Ede, Holland 1945

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by MicS

Maybe the 1945 War Diary for C Sqn could provide details on the loss of WANDERING WILLIE?

Have you seen the analysis by "Tolbooth" over on WW2Talk?

http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads...-8#post-912505:

I think this may be the incident. The Lothians A Squadron WD has this entry for the 17th Apr

"[A] Sqn, with C Sqn 141 RAC, assisted SWB and Gloucesters, Bennekon - Renkum. The birds had flown. Sgt Leishman's tk blown up on a mine and burnt out - four cas to personnel."

And this comes from the after action report of Lt Byth, 1 Tp A Sqn

" Tue 17 Apr 45. The Tp was to operate as a sort of roving column, clearing up villages on the left of the main area of advance, together with three Crocodiles and nine carriers. This force was called GUY FORCE. Progress was painfully slow because of numerous road blocks and ruins, but the task was successfully completed without any enemy opposition.

We reunited with the main body at Oosterbeck and pushed on, now leading on the main axis. Still the only opposition was ruins and road blocks. Finally we encountered a minefield, which had to be flogged. Sgt Leishman's tk blew up on two R-mines, with cas to his crew: Tpr Wyatt severely burnt; Tpr Deryck wounded in foot (later died of wounds); LCpl Roberts burns on hand; Tpr Chisholm sprained knee."

There don't appear to have been any other casualties around that period.

And http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads...-8#post-912508:

However....!

There is another tank knocked out on the 19th April nearby in the village of Eldik which is also west of Arnhem. this was from 1 Trp B Sqn, which was my dad's unit.

"Col Richardson of 1 Calgary Regt came over and requested assistance on behalf of one of his tps and a coy of Belgians, who were going to make a small local attack from the village of Eldikschenhock MR525707 [Today seems to be called Eldik]. The job was simply this: That the Belgians were afraid of Schumines in an area which was known to have A Tk mines in it, and requested our assistance to clear a path so that the Calgary's tks could get forward to sp them.

Capt E C Harley, Lt T R Stewart and Col Richardson went forward and made a recce, and later Lt Stewart went out with three Crabs to do the job. One tk, Cpl Edwards', was unfortunately blown up on an R mine and the following cas were incurred: Tpr Cardle J, head injuries and burns (died of wounds later); Tpr Smith C D, bruises and slight shock; Tpr Dempster A, burns and cuts to left arm.


Lt Stewart and Capt E C Harley, who were there, decided that 1Tp could do nothing further and the remaining tks came back and rejoined the Sqn in harbour. The tk itself was a Z cas (for a full account of this see Lt Stewart's report ).


Later in the afternoon Maj J D Henderson, Capt E C Harley and Sgt Gregory P all had a look at the tk and decided it was too big a job for the ARV, and assistance would be required from the Calgary Regt to get the Crab off the road.

No Schumines had been blown and the Belgian sappers then cleared the remaining R mines by hand."

Lt Stewart's action report has this too;

"On 20 Apr 45 we towed the damaged tk clear of the road junction and removed all the kit from it, as it was impossible to bring it back owing to the difficulty of getting it up onto the high dyke road."

It does sound as though this particular tank was not recoverable and may be the one that ended up at Ede, although the one on the 16th is closer.