We have been enjoying superb weather on our journey so far and it’s heading towards 30 degrees+ in the next few days. On the other hand, this part of Eric’s journey 75 years ago was taking place in the autumn and winter where there was drenching rain, snow and temperatures dropping to below zero. But we are, of course, repeating all of Eric’s 11 month journey in a 2 week period in June.
It’s not just the weather that is different but the landscape. The ‘Peel’ area of south-eastern Holland was described at the time as a ‘desolate peat bog of canals, dykes, heather and occasional vast woodlands’. I don’t know whether the area has been drained or because we are doing this trip in the summer, but it’s a very productive, rich rural landscape inhabited, it would seem, by pretty well-off people today. As for the infrastructure in Holland, we are impressed by the quality of roads, the pristine cleanliness and orderliness of everything (Messrs Johnson and Hunt might want to visit here to see what the UK could be like if they had the genuine commitment to make it so. Bit of politics there – and I haven’t mentioned the ‘B’ word yet…;))
Anyway, we begin the day with a little episode of ‘Where’s Andrew?’ (for those that know the children’s book with a similar title). He drives off to the local gym to train as I take my time getting up. I get the phone call saying, ‘See you downstairs for breakfast. I’ll only be 2 minutes’. I duly oblige. Cereal and coffee consumed. Phone call: ‘Err, I’ve lost my bearings. Where am I?’. Reply: ‘What can you see?’. ‘Well I’m near the Volvo garage and I’ve got no data on my phone to use google maps.’ ‘Let me have a look’, I say. ‘Is the garage on your right or left?’. ‘Right’ . ‘OK, you need to turn left at the next junction.’ I move on to a bowl of fruit and yoghurt. He’ll be here soon…. No sign…. OK, move on to toast and croissant and second cup of coffee. 30 minutes later he arrives a little sheepish. ‘The Volvo garage on my right was behind me not in front of me…‘ And I let him drive a DB9…?!! 🤔😳
Today’s objective: to relive Eric and the Battalion’s months of stalemate, defensive duties and fighting in the Peel area – bounded first by the Deurne canal and then the Maas river. This period – which we covered in one day – spanned three months for Eric from the end of October 1944 to early February 1945.
We began in the Leensel Woods where the Glasgow Highlanders were diverted towards villages near the Deurne canal after US forces had been overrun there. They had taken up position in a very large wood where a major firefight broke out and where the Highlanders became very exposed on 30th October when all four Companies were pinned down. It was only when a tank squadron and other Scottish infantry arrived that control was restored .
We easily identify the wood and I think that if we wander around, we are bound to find some wartime artefacts or remnants of battle or shell holes. Andrew reminds me that the metal detectorists have probably found everything that there is to find by now and that there is no way of knowing where the soldiers were deployed in such a large wood. We do find a large hole which could be a shell hole but more likely to be a double tree stump recently excavated…
As a sniper, Eric would have been very good at concealment as well as being a marksman so I imagine he would have been very good in those woods. I recount the story of playing ‘hide and seek’ with him when I was 10 years old. He managed to conceal himself in front of a tree trunk just 15 metres away by hugging its contours. He then slowly appeared in plain sight. He had obviously not forgotten his sniper concealment training 30 years after it was needed.
I am also struck by the very different types of landscape that we have been in and in which the soldiers had fought – open countryside, Bocage, built-up towns and wooded areas.
We next find the Hoogebrug bridge over the Deurne canal. For my father and the rest of the battalion, the Seaforths and Cameronians (all of 46 Brigade), this was where they ‘dug in’ and defended the canal bank for 2 weeks whilst other troops tried to take Meijel. We are astounded at how small the canal and the bridge are, yet how significant a crossing this was.
The Battalion War Diary describes the Glasgow Highlanders’ position: “This was by a canal bank the other side of which – some 45 yards- was enemy positions. We were at the edge of a wood.” 45 yards away! For 2 weeks!!
On we press. Over the bridge at Helenaveen onto Horst, driving past the woods that the Battalion was involved in clearing (‘S’ mines were the great danger in that area – S mines would project 3 feet into the air and explode 350 steel balls of shrapnel three or four seconds later).
We drive on to Blerick to locate another place in a wartime photo. We think we’ve found it, but after having lunch, the cafe owner directs us to the shoe shop on the other side of the road. ‘Ask for Arno because he knows a lot about the history of the area’. We go into the shop, clarify that we’re not after a new pair of ladies’ shoes but whether Arno can help us identify the place in the photo. He can – we are only 250 metres away. We walk there and try to recreate the photo.
The photo is not of the Glasgow Highlanders in Blerick because they were involved in an interesting ‘deception’ in the north to allow the town to be taken from the west. The ruse that Eric and the battalion used involved making a lot of noise – including broadcasting tank noises, making tank tracks and active patrolling. Clever military stuff!
From here on, my Dad would have been defending the Maas. which must have been frustrating for him and his comrades after the more rapid movements earlier on in the war. Another soldier penned a limerick which summarised their feelings:
As I sit on then banks of the Maas; I reflect it is truly a farce; At my time of life; And miles from my wife; To be stuck in the mud on my arse”
I guess the humour of the soldier never changes.
Tomorrow we begin retracing the invasion of Germany itself when Eric and the Glasgow Highlanders were the first troops to enter the Rhineland.
gary's blog 
Hasn’t that poor boy had enough history yet 🧐😆
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