AN ACCOUNT OF THE ATTACK ON GROIN BY 5TH SEAFORTH
Let us consider first the situation of Hugh Robertson, O.C. "C" Company. Hugh, with "A" Company ahead of him, was trudging down the road which approached Groin from the north, being heavily shelled and mortared. Three hundred yards short of the village he bumped the tail of "A" whose first objective was a farm on the outskirts (No 1 on the diagram). The men lay waiting by the roadside while George Lisle and his platoon fought it out in the farm, and all Hugh could see were spandau flashes from the front and occasional figures running across the background of flames. His orders were to advance as soon as "A" was in the farm, so he halted his company and waited, worried by the fact that the time was 0230 hours, with little more than three hours of darkness left.
Colonel Sym arrived, and ordered "C" to advance immediately and take the right-hand group of houses (2). Hugh sent 13 Platoon under Peter Stone. When they were a hundred and fifty yards from the first house three spandaus opened up; but they managed to close, and the first house was cleared. While they were working their way down to the second one they walked into an extremely ugly concentration of spandaus and grenades, and were so badly knocked about that when Peter fell back on the first house he found he had only eight men left. There he met Hugh, who had heard the shooting and followed to find out what was happening.
'It didn't look too good,' he said. 'There we were, squatting in the back garden with one hell of a din going on, trying to get some sense out of Peter's men. They'd been badly shot up, and all I could make of it was that there were plenty Boche damn close, but no one knew quite where. I'd just decided to go back and send in 15 Platoon on a right hook, when a tattie-masher landed three yards from me and there seemed to be Boche firing from the hip all over the landscape. You know how it is when something like that happens. Time seems to stop for a bit I remember looking up and seeing men coming full belt at us about thirty yards away with muzzle-flashes coming from their middles. It all seemed to take quite a long time. They were shouting something that sounded like: "Komm! Komm!"
'Well, we didn't Komm. We went. I remember struggling through the hedge - we'd a man killed there - and then scattering back across the fields with the others to our firm base. The Boche swung too far right in the dark, and missed us .... '
First round to the Boche.
Hugh sent 15 Platoon on a right hook under Lieutenant Rhodes, but they fared no better. After a time they withdrew, minus Rhodes, who was shot through the elbow and lost in the dark. He came in later under his own steam.
Second round to the Boche.
The third round went to us, for "A" Company reached its objectives in the houses on the left (3); and the fourth was ours also. At the same time as Peter had set off on his ill-fated expedition, Hugh had sent his last platoon, No.14 under Sergeant Goldney, straight through the centre of the village to (4); and into this platoon blundered the Germans who had been chasing Peter's remnants across the fields. Goldney was ready for them; and they fled after losing three killed, one wounded, and one prisoner. Hugh, having launched everything he had, went into the village to see how Goldney was getting on.
'It was terrible,' he said. 'All the buildings were on fire. Roofs were caving in, and sparks were flying all over the place. Cattle were trapped inside. The stench sickened me. In the firelight I could see both the Boche and my own lads dodging about; and when I went down I found that Goldney had stopped short. After that he went through and beyond the buildings, and that was the last I saw of him alive. There was a lot of loose shooting, both bren and spandau, and when I got down he was lying dead on the road. They say he was shot by a German officer at close range. The rest of the boys carried on cleared all the buildings, and took up position astride the main road.
Hugh had shot his bolt. He collected the survivors of the other two platoons and sent them down to reinforce Goldney's men at (4). And that was that.
Now, if this somewhat complicated narrative has been followed, it will be evident that by this time we held the left of the village and the far end of it, but as yet had been unable to do anything about the first group of buildings at (2) where Peter Stone had been shot up. The original plan had been for "D" Company to take the buildings on the far left of the village as we looked at it (5 and 6); but now this did not look too promising. Colonel Sym left the choice to Jock Gardiner, the company commander.
History Section Reference :
Rhine Crossing
Museum Reference :
Documents - Rhine Crossing