A brief history of 4 Platoon in the Netherlands and Germany

4 Platoon were part of A Company in the 1/t7th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, 51st Highland Division

The Middlesex Regiment was a mortar and machine gun regiment providing support to the infantry in the three brigades of the 51st Highland Division. A Company was a mortar company. B, C and D companies were machine gun companies.

After fighting in Normandy and in northern France, the Platoon arrived in the St Oedenrode area of Holland in early October.

Their first major campaign was 'Operation Colin', 23 October - 1 November, attacking north of St Oedenrode across the Dommel against the German 59th Division. The password was from 'Alemein to Tripoli' as it was the anniversary of the Battle of Alemein. By the end of the 25th, 154 Brigade had pushed well over the Halsche. By 1 November the Company was concentrated at Loon-op-Zand, then moved to Haaren.

'Operation Guy Fawkes' began on 4 November to push the German 59th Division off 'the island' north of the Afwaterings Canal. They then moved to Zomeren

'Operation Ascot', 14-21 November involved pushing the Germans back to the east of the river Maas. A Company were in Levroit on 15 November and concentrated in Roggel on 19 November.

By 25 November they had been switched to the Nijmegen area to relieve the 101st US Airborne. A Company concentrated near Andelst on the island between Nijmegen and Arnhem. This was part of 'Operation Noah'. There were contingency plans to evacuate the island should it be flooded by the Germans. By the 28th they had evacuated the island and concentrated near Winssen.

From 2nd- 9th December, 4 Platoon (along with 6 Platoon) were on guard duty in Oss. They were billeted on a farm belonging to the Van Heeswijk family, and Corporal 'Rusty' Clarkson subsequently married the farmer's daughter, Annie, who all the troops nicknamed 'The Wizard of Oss'. It was in Oss that Private Barron and Corporal MacMurray were befriended by local families and treated with considerable warmth and hospitality. One evening they took one of the families to the pictures. Dutch civilians could only attend if accompanied by English soldiers.

There was then a period of inspections, lectures and football matches and training for the next major offensive, 'Operation Veritable'. But they were next sent South on the 19th December via Linden and Valkenswards to arrive in Belgium on 21 December. On 22 December there was a dance in a local village hall at Veltham Beysum; then moved to Groot Haarsdal.

On Christmas Day, their celebrations were interrupted by news that they were to move to defensive positions south east of Liege. This was an area where V-I rockets were regularly falling. It was very cold and frosty. On 31 December a V-I exploded in A Company's area, killing Private Elliott who was buried near the chateau at Tilff.

On 7 January 1945, they moved to high ground south of the main Marche-Hotton road towards Laroche. Road were treacherous; many vehicles were stranded. There was deep snow and temperatures fell to 0 degrees. Only A Company could be deployed, and in the end only 3 and 6 Platoons engaged in battle. The Ardennes Campaign came to an end on 14 January and the 51st Division moved north to concentrate in the Lierre - Herentals area. A Company was billeted 'in the big school in the town'. Flying bombs passed overhead on their way to Antwerp.

The rest of January and early February was spent in training, interspersed with trips to entertainments (for example The Merry Widow in Eindhoven on 26 January), for Operation Veritable, moving first to Best and then to Haaren on 29 January.

Operation Veritable, which began on 7 February, was an attack on the Siegfried Line. All four mortar platoons were moved from Haaren to the Mook area, grid reference 535521. At 1600 hours 4 and 5 Platoons were the first to enter Germany. On the 10th, 4 and 5 platoons moved into the Reichswald. During this battle, Lt Clark, 4 Platoon leader, played a significant part in liaising with the infantry companies under orders of the Commanding Officer of the Regiment.

The Division was relieved on 25th February and moved to Asperberg for 10 days rest. A marquee was set up as a theatre for concerts and dances. On 1 March a concert was given by a Belgian dance band. In the evening of 2nd March, a military band gave a concert. During the day an inter-unit shoot was held near Kessel, called the 154 Infantry Brigade High Trajectory Spring Meeting.

