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From: John MacKenzie

Re : THE RHINE REVISITED, 2003

The 51st. Highland Division crossed the Rhine on the night of 23rd. March, 1945. Just east of Rees, 13 Pln., 鈥淐鈥� Coy., 5/7th. Gordon Highlanders - part of 153 Brigade with the 1st. Gordons and 5th. Black Watch - was in the vanguard of the assault at H-hour, 9.00 p.m. Private Stanley Willis and I shared one of the leading Buffalo amphibious vehicles as Section Bren Gunners in 13 Platoon.

In March, 2003 Stan and I decided to mark the 58th. Anniversary of the Rhine Crossing with a visit to the old battle sites of Reichswald, Gennep, Goch and Rees.

Day 1 saw us at Folkstone for a quick and easy crossing to Calais by the Euro-Tunnel Shuttle. Certainly a more comfortable and less hazardous crossing than that of the night of 15th. January, 1945 when our troop transport, HMLST 415, was hit by 2 torpedoes from a Nazi E-Boat and suffered casualties. Fortunately, most Army personnel were rescued by LST 159 which carried us back to Tilbury in various stages of disarray. With commendable efficiency, the Army re-equipped us and had our reinforcement draft back en route to Ostend within a week.

On Day 1 we proceeded ex-Calais past Dunkirk, Ostend, Antwerp and Eindhoven to
the Hotel van Diemen in Boxmeer, close to the Dutch-German border. Travel enough for one day.

Day 2 was the highlight of our trip. We took off early through Gennep, final stage of the Reichswald battle for the 5/7th. Gordons, via Ottersum to the Cleve road in the Reichswald Forest. Courtesy of the Gordon Highlanders鈥� Museum, Aberdeen we had been given the Grave numbers in the Reichswald War Cemetery for our Platoon Sergeant , Michael McAndrew , and A/Sgt. John Wood, affectionately known as 鈥淢ad Mick鈥� and 鈥淏ig John鈥� by us all. They died, under shell-fire, in the collapse of a shared German Dug-out on 27th. March, 1945 just after our break-out from the Rhine.

We found the Cemetery, in a quiet, forest location 5 kms. south-west of Cleve, fully up to the high standards we expect of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, with a working German staff. The Cemetery honours 7,654 Commonwealth dead, including 3,647 Army, 3,985 Royal Air Force and even 18 Royal Navy personnel. The breakdown by nationality shows:-

British - 6,413
Canadian - 706
Australian - 327
New Zealand - 127
Polish - 73
Other - 8
Having paid our respects, we proceeded via Cleve to cross the Rhine by the longest suspension bridge in Germany into Emmerich. South, then, along the Rhine to another Gordons鈥� battle site at Rees, now an attractive market town. From the east corner of the Rees鈥� Rheinpromenade, we had a clear view of the area of the Alter Rhine, a still undeveloped 鈥淚sland鈥�, where 鈥淐鈥� Company had landed on that cold, March night. There, we had spent 2 days pinned down under mortar and sniper fire when our objective, the bridge over the Alter Rhine, was blown as we approached. There, also, Mick McAndrew took out an enemy Machine Gun Post with a PIAT bomb that first night.
Altogether, the 1st. Gordons on our left had a much bloodier time fighting their way through Rees against German Paratroopers, with loss of 132 men. In the words of the official history, the 5/7th. came off 鈥渕ore lightly鈥�, losing 43 men killed, wounded and missing in the action on the Rhine.

From these sombre reflections, we took the Rees Bridge back across the Rhine to Goch, a pivotal centre of the Siegfried Line. Here, we had spent 4 miserable and traumatic days and nights (19 鈥� 22 Feb. 1945) clearing the southern sector of this heavily defended and bombed-out town. Again, 1st. Gordons had taken the brunt of the casualties, losing over 100 men and 10 Officers in the battle.

Having reconnoitred the Railway Station and Central Goch, but failed to find Thomashof, scene of bitter fighting where a Gordon Company was over-run by German counter-attack, we returned the 15 kms. to Boxmeer after a busy day.

On Day 3 , we had the option to further explore the Goch-Rees areas, or venture further afield, We decided to forego driving, and see Nijmegen and Arnhem by train.

Within 30 mins. from Boxmeer Station we were exploring Nijmegen, visiting St. Stevenskerk, the Grote Markt (with a large Saturday market in progress), and getting fine views of the famous Nijmegen Bridge from the 鈥榃aalkade鈥� promenade and the Valkhof Park.

