Churchill's Varsity Battlefield Tour

Kudos, alberk. I also found the postcard on the hvv-walbeck page, after looking for the IWM pic. But as nearly every day, after 18:00h there is almost no connection to the forum.

 

Triumph In The West

A few excerpts from Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke's book. May have missed a few items as there were out of order pages in the PDF. I think they headed north or downstream after crossing the Xanten pontoon bridge. If so, that was totally unexpected as well as the final "picnic" location by the river on the west side. My theory was a way off, as if that has never happened before ...



Regards ...

 

In a figurative sense, only the big philosophical questions remain - where do we come from and where are we going?

 

Who ... ?



Regards ...

 

Lt-Col. Trumbull Warren

Montgomery's Personal Assistant, Trum Warren is seen to rear in Surrender photo by Lt. Malindine, 5 AFPU.



Intelligence Officer, Colonel Joe Ewart, stands immediately behind Montgomery.



Regards ...

Edit: Above photos have been corrected. See following post for clarification on the identity of Warren and Ewart:

Churchill's Varsity Battlefield Tour

 

Brigadier HVS "Rollie" Charrington with Son



He was Field Marshal Alan Brooke's aide-de-camp during this time. Does he show up in the Rhine Crossing camerwork?

Trumbull Warren and Joe Ewart also seen in the "Surrender" painting as based on the photo.



Regards ...

 

Some good work by cee has been seen here, in putting faces to names for the entourage. And as mentioned before, sometimes these provide illuminating details

Later ...

 

Yo,

One drawback among many for me is unfamiliarity with this stretch of the Rhine. Noticed alberk started an excellent thread on the bridges in the British sector here:

Bridging the Rhine for 12th Corps - March 1945

It's interesting also that Alanbrooke was able to use Montgomery's aircraft to fly over the area during his Rhine sojourn, but don't think Churchill tagged along.

Regards ...

 

Saturday, March 24th 1945

All sources agree on one point, Churchill watched the overflight of the Varsity Armada from a suitable point. Where this point was, and with whom he was on the spot - opinions differ widely. Below are some sources I have collected, perhaps there are more. Maybe we can sort them out. Map aid for the Xanten area.

Lets start with the primary sources Churchill and Brooke:

*01 Triumph and Tragedy (Churchill) Book
In the morning Montgomery had arranged for me to witness from a hill-top amid rolling downland the great fly-in. It was full daylight before the subdued but intense roar and rumbling of swarms of aircraft stole upon us. After that in the course of half an hour over 2,000 aircraft streamed overhead in their formations. My view-point had been well chosen.

*02 War Diaries (Brooke) Book
We had a 3/4 hour drive to a view point about 2000 yards south of Xanten, from which an excellent view can be obtained when the weather is clear. Unfortunately it was rather hazy, but we could just make out the line of the Rhine from near Xanten to Wesel ...


... and a whole bunch of choices collected from different sources:

*03 Winston's War (Hastings) Book
As he gazed down upon the vast panorama from a chair set out for him on a Xanten hilltop [...] He watched fascinated as the great armada passed overhead, thousands of multicoloured parachutes blossoming forth above the German riverbank. He was hurried unwillingly to the rear by the generals when desultory German shells began to fall.

*04 International Churchill Society
In late March, Churchill went to General Montgomery's Observation Point in Ginderich, Germany to observe the start of a new offensive across the Rhine.

*05 The Fire. (J. Friedrich) Book
Churchill and Eisenhower together observed from the church tower in Ginderich what military superiority was capable of.

*06 wikipedia. Haus Fürstenberg (kudos to cee)
In the spring of 1945, the tower platform of the mansion served as a vantage point for British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to observe Operation Plunder and Operation Varsity in World War II.

*07 Brotherhood of the flying coffin (McGaugh) Book
On the morning of March 24, General Eisenhower and Prime Minister Winston Churchill had stood on a hill west of the Rhine, marveling at the massive Allied armada as it passed overhead. "My dear General," Churchill kept repeating, "the German is whipped."

