Traditionally wars were not fought in the winter as old armies could not cope. Some may say nothing has changed. For while we may have warmer clothes and waterproof footwear, nowadays vehicles freeze and sink in the mud (Donbas and Kursk) What was tackled in winter was the need for intelligence gathering and reconnaissance and so it has come to pass at Battle Honours Dug Outs that we adopted a similar approach, using winter to check out old and new battlegrounds across the world.
Last week Julian traversed the near continent from Boulogne to Bremen for five days and didnt stop once at a battlefield he had been to before. Incredible though that may seem, but an upcoming tour with a Canadian group wishes to follow the Canadian Army as it liberated the Channel Ports in late 1944 and pushed on through Belgium and Holland to victory at Bremen in spring 1945.
Scars of War on the S-Boat Pen in Boulogne Harbour.
An awful school trip (40 years ago) to Boulogne had so marred Julians experience of Boulogne that he has stayed away ever since, apart from 4 or 5 traverses when the Catamaran Ferries ran through the town 15 years ago.
Operation Wellhit was the codename for the Allied capture of Boulogne in September 1944. Hitler had ordered the garrison of approximately 7,000 German troops to hold out at all costs, forcing the encirclement and subsequent liquidation (often actually by liquid flame) of the Fortified city and its defenders. Boulogne actually does have a lovely old city centre (it was a Roman Camp) with cobbled streets and city walls that are well preserved and which once again saw action when the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders captured the German Town Commandant in the Citadel.
Expecting a fierce fight and Castle like sieges the Canadian troops were surprisingly escorted by a local through a tunnel into the base of the Castle and surprised the enemy from within. In the same courtyard, 24 years earlier, a coffin was draped with the Union flag, lying within it was the body of the Unknown Warrior. On his way from France to London, he spent his last night on French soil, guarded by French and British Soldiers in a side room off the courtyard.
The Battle of the Scheldt has been often overlooked in both its importance and its magnitude. Overshadowed by it’s more ‘glamourous’ brother ‘Market Garden’, Operations Switchback, Vitality and Infatuate have much to offer the student of the WW2 era. Combined Arms, Commando Operations, Heavy Bomber raids, Amphibious Vehicles, and of course an interesting piece of terrain and a path less well trodden awaits the explorer.
The week for Julian finished at Groningen where short sharp actions in April 1945 only delayed the inevitable collapse of the Wehrmacht and accompanying SS Battalions (including Belgian and Dutch Volunteers). The stark reminder of the Holocaust is readily found on the footpaths of Groningen where the bronze ‘Stumbling stones’ can be found, outside houses from which Jewish families were rounded up and forced out, many transported to and murdered in Auschwitz.
The week for Julian finished at Groningen where short sharp actions in April 1945 only delayed the inevitable collapse of the Wehrmacht and accompanying SS Battalions (including Belgian and Dutch Volunteers). The stark reminder of the Holocaust is readily found on the footpaths of Groningen where the bronze ‘Stumbling stones’ can be found, outside houses from which Jewish families were rounded up and forced out, many transported to and murdered in Auschwitz.
1000 miles further south lies the Napoleonic battlefields of the Peninsular War. Clive has been traversing the Portugeuse and Spanish borderlands starting as Wellington did in August 1808 at Rolica and looking at his success at Vimeiro which effectively ended the French occupation of Portugal.
Talavera 1809 saw further Anglo Spanish success over King Joseph Boneparte and triggered a French retreat. Further excitement was found for Clive at Salamanca, a stunning city let alone important battlefield. The Victory at which truly made the name for Wellington as an excellent field commander in 1812.
Clive insisted that trying local wine was part of the Recce but oddly we have not heard from Clive since the last vineyard came into his view.
