https://twitter.com/NewsUKArchives/status/1507043908261498887?t=2NEXjpKKiLGqyO922tVVBQ&s=19 #OTD1945 Operation Plunder - The Rhine Crossing. Bill Warhurst of @thetimes took these pictures before getting a snap of himself on a historic day. The official censor ordered the Bren gun to be removed.
Very interesting. But from the tweet I cannot tell which archive is holding the pics. An idea? The Times Archive?
Yes. Bill (aka Herbert) Warhurst was one of their war correspondents The WWII Photos you Haven’t Seen Before - The Casemate UK Blog
Hi Mike, I just started looking at a PDF about Canadian participation in Plunder and it references this document. Is it available as a PDF by any chance? (I have no idea how big it is or anything.) Cheers, Chris
Hi Chris, I think it is for sale here - and at a reasonable price: BAOR BATTLEFIELD TOUR - OPERATION PLUNDER - Directing Staff Edition - Naval & Military Press Best Alex
Tsk! I was just poking around on my hard drive and I found it. You must have already given it to me. Sorry!
Hi all, I am wondering if anyone has the tables which show when and how the various divisional sub-units crossed the Rhine? Stolpi very kindly gave me the 43rd Infantry Division war diary for March and I was fascinated to look at these. I think I am about to do a dive into the canadiana site to see if I can find them for 3rd Canadian Division.
I was just looking through the 51 Division orders for Plunder posted by stolpi, and came across this bit about the barrages, which mentions both "pepper pot" and "mustard pot" - I suppose to distinguish the two.
Hi, I have a question about Operation Widgeon and the outline of events in post #99. There are times listed for some of the commandos before 22:30 when the bombers struck. I just want to double check that this is correct - some of the commandos crossed over before the bombing raid began? And was there any preliminary bombardment at all, such as took place in the 30th Corps area, or was everything more or less silent until just a few minutes before some of the commandos started to cross?
Chris. Yes there was a preliminary bombardment. This is the Artillery Plan. Operation Widgeon In support of 1 Commando Brigade. 2030 hours to 2130 hours. 1 Commando Brigade Softening Bombardment Programme arranged by Commander Royal Artillery 7 Armoured Division. Resources deployed were Ten Medium Regiments Four Heavy Batteries of 7.2” guns One Super Heavy Battery of 240mm guns 2130 hours to 2230 hours. 1 Commando Brigade Initial Covering Fire Programme arranged by Commander Royal Artillery 7 Armoured Division. Resources deployed were Seven Field Regiments. 2230 hours to 2245 hours. A heavy bomber attack on Wesel. If this could not take place one US Heavy Artillery Group was on call for a bombardment of the same targets. 2230 hours to 0800 hours. 1 Commando Brigade Covering Fire at call. Resources deployed were Two Field Regiments One Mountain Regiment Two Medium Regiments One Heavy Battery of 7.2” guns And yes there were Commandos on the far bank and waiting to assault Wesel after the air bombardment. They started crossing at 2200. Mike
Tiny nitpick: a troop would have been much more common, but in this case it was a whole battery with nine self-propelled anti tank guns, per the war diary of 6KOSB and the account of 99th Battery.
Trux, I wonder if you've ever come across a chart of codenames for locations for 15th Division's part in the crossing and following days?
Sorry - I havent been through every post - so apologies if this is duplicate material. Unfortunately I do not know the date for the 2nd map. Extracts from maps in my collection which may be of interest. I have a lot of maps of this area, many with defence overlay, some with annotations. Tim