Today, 75 years ago, units of 6th Airborne and 11th Armoured Divisions achieved their initial bridgeheads over the Weser. These were the opening actions of a series of fierce encounters fought on the three rivers between British VIII and XII Corps and the German 2. Marine-Infanterie-Division and its supporting units. The fighting on the rivers lasted some 11 days and resulted in the deaths in action of large numbers of soldiers from both sides. The encounters are largely forgotten and their dead also. The principal actions took place on the Weser at Stolzenau/Leese, on the Leine at Neustadt (Leine), and on the Aller at Rethem and the Essel forest. The intention of this post is to remember the bravery of the soldiers of both sides who had to prosecute the war to its end and to give name to a representative number of those who fell in action: Lt Frank Fuller - 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Brig Elrington - 71st Infantry Brigade Maj Hemelryk - 1 HLI Mne Unthank - 45 RM Cdo Sgt Wardrop - 5 RTR Tpr Bligh - 3 RTR Wg Cdr Webb Lt Yetman - 8 RB WO2 Baker - 4 KSLI Tpr Forrest - 5 RTR Cpl Henderson - 3 Cdo KKapt Goerdes - Marine-Fuesilier-Bataillon 2 Rfn Downing - 2 KRRC Lt Briggs - Scots Greys Capt Francis - 1 Cheshire VAdm Scheurlen - 2. Marine-Infanterie-Division Tpr Hide - 15/19 Hussars Capt Robins - 13 Fd Sqn RE The 25 of 7 Para killed at Neustadt bridge ‘For these reasons, friend and foe alike, should respect all those who, with the inescapable outcome in front of them, have sacrificed their lives even to the very end, fulfilling their oath of allegiance and fighting for their country.’ Oberst Rolf Geyer, 1a, Oberbefehlshaber Nordwest, April 1945 JDKR
‘For these reasons, friend and foe alike, should respect all those who, with the inescapable outcome in front of them, have sacrificed their lives even to the very end, fulfilling their oath of allegiance and fighting for their country.’ Oberst Rolf Geyer, 1a, Oberbefehlshaber Nordwest, April 1945 Hello JDKR and/or other members, Could you please include a source of some kind of your Rolf Geyer quote? I'm researching his war time exploits and am very much interested in the context! Thank you so much in advance! Kind regards, Geugie
I grew up in Loccum, and my grandparents lived in Schessinghausen. Going from memory, the place next to it, Husum (no, not the one on the coast) was defended by soldiers from the SS replacement battalion based in Landesbergen I think, and the British had to send in Wasps to dig them out. There are still houses with scorch marks on them if you know where to look. Having seen that, and not wanting to be next, Schessinghausen then sent out the town mayor (a post in the 1960s held by my grandfather) with another elder and a Polish labourer to surrender the town. All the best Andreas
A short documentary only playable on Youtube: The Battle of Neustadt: Sgt Sidney Cornell & his Call of Duty | April 1945 Regards ...
Hello Geugie - I'm assuming you found the quote in my book Theirs the Strife where I reference it at the bottom of the page it is on so not sure why you are asking the question! No matter, the reference is: US National Archives B-414, Operational Summary, Heeresgruppe 'H'/OB Nordwest, 10 March - 9 May 1945, page 39. I found this document online through the site www.sturmpanzer.com, which had a pdf of the document plus a number of others including B-147 (Heeresgruppe 'H' November v1944 - March 1945) also written by Oberst Geyer. So far so good, however I have just tried to access sturmpanzer.com to see if I could give you a link to B-414 but had no luck and it rather looks as if the site no longer exists. If that is correct, it is a tragedy. Anyhow to help you further and give you a possible route to try to find B-414 and the others on sturmpanzer.com it was within Foreign Military Studies, Historical Division, US Army Europe. Good luck and best wishes. John
Andreas - check out my book Theirs the Strife in which I cover the fighting in the Husum area 8 April 1945. The SS battalion to which you refer was SS-A.u.E.Btl.12 'HJ' with its headquarters in Langendamm Kaserne, Nienburg. The battalion's seven training companies were billeted in villages in the Nienburg area.
Geugie - just noticed I included the quote in my post of 6 April 2020. So that's where you saw it! Apologies!
Ah glad I remember correctly. Info is from your book, plus I think I saw a picture of the Schessinghausen delegation on the road to Husum once. All the best Andreas
