From:
'The 15th Scottish Division "RED LIONS" by Lt. Gen. H.G. Martin
1948 Wm. Blackwood & Sons Ltd. Ediburgh and London.
p.218 THE FIFTEENTH SCOTTISH DIVISION
30th Nov
to 2nd Dec.
..their billets, therefore, forward battalions were to move straight up to Brigade
Tactical headquarters in their Kangaroos. Reserve battalions, on the other hand, were to move that night to forward assembly areas in the Blericksche Bergen.
All was going according to plan save for one unfortunate mishap. In the Cameronians' sector a medium gun had taken a wrong turning and, disregarding shouts and signals, had driven straight into the enemy's lines. The whole gun crew was missing, so it was possible that news of the impending attack had reached the enemy.
It was at this stage that another cause for far more serious anxiety manifested itself. Rain had again begun to fall heavily--on ground which was already soaking. By 6 P.M. Brigadier Knight could no longer guarantee that the Armoured Breaching Force would be able to move next morning. The question was whether or not the attack should stand. The Divisional Commander referred the decision to the Corps Commander, Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie, who postponed his final ruling till midnight. Meanwhile, however, the rain
stopped about 9 P.M., and Brigadier Knight, as the result of further reconnaissance, was able to give a reassuring report. Orders were given, therefore, that the attack should go in next morning as planned.
3rd'Dec.
At 5.25 A.M. the artillery programme began. Never before, perhaps, had so many guns been concentrated on so small an area. At once Blerick was blotted out by smoke and dust and sheets of flame. The tearing, rushing discharge and multiple explosion of the Mattresses sounded a new diapason in the orchestral music of the guns.
At 7.45 AM. the Breaching Force advanced. On the way to the start-line no less than five of their Flails were
bogged. Within an hour, however, the survivors were right through the minefield and the wire and up to the ditch on two of the lanes. And by 9.25 AM. the A.V.R.E.s had laid their bridges successfully on lanes 1, 2, 5 and 6.
At this point Brigadier Cumming-Bruce ordered the Royal Scots and the R.S.F. forward from Brigade Headquarters in their Kangaroos. An hour later the Royal Scots had driven right through to dismount in the outskirts of Blerick. The R.S.F., on the other hand, who had found no shells falling in their sector but the ground extremely boggy, had decided to continue their advance on foot. If they had taken their Kangaroos any farther, these might never have got back to pick up the Seaforth. In consequence, the R.S.F. took a bit longer than the Royal Scots, but by I P.M. both battalions were established in the heart of Blerick, and the K.O.S.B. on the right had driven through in support. The only hurt which the forward battalions had suffered between their billets and their objectives had befallen one section, who had "depouched" without orders.
In consequence of the bad going on the left, the Seaforth were about one and a half hours behind the K.O.S.B. Enemy shelling was now severe. A direct hit on Seaforth Battalion Headquarters miraculously claimed only one victim--but he was Major Sam Ginn of the 531st Field Battery, the Seaforth's well-beloved gunner-adviser. By 4 P.M. the battle was over but for the shelling. Blerick had fallen with 250 prisoners and large quantities of guns, equipment, and ammunition--all at a cost of only 50 casualties.
Blerick is a most confusing place of tortuous streets, where map-reading is a nightmare. There were many instances that day of parties who lost their way--to emerge unexpectedly on the water-front in embarrassing proximity to the Germans over the way in Venlo. In the cellars there had been two to three thousand Dutch, who now emerged, pale and shaken, to greet their liberators. As evening closed in, down came the rain again. All six lanes were soon impassable. For once Fortune had smiled.
Such, in brief, was the battle of Blerick--where everything went right and so much might have gone wrong.