Vlaardingen Parade

Dear members,

The western part of the Netherlands was occupied by the Germans untill they surrendered. So the towns and villages over here were never 'liberated'. In Vlaardingen a couple of American airmen and a paratrooper, who were hiding for the Germans acted as the 'liberators' during the celebration of the German surrender. This made my town the only town in western Holland which was liberated by the Americans (see pictures below).





A couple of days later, British and Canadian troops reached western Holland to take over the command from the German troops. While searching for info on the crashed Wellington Z1321 at the archive of Vlaardingen I found a short note of a parade of British troops. I would like to know which unit they were from. Hopefully you could help me.

The only information I got about this parade:
- It was on 17 August 1945
- The unit was commanded(?) by a Captain Moffat (so I think it was just a company)
- The unit included a Lieutenant MacGregor

 

What a very nice town

Nothing in the booklets of the Streekmuseum owner Jan ??, forgot his last name, or in the book about this crash?

 

Pieter

Are you sure about the date 17th August 1945? Would it not be April?

John

 

A very nice town, as we both know Philip! :wink:

@horsapassenger: It could not have been in April, as western Holland was occupied until the German surrender in May 1945.

 

Pieter

I accept not April but you said in your post "A couple of days later, British and Canadian troops reached western Holland to take over the command from the German troops. While searching for info on the crashed Wellington Z1321 at the archive of Vlaardingen I found a short note of a parade of British troops"
You then stated that the date of this parade was on 17th August - that is not consistent with the surrender of the German troops.

John

 

I understand. A few days after the surrender of Germany, the British and Canadian troops reached western Holland. They took over the command and established an new order. I do not know how long they exactly have been here, but at least until August I guess, because they held a parade at the 17th of that month. Perhaps that parade was just before they were leaving. That's something I do not know..

 

May was end of war in Europe not the end of the war. Wasn't 15th August VJ Day and the end of WW2? Perhaps the parade was for that reason.

 

I think it might have been troops from the Royal 22e Regiment.

 

Rob has checked this one for me and found out it weren't soldiers of the Royal 22e Regiment.

 

Rob has checked this one for me and found out it weren't soldiers of the Royal 22e Regiment.


Canadian 1st Division was holding the truce line around Amersfoort.


The British 49th division was also on the truce line, holding the north bank
of the Neder Rijn, south of the Canadians.

 

The other units in the same Brigade as the Royal 22E Regt were not in Vlaardingen on 8 May either.

The West Nova Scotias were on a line from De Lier to Den Hoorn





The Carleton & Yorks were East of Amersfoort on the 8th May 1945 to allow the Dutch Brigade the honour of being first into the Hague. They then went in the following day.

 

You are doing some great research here Rob. I don't know yet which unit might have been the first into Delft.

 

As Delft is historically important, I wonder if a Brigade HQ might have gone in first with some troops attached in case of problems.

 

I am Captain Charles Robert Ericsson Moffat's daughter. My father was captain in the British Royal Artillery in charge of a searchlight group seconded to the Canadian First Division. He was responsible for battlefield illumination and accompanied the canadian's from Sicily through Italy , the south of France, through the 2nd battle of Arnheim. Lt McGegor was his friend.

He took the parade in Vlaardingen as allied representative on the 30th August 1945. He was given the freedom of the city. I have the scroll given to him on the living room wall.

I have only just come across the site. My father passed away in October 2005.

 

Welcome to the forum Moemoff. It's great to get in touch with you. Your father was part of a piece of 'unknown' history of the city of Vlaardingen. The document I mentioned - only a short note really - is the only thing known about this day nowadays.

I see the photos in my first post are gone. I will send you a PM, so I can send you these pictures if you like.

 

Based on the information supplied by the daughter of Captain C.R.E. Moffat, I found 2 Searchlight Units which served in Italy that moved to North West Europe.

Captain Moffat served in 422 (Independent) Searchlight battery and a Lieutenant G.F. MacGregor is also listed as well. The war diary pages do not mention Vlaardingen, but the unit was based at Rotterdam for the month of August. Vlaardingen is pretty close to Rotterdam.

 

Thank you so much Rob! Does the war diary mention the battery's movements in Rotterdam?

I have found two documents mentioning the 422nd Searchlight Battery. Both documents are an order of battle of the Canadian 1st Corps.

 

Last week I spoke to an old citizen of Vlaardingen about the summer of 1945. He could not remember anything about the British parade in August, but he was talking about Canadians. The troops of 422 Battery were in Vlaardingen from 17 till 30 August I think. So there must have been (an) other Allied unit(s) in Vlaardingen from May till August. I think the old man was right about the Canadians. I have found a photo of the mayor of Vlaardingen together with two soldiers. The caption mentions they were two Canadian soldiers. Unfortunatelly, this photo was only a copy and therefore too fuzzy to recognize any of their insignia. I will see if I can find a better copy of the photo.

 

Cities and villages (Maassluis, De Lier, Den Hoorn) to the west of Vlaardingen all seem to be 'liberated' by troops of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the Canadian 1st Infantry Division: the Royal 22e Regiment and The West Nova Scotia Regiment. Rob said in post #11 he had checked all 3rd Infantry Brigade units, but they weren't in Vlaardingen on 8 May 1945. So perhaps it was another unit from the Canadian 1st Infantry Division which was the first Allied unit in Vlaardingen.

 

Pieter,
No where close to any reference material as I am overseas. Suggest a PM to Dryan67 or to Wills. They have a ton of knowledge on Canadian forces during WW2.