Another 15 mins. train ride to Arnhem, and a walk through the town to the 6th. Airborne Memorial close to the historic John Frost Bridge over the (Dutch) Rhine.

After another memorable day, we returned to Boxmeer Station, just a short walk from Hotel van Diemen.

Sunday, Day 4 , saw us early en route abt. 90 kms. south into Belgium, to Ophoven where we had been based during practice in river crossing on the River Maas. Ophoven, a village near the border town of Masseik, offered few recognisable landmarks except, perhaps, the village pub. We had a look at the broad Maas where we had milled around, in deep fog and considerable confusion, on one notable Brigade exercise on 16th. March, 1945. Cyclists and walkers along the Maas, and pleasure craft on the river, lent a more pleasant aspect to this visit.
By noon, we were off back to Calais via Leopoldsburg, military staging post and reinforcement depot for 21st. Army Group, still an army town. We drove south of Brussels, and across towards Ypres in a landscape of numerous cemeteries of World War I. Somewhere in this area in 1917, my father -another teenage Gordon - had lain wounded in no-man鈥檚-land for two days while battle ebbed and flowed. Another war, for another visit.

Calais, by early evening. A comfortable billet at the Hotel Ibis in Cite Europe. A good dinner, a bottle of wine, and a final Toast to old comrades and absent friends - all 804 soldiers of the 5/7th. Battalion of The Gordon Highlanders who were killed, wounded or missing in action from Normandy, 1944 to Bremerhaven, 1945.
鈥淗ere鈥檚 tae us, wha鈥檚 like us? Damned few, and aw deid鈥�.

Day 5. Shopping - Shuttle - Folkstone - home
The battle areas we covered showed a much different landscape from 1945. Neat and clean villages, and attractive small towns along the Rhine and the Maas, have replaced the shelled ruins we remembered then. The visit wakened many memories, and Stan and I hope to return someday to the Rhine, and beyond, to remember the Rhine Crossing and the War鈥檚 ending.

John MacKenzie

Note :
Stanley Willis was demobbed in 1946 after injury received during the occupation of Bremerhaven. He joined the Ministry of Civil Aviation and served for some time in the Air Attache鈥檚 Office in Rome. John MacKenzie transferred to 2nd. Gordons on disbandment of the 5/7th., and was promoted Sgt. in Tripoli in 1946. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1947 and, as a businessman in Hong Kong, served as a Captain in The Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) for several years.

Appendix 鈥� Exchange of emails between John MacKenzie and Tony Chapman, Archivist/Historian, LST and Landing Craft Association re torpedoing of LST415 in January 1945.

----- Original Message -----
From: John MacKenzie
To: a.chapman93@ntlworld.com
Cc: Stan Willis
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2003 5:18 PM
Subject: LST 415 and 159

I have obtained your name from the LST and Landing Craft Association website. I understand that you are the Association Historian.

I was an Infantry re-inforcement aboard the LST 419 when she was torpedoed by an E-boat in the North Sea on the night of January 15th, 1945. We were picked up by LST 159 and returned to Tilbury.

I would be interested in any information you can give me about the action and casualties incurred, or if you can direct me to record sources.

With best wishes.

John MacKenzie

From: Tony Chapman
To: John MacKenzie
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 7:21 PM
Subject: Re: LST 415 and 159

Hello again John
Further to my mail of yesterday, I record here the names of those men of the crew of HMLST(2) 415 who perished when she was torpedoed off Thurrock.
ROLL OF HONOUR
HMLST 415
January 16th 1945

Leading Stoker Henry Morgan
Petty Officer Motor Mechanic Arthur S. Berry
Petty Officer Motor Mechanic R.A.C. Locke
Stoker First Class Jackson Ford
Warrant Officer D.P. Saunders
Stoker First Class D. Edwards

As I mentioned to you yesterday without knowing which elements of the army were being carried by the 415 it is next to impossible to track losses from same, did all your lads survive the incident.........?
The loading orders for the landing craft of those times appear to have long since vanished, in the now ten years of my involvement I believe I have seen only some two loading orders for craft assigned on D-Day......what history has been lost to us..?
I am given to understand that the log books of such craft have also gone the same way, I have spent several years now trying to unearth the loading orders for the D-Day ships...............thus far without success....If they are being held at the Admiralty or the MOD then they are keeping them to themselves........unfortunately..!!!!!
Will gladly help further if I can
Regards
Tony

Archivist/Historian
LST and Landing Craft Association

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