AN ACCOUNT OF THE ATTACK ON GROIN BY 5TH SEAFORTH
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| Sketch map of Groin |
The following is an extract from "Battalion" by Alastair Borthwick. Alastair Borthwick first published in 1946 under the tirtle, Sans Peur (the Battalion's motto), and re-published by Bâton Wicks - London (ISBN 1-898575-00-X). This Extracts is produced on this web site by kind permission of Bâton Wicks.
"The Colonel was called to Brigade.
I went with Derek Lang of the Camerons,' he said. 'The shelling was awful, and we got caught in a stonk on the way. We grovelled in some tank tracks until it was over. They were only eight inches deep, but I'm sure we'd have been killed without them. When we reached Brigade we found the Brigadier hit but carrying on. He said: "The General's dead. But you mustn't tell anyone yet, not until this business is over." Then he told me to take Groin from the north-west after dark. Derek was to let me know when the Camerons were on their objective, and then we were to start.'
The Colonel returned; and while he was passing on the orders to the company commanders, the house in which the "0" Group was being held had a direct hit from a shell, the ceiling collapsed about their ears, and everyone emerged covered with plaster. It was not a pleasant day. We had stood a great deal and had nothing as yet to show for it. No one was sorry when, at last, the Camerons success signal came through and we could get to grips with Groin.
It was a small village of no peacetime importance set in a flat, featureless country; but it covered a main exit from Rees, and it was essential that no enemy reinforcements should reach Rees. Also, our bridgehead had to be expanded. We had to have it. Snugly tucked away in the village were our old playmates the Paraboys, prepared, as usual, to be bloody minded. The Battalion moved from its cramped position in the ditches at 0015 hours on March 25 after seventeen hours on the east bank of the Rhine. A Burning building in the factory which the 2nd Seaforth had captured acted as a beacon, and Groin too was on 'fire; but, even so, the route was difficult to follow, so tortuous was it and in places so blocked with rubble and trees. The main road was being heavily shelled by long-range guns, and we had casualties. The noise was so deafening that we could hardly hear the mattresses destined for Groin passing overhead. All round the horizon houses burned, and everywhere shells were bursting. We passed through the Camerons at 0100 hours, and advanced on the village.
The complications of this battle by firelight were many, despite the fact that the village consisted mainly of a few farms and outbuildings; and it would probably be simplest to describe only the company objectives and the times at which they were reached. Yet Groin was the hardest village fight the Battalion ever fought, and I am loathe to let it go so cheaply. The action took place in an extremely restricted area, and the village fell house by house; but if the diagram is studied in conjunction with the story, the various moves and counter-moves can be followed.
History Section Reference :
Rhine Crossing
Museum Reference :
Documents - Rhine Crossing