Name: LEWIS, WILLIAM HAROLD Nationality: Canadian Rank: Private Regiment/Service: Algonquin Regiment, R.C.I.C. Age: 20 Date of Death: 10/04/1945 Service No: C/123246 Additional information: Son of William J. and Addie P. Lewis, of Marlbank, Ontario. Grave/Memorial Reference: X. C. 1. Cemetery: HOLTEN CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
I cannot find any details about Lewis but wonder if he was one the casualties listed from the 4th Armoured for that day. At the town of Sogel the Canadian First Army evacuated the civilians from the city center whereupon it was systematically demolished.[5] Civilians had harbored bazookamen and taken part in revolt against canadian troops on April 10. 5 Canadian soldiers died.
12 Field Ambulance made Canadian medical corps history becoming the only field ambulance to engage the enemy in combat. This occurred on April 10th 1945 in the German town of Sogel. German soldiers approached, and fired upon the casualty treatment facility under cover of darkness. The Commanding Officer quickly organized two platoons, and placed them at the approaches to the dressing stations. They held off the enemy for two hours; with weapons borrowed from the wounded -at the time medics didn't carry weapons- until a squadron of tanks arrived to relieve them. During the fighting the dressing station continued treating patients. The Commanding Officer, LCol A.D. MacPherson received the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership in this action; Cpl F.F. Thompson was awarded the Military Medal, and Capt Harry Jolley received the Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Algonquin Regiment's 'D' Coy (with 'D' Squadron of the British Columbia Tanks) was to move forward and relieve the Lake Superior Regiment on the Kusten Canal. While moving to their new position, the Coy carrier ran over a mine, killing the driver, Pte. W. Lewis of 'D' Coy and seriously wounding Pte. G.A. Smith of the Signal Platoon. Lest they be forgotten! My Wife's Grandfather, then 17-yrs. old, was a member of 'B' Coy and was to be the first to cross and establish a bridgehead across the Kusten Canal that morning after 'D' Coy relieved the L.S.R.
A German soldier taken prisoner during a German counterattack on the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, Sogel, Germany, 10 April. Can anyone identify the weapon carried by the Canadian? "The main problem during this phase of the advance was to maintain the momentum of the 4th Armoured Brigade over increasingly difficult terrain. The land was flat and boggy; tanks could not deploy, and as a rule no more than one squadron could be used effectively at any one time. The brunt of the fighting thus fell upon the infantry and the motor battalion (the Lake Superior Regiment). The latter cleared Sogel on the 9th. German infantry counter-attacked several times on the 10th, on one occasion penetrating well within the town, but were driven off by the Lake Superior Regiment and The Lincoln and Welland Regiment. Investigation established that German civilians had taken part in this fighting and had been responsible for the loss of Canadian lives. Accordingly, as a reprisal and a warning, a number of houses in the centre of Sogel were ordered destroyed by the engineers to provide rubble." "One of the units caught up in the -fighting at Sogel was 12 Cdn. Field Ambulance. The unit’s war diary records the following: “They (the enemy) pressed an attack (with) approximately 30 men right down the street on which we were situated. Our men had to take up arms. Some of the enemy were killed within 10 yards of the advanced dressing station entrance. Naturally a great deal of excitement ensued. After about one hour a troop of tanks arrived who blasted houses from which enemy sniping (came from). When the attackers were finally wiped out we realized we had been holding a small portion of the front. If we had not taken up arms we would have been shot up and the enemy would have gained access to the main street of town. We had five of our personnel wounded, one seriously. Personnel of an engineer and RCASC (Royal Cdn. Army Service Corps) unit who had been overrun in the early dawn were killed or wounded. All ranks of the unit did very well. Advanced dressing station personnel continued working even with small arms fire coming through the windows. Stretcher-bearers were working under direct fire. Two were wounded.”
canuck looks to me like a StG 44 when zoomed in. Can you add a link to your post where that photo & text came from , cheers.
You could be right about the Stg44. The magazines stuffed in his waist seem to align with that. The footwear is also interesting. It had apparently been a wet spring in Holland/Germany and many areas were flooded and impassable. The rubber boots, or waders, are a practical choice. Link to photo: Germany - Canada at War Quotes: 1) https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/t.../dhh/official/book-1948-army-1939-1945-en.pdf 2) The Fall Of The Reich: Army, Part 51 | Legion Magazine
[QUOTE=" Investigation established that German civilians had taken part in this fighting and had been responsible for the loss of Canadian lives. Accordingly, as a reprisal and a warning, a number of houses in the centre of Sogel were ordered destroyed by the engineers to provide rubble."[/QUOTE] Given the times, a relatively restrained response: I wonder what the Canadians' opponents would've done in similar circumstances?
Pages 183-185 from the link below give a sense of a changed attitude among Canadian soldiers as the fighting carried them into Germany. But, as you note, the reprisal didn't extend to taking civilian lives. Strangers in Arms From Legion magazine with respect to Sobel: "The soldiers’ attitudes towards the enemy hardened in these affairs and so mortars, artillery and—when available—tactical air power were used without any of the restraint evident in the Netherlands."