*08 de Guingand (CoS 21 Army Group HQ)
When the time came Churchill enjoyed himself a great deal. He stayed at Montgomery's Tactical Headquarters and saw the opening stages of the battle from a small aircraft and a tank or some other armoured vehicle.

Later ...

 

I would still say he stood on the Fürstenberg hill. Where exactly is still difficult to determine. I had a walk across the Fürstenberg with a local friend - but we did not find the spot. On the photos and footage there is a house visible in the background at a somewhat lower level.
Afterwards, my friend gave it another think, looked at a map and suggested the highest spot on the Fürstenberg. We will go there the next time I visit Xanten. He says there are houses there, but they have been modernized...

He marked our walk in orange - at the location Eichacker (end of our walk) we found another possible spot at the eastern edge of the field. However, we did not cross the somewhat muddy potato field... not the right shoes for such an undertaking. Afterwards he came up with the points he marked in red.

 

A Xanten Observation Post

I'm not sure of the exact location of the Churchill party O.P. south of Xanten. Field Marshal Alan Brooke claims they were near an artillery unit firing over the Rhine.



The March 24th IWM film (A70 277-2) states:

"III. Churchill, with Field Marshal Brooke and Commander Thompson, watches the Rhine from an observation post (near Xanten) and talks to men of 9th Medium Battery, Royal Artillery."

According to the Wikipedia the 9th Medium Battery, RA was situated "outside Xanten" for Operation Plunder.

Regards ....

 

Churchill and Eisenhower on a hill - a clear NO

Several sources report, that Eisenhower watched the flyover from the church tower in the little village of Alpen.
Alpen is correct, but the observation point was at the youth castle.



"During the Nazi era, the youth hostel was used as an area leadership school and during the Second World War as a radio control center for the nearby military airfield Bönninghardt. Furthermore, there is photo evidence that on March 24, 1945, Dwight D. Eisenhower watched from the top platform of the castle his troops crossing the Rhine." Source for image and text: Gemeinde Alpen

And finally I found the picture mentioned.


Source: XVI Corps

Later ...

 

Distances - Lunch at Calcar?

Alanbrooke also claimed they were 2000 yards south of Xanten which is about 1.13 miles. I measured off the distance from the cathedral to Haus Furstenberg in Google Maps and got 1.26 miles.




Also they stopped at a bit of high ground south of Calcar for the view and where they had lunch. Are they being served tea here at that same lunch location?



A couple of film stills of the building and vehicles below their hillside. Is it the Xanten or Calcar hillside?



But I would rather not think about the possibility that there is camerawork from two different high spots - Hi Yi Yi ...

Regards ...

 

A Daimler?

Looks somewhat like one.



And perhaps their car ...?



Regards ...

 

Officer

In the foreground of BU2264 we see Alan Brooke and Winston Churchill. Who is the Officer in the background. Also captured in film footage.



Regards ...

 

March 24th Lunch Site

Somewhere along this section of road south of Kalkar (Calcar) is perhaps where the Churchill party stopped for a lunch with a view. There is a wooded slope that rises from the west side of highway B57 through here. I'm not certain, however, if the occasion was caught on film. Could be a limb too far at this point...



BU2271 perhaps catches him passing by the Kalkar slopes. When did he don the tank overalls as he doesn't appear to have kept them on long? Just thinking out loud here as there are other possibilities.



Regards ...

 

On this photo he is passing the village of Kehrum on the road between Xanten and Kalkar/Calcar. The hill you are referring to is the Monreberg. In my 1994/2004 book I suggested the Monreberg as the other hill they used to observe the Rhine crossing.


The Monreberg (Berg = hill) - according to the caption viewed from the northwest. The Monterburg was a castle on the hill but no longer exists.

 

This is from a 1:50000 tourist map I use quite a bit - it shows the symbol for scenic view on the Monreberg.

 

Good stuff ...



Regards ...

 

Boarding the Daimler

Photos and footage of Churchill in coveralls mounting the Daimler "Sheila" may have been taken near their Xanten observation site before setting off on the route to Kalkar and beyond. At some point he removed the tank suit, perhaps at the lunch on the Kalkar heights. More speculation I'm afraid.



Regards ...