequately trained men are, of necessity, being sent into action ignorant of any idea of their own strength, and after their first mortaring, overwhelmingly convinced of the enemy's. This feeling is no doubt increased by their ignorance of fieldcraft in its most elementary form." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thimoty Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Originally posted by McAuliffe: They cleared the north bank of the Albert Canal near Antwerp, where they needed six weeks to liberate my hometown - Merksem (suburb of Antwerp) Cool, another guy from Merksem... Seems we ahve a lot of presence on this board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasoncawley@ameritech.net Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 I said - "Tough terrain, prepared defenses, muddy thaw, local German counterattacks with armor." Again Mr. Dorosh ignores everything else and accuses others of a fixation on numbers that only he suffers from. In the sense that he is against 'em. It is really very old at this point, and I do wish you'd heed my invitation to drop it, and just ignore everything I write. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Would any of you guys be able to get some photos for me at the military cemeteries ie Bergen Op Zoom? I have plot numbers of the markers I am looking for - I would like to get shots of Calgary Highlanders grave markers, so if that is at all possible, either post or email me. I can repay your costs for film and postage (though digital/scanned photos are ok too). The quote from the Black Watch War Diary has been used in many histories, and is a good illustration of the state of training in the Army towards the end of October. The war diary link that was posted is pretty good too; bearing in mind that the war diary is a very imperfect document it nonetheless gives a good feel for the typical experience of a Canadian battalion (one can argue that the experience of the Black Watch was atypical, though, as I believe they were one of the highest-suffering battalions, in terms of casualties, having been wiped out at Verrireres, and again on Black Friday near Woensdrecht). I wish more units put original documents like that on the net. There are good historical papers at www.dnd.ca as well, including a .pdf document of a report listing all the major equipment holdings of the Canadian Army in Europe in late 44-45. Fascinating reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thimoty Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Double post, sorry... [This message has been edited by Thimoty (edited 04-03-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McAuliffe Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Originally posted by Thimoty: Cool, another guy from Merksem... Seems we ahve a lot of presence on this board Congratulations ! You must be the other Belgian on the board. ssst...they don't know, but we're taking over Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: Would any of you guys be able to get some photos for me at the military cemeteries ie Bergen Op Zoom? I have plot numbers of the markers I am looking for - I would like to get shots of Calgary Highlanders grave markers, so if that is at all possible, either post or email me.(...). Well, from time to time I hub over to Rotterdam. So, I wouldn't mind a little detour. However, I am not an experienced photographer nor do I possess a digital camera. Eventually, I can scan them or ask the photoshop to digitalize them. Again I have no experience whatsoever. Do I have to look for particular names ? Great site, you have, Michael ! I came already across it during previous quests, but I never realized, you were the honorable owner. ------------------ Belgian Combat Mission Scenario Page [This message has been edited by McAuliffe (edited 04-03-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Originally posted by McAuliffe: Well, from time to time I hub over to Rotterdam. So, I wouldn't mind a little detour. However, I am not an experienced photographer nor do I possess a digital camera. Eventually, I can scan them or ask the photoshop to digitalize them. Again I have no experience whatsoever. Do I have to look for particular names ? Thanks for the kind words. Basically I am looking at any Calgary Highlanders that are laying at rest over there; I will email you with particulars. There is no way you would ever be able to get even half of what I want, but even one or two would be greatly appreciated. There are 400+ fatal casualties buried there, spread out from Normandy to Holland. I'll look at which cemeteries are accessible to you and maybe provide some grave numbers - they seem to be grouped, probably by coincidence, by unit in some cases. Thanks for considering it - scans would be just fine, and you would naturally be fully credited for your photos as well as reimbursed for your costs. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaypee Posted April 4, 2001 Share Posted April 4, 2001 Originally posted by Keith: On the subject of inadequately trained reinforcements, here is a quote from the diary of the Black Watch: "2) The N.C.O. situation in the Bn. is now very serious. We have reached rock bottom as far as creating N.C.Os. from the ranks goes, because casualties have drained the Bn. of trained privates and the reinforcements arriving are not sufficiently trained. Just to further that, Cpl. Jim Wilkenson of the Black Watch describing his worst moment in the Scheldt notes: "I went across the wet open field and came across some kid who had been wounded and I said to him that I wanted him to get that Bren gun going and he said Sir, I can't because I don't know how to load it." There have been only three N.C.Os. included in the reinforcement flow this month (apart from a few returning N.C.Os. of our own), and they had been recently converted to Infantry from other arms. Brig-Gen. Denis Whitaker of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry on this subject said: "So they said to them, ok, today you are an engineer but tomorrow you are a private in the infantry. They would give them maybe two weeks of training and send them over to the continent, most barely knowing how to fire their weapons." These and other quotes for a Woensdrecht scenario that I am working on are taken from a History Channel documentary describing the Battle of the Scheldt. It contains some very interesting insights into the fighting with great film of the terrain and conditions that the 2nd Infantry faced over there. A truly horrifying set of conditions all things considered. Yo, Michael, I haven't forgotten about you. The notes are coming, life in the way again. (Gonna have to get a new life, one devoted entirely to CM) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted April 4, 2001 Share Posted April 4, 2001 If you need a tester I would be happy to give you a hand with your scenario. Just email me at kschur@erols.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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