Private Robert Love 7/9RS: Capture of Heinsberg 24/25 January 1945

The Heinsberg salient had to be cleared as it was a potential danger to the right flank of the 21st Army Group and when cleared the Roer would provide a water-barrier on the right flank as we attacked into the German fatherland. The Operation was called ‘Blackcock’. By mid-January 1945 the plan was ready with the 7th Armoured Division (’Desert Rats’) on the left; 8th Armoured and 155 Infantry Brigade as the centre column; the remainder of 52 (Lowland) Division was on the right attacking from Sittard along an axis that led to Heinsberg.The 7th/9th Royal Scots in the centre column with the other two infantry battalions in 155 Brigade formed part of an armoured column with the 8th Armoured and fought a series of small encounters during which the Battalion captured Kloster Lilbosch, then advancing into German met heavy opposition as they move into Waldfeucht and on to Bocket. As the salient became reduced, the enemy held only a bridgehead including the German town of Heinsberg. The 7th/9th Royal Scots and 4 KOSB were given the task of capturing the town.It is from Bocket that Private Robert Love’s account begins.Joe Brown.It wasn’t long before we were on the move again; our next objective was to be Heinsberg, just over the Dutch–German border. The approach to the town was easy enough but had a hard march to get there, thirteen miles we had to cover from the Bocket area. It was the last week in January 1945 and it was very cold with lots of snow on the ground and quite deep in places, as we approached the outskirts of Heinsberg we were shelled by very heavy German artillery, we took what cover we could find and after a while the shelling eased down and we continued on our way. Most of the town was in ruin with dead bodies everywhere, the town had about 5,000 inhabitants and how most of them survived after the heavy bombing raid and the shelling is a mystery.We fought our way into the centre of the town, the Germans seemed to appear from nowhere, and most of them had white camouflaged suits on and were difficult to see, every house had to be cleared of the enemy, snipers were everywhere, we would throw in a grenade then rush into the house and shoot anything that was moving. We were getting dangerously low on ammunition, plus it was getting dark so it was decided by the Battalion H.Q. to hold our positions that we had captured, if possible until more ammunition was brought up to us.I found myself with 4 Section, in a reasonably undamaged house, we made ourselves as comfortable as possible, but there was to be no rest for us, sleep was impossible as the Germans occupied the house next door “not very nice neighbours to have”. They were reasonably quiet though except for a few rifle shots, we had more or less a peaceful night.I set up my Bren-gun at a window overlooking the street it was a bitterly cold night, at dawn the Germans counter attacked. We were expecting them as they always attacked at dawn, but it turned out to be a half-hearted attack and we soon had them on the way back from where they came, little did they know how short of ammunition we were, but they took advantage of the attack as most of the Germans that occupied about a third of the town moved out when they retreated, that suited us fine for we could now get some sleep.We were ordered to hold our positions until further notice. We also found out that we weren’t to get much rest as they shelled us continually. I remember on one occasion when I was on guard at the window with my Bren-gun, I had with me another young chap, he was a recent replacement. I can’t remember his name, we were always getting new chaps into the Company to replace the ones that were killed or wounded.  Anyway, we were under heavy shelling at the time and were expecting another counter-attack so we had to stay at our positions when all of a sudden there was an almighty explosion just above us. We had received a direct hit and the upstairs came tumbling down on top of us, my number two and I were buried. I thought Christ I’ve had it, I couldn’t move and then I realised that my head was on something soft and there was a queer taste in my mouth, I came to the conclusion that the soft thing must be my mate. I was just able to breathe but I couldn’t move my head, nor could I speak.I just hoped and prayed that the rest of the chaps in 4 Section had arrived to dig us out, but there was no way of telling and just had to lie there and hope. I could hear lots of gun fire and what seemed like hours I heard movement nearby and voices, good old Scottish voices, not German. I remember thinking, Christ I hope they don’t think we are dead and leave us. I thought even if we are dead they would still dig us out, even just to bury us. After what seemed like a lifetime they got us out, I was covered in blood but it wasn’t mine; at least most of it wasn’t, the blood was from the other chap. Seemingly a piece of shrapnel had torn into his stomach and all his intestines were hanging out and my head had been resting in it. No wonder there had been a queer taste in my mouth. I was immediately very sick and I was to have a queer taste in my mouth for a considerably long time afterwards. My mate was dead and I had been lucky as all I had were a few cuts and bruises. The blast from the shell had thrown me under the Bren-gun tripod and had acted as a shield from all the rubble which had fallen from above.I was taken back to a forward field medical post for a check-up but was found to be O.K. I was put to bed for twenty four hours which I welcomed as it was the best sleep I had for weeks. The next day I was back on duty again and my first job was to patrol the other part of the town which was thought to be still in German hands except for a few snipers which took about an hour to overcome, then the town was ours.B. Company was beginning to take a new look, what with all the new faces it wasn’t the same company which had left Stonehaven in Scotland seven months ago. We were to remain in Heinsberg for a few days, the Kings Own Scottish Borderers went through our lines and continued with the advance, we spent the days licking our wounds and stocking up with fresh supplies and getting more replacements. It wasn’t long before we were on the move again, the Germans were on the retreat again, our advance forward was slow because of the conditions, we probed here and we probed there, sometimes meeting with stiff opposition.When we were held up by opposition we had to dig in, that was the worst part, the ground was as hard as concrete, sometimes all we had was our trenching tools. Every man had one, a trenching tool is a small combined spade one end and a pick head at the other, they were attached to our belt at the rear, once we had broken through the frozen top soil digging was quite easy.The slit trench was about five feet deep, five feet long and about two feet wide; there would be two men to a trench. Sometimes we would dig another trench depending on how long we were staying, adjoining the first one but not so deep but just long enough to lie down in, we would then cover it with any old branches we could find then lay our gas capes over to make it water proof. We then took it in turn to get some rest, one resting and one on guard; it was fairly comfortable but very cold.Now and again we were called upon to go on patrol into no man-land; that was the land between the British lines and the German. A very scary business indeed and we had to lie out there most of the night. We were more or less a forward listening position with a two way radio and had to report anything suspicious on the German side. We were always pleased when the officer gave us the order to move back to our own lines, and it was no joke lying out there all night in the freezing cold.With the capture of Heinsberg, we were later informed that the 52nd (Lowland) Division was the first British Division to set up their headquarters on Germany soil.