4 Platoon provided a team consisting of Corporal MacMurray, Private Barron, Private Bragan and Private Dunn (later wounded at the Rhine Crossing) under the command of Lieutenant Clark. Also competing were infantry mortar teams and guns of the Royal Regiment of the Royal Artillery. The 4 platoon team were the overall winners.

There was further training near Bree, followed by a company Sports meeting for A Company on 11 March with dances, trips to Eindhoven, drill and an inter-Company football match over the next few days.

On 22 March they arrived at Louisendorf ready for 'Operation Plunder' - the Rhine Crossing - which began on 23 March. The platoon spent the night before camouflaging, digging in and carrying mortar bombs. 12,000 mortar bombs had been dumped in the mortar platoons' area. At 16.30 an enemy mortar bomb fell in 4 Platoon's area, wounding Private Jones and Private Dunn. 3 and 4 platoons had trouble with their base plates.

Private Barron writes: The Sergeant had gone bomb happy and disappeared into his slit trench once the firing started. He'd been with the Division since Alamein. After a while people had had enough. Corporal MacMurray was home on leave. I was Number 2, so I took over. Number 4 had been overcome by smoke. Number 3, Peachy Dunn was wounded in the leg, so I had to use one of the despatch riders as Number 2 (Tex Williams), and the driver passed the bombs. Private Barron was later made up to corporal for this act of leadership. 4 Platoon had fired 1180 bombs.

Once again the Platoon leader, Lt Clark, was liaising with the infantry, crossing the Rhine early to provide observation for the 1st Gordons and later 5th Black Watch, reporting that the fighting in Rees was too close for the mortars to be used. It was in Rees that the Divisional Commander, General Rennie, was killed. There were casualties among Lt Clark's Observation party on the 24th and more on the 25th. A Company finally crossed the Rhine on 26 March and concentrated north of Rees. Here they were in support of the 1st Black Watch. Lt Clark was continuing to liaise with the 1st Gordons and on the 27th the whole Battalion were in supports of the 5/7th Gordons. After a short stand-down on the 29th they were covering exit routes from Dinxperloo, then settled in Isselburg on 30 March.

Then, on 6 April. A Company moved to ENSCHEDE, where they were put up in civilian billets 'and made very comfortable'. On the 9th, they moved off to join the Battalion HQ at Lingen where they were billeted in the headquarters of a slave labour camp.

There continued to be snipers and pockets of resistance, but the Division was making faster progress now. By 11 April, A Company was south of Quakenbruck. By the 14 April they had moved to Kleinen Keneten and 'owing to patchy resistance, many prisoners were taken.' On the 15th there was a report that Lt Clark's jeep was blown up on a mine. Although he was wounded and evacuated to Casualty Clearing, it was not serious. On 17 April, 4 Platoon fired on targets in support of the 1st Black watch. One of these proved to be an 88mm gun. There were 5 bomb holes within 10 yards of it. On the 19th the whole Battalion, minus B Company were engaged against Delmenhorst. The next day the Platoon was firing bombs on Hengsterholz.

They then came out of action for three days. On the 24th the whole Battalion was in support of the British 3rd Division's attack on Bremen. On the 26th there was weapon training and a sports meeting at which 4 Platoon were the winners. On the 27th they moved to Volkersen, then Hassendorf on the 29th. By-passing Bremen they headed for Bremervorde on 2 May. With the Ceasefire, A Company moved to Hesedorf.

On 6 May there was a church parade. The whole Division moved to Bremerhaven the next day to take over guard duties of enemy stores and equipment and to supervise disarmament of German forces. The Division also began rehearsals for a Victory March Past on the 12th, at which the salute was taken by Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks, the Corps Commander.

On the 16th, with a fair, opened by Lt General Horrocks, and a smoking concert, the 1/7th Middlesex Regiment celebrated Albuhera Day which commemorates their most important battle honour, gained in the Peninsular War, at which the Regiment gained its nickname, the Die Hards.