17th Airborne and 51st Highland Division Make Contact

I received a question about documentation regarding the contact made between the US 17th Airborne Division and the British 51st Highland Division north of Bastogne along the Ourthe River. Here is what I found in my files. See the entry for 14 January. If anyone has images or more documentation to post, please do so.

 

Thanks for the document. This is the picture that goes with the contact:



And the story, fragment taken from my booklet "51st Highland Division in the Ardennes, Dec 1944 - Jan 1945", which appeared in 1999. I'm currently working on a re-issue:

On the right, in the 153rd Brigade’s zone, Captain Patrick MacNaghten, in command of ‘B’ Squadron of the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry, dis­patched all of his reconnaissance troops forward from Ortho. They had to patrol over three different routes towards the riverside, and, if possible establish contact with the Americans at the bridge south of Warempage. On the right, one troop was to probe towards Mousny, in the center another troop was to push along the Ber­togne road to the bridge site and, on the left, one troop was to clear Warempage and Herlinval. Each troop was accompanied by a section of engineers for mine clearing. No.2 Troop went to Mousny and reported it clear of enemy, but because of deep snow it was not able to recce further. The troop that went down the main road, no.1 Troop, commanded by Lieutenant Owen, found the road blocked by eight trees. There were no mines but the trees were too big to be removed and they asked for a bulldozer to be brought up. Mean­while no.3 Troop, commanded by Lieutenant P. Mucklow, entered Warempage, where it saw two enemy soldiers running into a house. By firing its 2-pounder guns and Besa machine­guns at the enemy occupied house they flushed out the enemy and before long 9 POW’s were taken. By the time Warempage and the nearby Herlinval were clear Lieutenant Muck­low’s no.3 Troop had rounded up 39 POW’s.

Since Mucklow’s troop was fully engaged in clearing up the houses in Warempage, Captain MacNaghten decided to let no.1 Troop make a detour by way of Warempage and rejoin his original axis further south. Lieutenant Owen’s troop proceeded through Warempage, turned right and descended to the main road. When the troop almost rejoined the main road, the leading armoured car spotted some infantry in slit trenches, who ran into some houses at the crossroads. The method of dislodgement de­scribed above was tried again, without success. The enemy remained in the houses. When this was reported, Captain MacNaghten told Lieuten­ant Owen that he would send infantry - two platoons of the 5/7th Gordons and a troop of tanks of ‘B’ Squadron 144th Regiment RAC were held at stand-by at Ortho, for just such an eventuality - but Owen replied that this was not necessary and that he would try again. This second attempt was also unsuccessful and Owen, on his own initiative, sent two pioneers round the back and opened the front door him­self. He was confronted by a German officer and four men with their machineguns aimed at him. Owen fired two shots from his revolver which hit the ceiling over their heads and with­drew behind the door-post, covering the open­ing with his revolver, to await developments. He did not have to wait long as the Germans came out with their hands up. Obviously, the sight of the fiery Welshmen was too much for them and despite his bad marksman­ship they were only too willing to surrender. He then proceeded to collect more prisoners, making 14 in all. As soon as Lieutenant Owen was satisfied that it was safe to do so, he went on south only to find the road blocked once more by trees. As no.3 Troop was still fully engaged in Warempage, Captain MacNaght­en decided that it would be quicker to bring no.1 Troop back to Warempage once more and send them via the small road leading south from Herlinval to rejoin their axis. This they did. On rejoining the main road a second time, the leading car of no.1 Troop reported another road block manned by “determined-looking” soldiers. This was at 1140 hrs. On ‘closer ex­amination’, they proved to be Americans and, at 1155 hrs, ‘B’ Squadron was able to report that “contact had been established with friends from the South”. Lieutenant Owen went on, on foot, to investigate the bridge over the Ourthe, but found it blown. A full report on the condition of the bridge was sent to Brigade. Sergeant Peter de Graeve an armoured car leader in no.1 Troop, remembers an exchange of ‘friendly’ fire: “About half a mile north of the river Ourthe we came under small arms fire from a wooded area each side of the road. We in our car already had the gun at 2 o’clock and as soon as firing started I told John Madden, my gunner, to open up with the Besa machinegun, spraying the wood until Lieutenant Owen after a short time realized they were Americans and shouted to cease fire. Mercifully, there were no casual­ties in this fire fight. The Yanks had been cut off for several days and eagerly accepted tins of corned-beef etc. To save this moment for pos­terity, I took a photograph with my camera.”

Google map with the path of No 1 Troop, 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry

 

The operational instructions of 51st Div HQ for 14 Jan 45:

FROM: “G” 51 (H) Div 132005A
TO: 152 153 154 Bdes 2 D Yeo RA RE Sigs 1/7 Mx 33 Armd Bde 30 Corps G INT A/Q (MAIN) APM Pro PHANTOM

0 901 (.) TOPSEC (.) FIRST (.) Bdes will maintain local patrols tonight 13/14 Jan (.) SECOND (.) Orders for 14 Jan (.) Bdes will mop up energetically within Bde Bdys and ensure that no enemy remain in Bde areas(.) THIRD (.) Contact with US Forces (.)
Contact will be est 14 Jan as follows: -
At first light 154 Bde : ORTHEUVILLE 4366 WYOMPONT 4567
When possible 153 Bde: Br 5069
Contact will be reported at once to this HQ (.) FOURTH (.) Patrols will be warned that the Div sector is bounded on the EAST and SOUTH by R OURTHE and there will be no shooting across this line (.) FIFTH (.) Rd clearance will continue within Div area but NO further bridges will be built without ref to this HQ (.) All informed

By LO to 152, 153 , 154 and 33 Armd Bdes

Fullerphone to 30 Corps
SDR to remainder

 

Pathe film reel Ardennes: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/invasion-scenes-europe-british-troops-5/query/INVASION+EUROPE+IN+SNOW

The re-enacted contact with 'C' Squadron at Ortheuville from 1:48 onwards (note: these shots were taken along the road from La Roche to Marche-en-Famenne), followed by the encounter at Champlon (from 2:52 onwards).

For more on Brits in the Ardennes see: http://www.ww2f.com/topic/39225-brits-in-the-ardennes-4445/

 

That's a great film clip!

oz

 

Oz - unfortunately there are no filmshots of the encounter near Warempage, just the single photograph.

Unlike the 17th Airborne the 51st Highland Division on 12 and 13 January 45 encountered stiff enemy opposition of infantry and Panther tanks - mainly 2nd Pz Division and Pz Lehr - when it probed forward on to the high ground south of La Roche-en-Ardenne. The enemy held off the Highland advance long enough to make good the escape of the units that faced the VIII US Corps to the south (incl. 17th AB Div). By the evening of the 13th the Highlanders had reached the crest overlooking the Ourthe river, as indicated in my map.

 

Looking at the film clip I notice that it also covers a couple of other threads on the forum:

1. Soldiers in snow suits - http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/50332-british-snow-suits/?hl=%2Bsnow+%2Bsuits

2. Soldiers equipped with sten guns and no one being accidentaly shot - http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/14397-sten-gun/

Good clip though, wonder how the brass monkeys survived :biggrin:

TD