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Forum: Chat Room
Thread: On this Day |
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Thread Status: Locked Total posts in this thread: 716
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Tuesday, 26th December 1944
----------------------------------------Angus and his assistants had really excelled themselves the previous day, but now we were on short rations. This day's breakfast consisted of tea with bread and cheese. Jamie, the barber, put his scissors back in his hairdressing kit. Scotty and I put our bandage scissors back on our lanyards and removed most of the paper clips from the paper hats and fake crackers, returning them to the office. The crepe paper could now be used to help rekindle the fire under the field bakery, so when next we had bread it should be fresh. We were still standing by for action, what action we could not divine; the Americans relieved Bastoigne on this day without noticeable British help [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Dec 26, 2007 12:22:58 PM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Wednesday, 27th December 1944
There was no sign of enemy activity, so we were no longer on standby. The NAAFI had still not caught up with us, so we were short of comforts, but there was plenty of petrol which was now arriving via PLUTO (Pipe Line under the Ocean) between Dover and Calais. Our R.A.S.C. detachment now arranged trips into town (Helmond, I think) so we could use the shops to make up some of the deficiencies. There were a number of things which were still not available, notably tobacco and soap, but at least we could visit a cinema and mix with the civilians. Some of us were even invited home to spend the evening with them. A notable eating habit in this country is the pooling of potatoes and other vegetables in the centre of the table, each diner taking as much as he or she wants and leaving no waste on the plate; an ecologically sound custom that the whole world has eventually adopted. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Thursday, 28th December 1944
Now it was my turn for liberty. The truck carried haversack rations for us; these were mostly protein foods, as meat, fish and eggs were still rationed to civilians while waiting for regular supplies to arrive. How we used our snack was up to us, as we might receive hospitality and wish to give something in return. This proved to be the case with me, so I was glad I had taken my share in the form of unopened tins. I was invited home by a jolly middle aged couple with teen age children, who were experimenting with a microphone. After lunch, the eldest, a girl, took the microphone and me into the cupboard under the stairs – not to play sardines, well not deliberately, but to ”broadcast” to the rest of the family. As we emerged, her brother called out “Hij spreekt Helmondsch!” This was news to me as I thought I was speaking Dutch! It turned out that Helmondsch is a dialect of Brabantsch. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Friday, 29th December 1944
The company was somewhat under strength, due mainly to the casualties during and after the battle for Hill 112 in Normandy and to two ex P.O.W.s becoming attached to hospital units in the rear. We now had one replacement, a pugnacious volunteer from the Irish Free State. He went to town with this day’s liberty party, and came back rolling drunk and ready for a fight, first with words, then with fists. He was not really suited to a peaceful unit like ours, and next day, when he would (we hoped) be sober, he would be so informed in no ambiguous terms. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Saturday, 30th December 1944
The report of Field Marshal Montgomery taking charge of the Americans was more like a Chinese whisper than a rumour. The 9th American Army had been transferred from the 12 Army Group to the 21 Army Group but this was not the result of the Ardennes offensive. The Generals had met at Maastricht the previous month to discuss preparations for the next spring offensive, and this was part one of a plan approved by General Eisenhower. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Sunday, 31st December 1944
----------------------------------------This was the eve of the last New Year of this war. No New Year’s Eve Ball, no syrenading transatlantic liners, no street parties, no first footers with lumps of coal or wee drams o’ single malt. On the other hand, nobody was sending us to the Ardennes, so we took Scotty’s advice and counted our blessings. Hungary declared war on Germany on this day. [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Dec 31, 2007 11:11:43 AM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Monday, 1st January 1945
A new year began on this day. Happy New Year! There was nothing to distinguish the day from any other, as far as we were concerned, but this was the day that saw the United Nations formed. We were not woken at midnight by the sound of church bells, the singing of Auld Lang Syne, the piping in of the haggis or the hooters of river boats. Officially, church bells were only to be rung in the event of a German landing in the U.K. but, by general consent, this regulation would be ignored when the enemy was defeated. The cooks, three of the genuine Scots in the unit, gave us our usual porridge for breakfast. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Tuesday, 2nd January 1945
None of us had home leave since some months before D-Day. Maybe this year would see the defeat of the Germans, but we still had two major rivers to cross, the Maas and the Rhine, as well as a few smaller ones. Now we heard that all of us would have a spell of home leave within the next three or four months! We could look forward to this but would believe it when it happened |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Wednesday, 3rd January 1945
The frost was deeper than ever and I fancied a bit of skating. The guns had been silent for days, presumably because nobody on either side of the river could manage to defrost them, so I went from house to house, asking, "Kun ik leenen van een paar van schaatsen?", until one lady disappeared into the house and came back to the door with - a pack of cards! I got my skates on eventually and joined the throng on the canal, all happily forgetting the Germans on the other bank of the river, who were probably doing the same! |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Thursday, 4th January, 1945
The canal was deeply frozen and the locals were speed skating along it, while snow was falling steadily to add to what was already on the ground. We were lucky not to be back in XXX Corps, which was on loan to the American force in the Ardennes. 2nd Army now consisted of VIII Corps and XII Corps, which was more than enough to defend the river from the few Germans across it. |
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