Martin Lindsay's account of 1st Gordons action at Goch
For an instant I considered cancelling the attack. Then I told Kyle to form up the Company. We had already lost a quarter of an hour, and it was about 6 a.m. when we moved off: Corporal Henderson's platoon with Kyle responsible for the compass course, then myself with Howitt and his platoon, then Sergeant Cleveland's platoon, then Company H.Q. After going about 200 yards there was a salvo of mortar bombs and the column checked. After half a minute I went forward and found nobody ahead of us, and cursed the leading men for not having followed those in front. Then we found McDonald, the I.O., very cool and confident, and he walked with me to where the tape ended.
It was a lovely clear night with visibility a good 200 yards - rather too much for the job in hand, I thought. It was pleasant to be in open country after the dirt, dust and shelling in ruined Goch. Except for the column of silent men and a house burning away on my right, I might have been going to an early morning duck flight. Then there was another loud crump ahead, and I realised that although the gun in question was firing from the direction of the enemy, there was a remarkable echo coming back from the Reichswald, and this it was which had made me take a bearing to what appeared to be the position of our own artillery. Luckily that was a parting shot, and those particular guns fired no more.
All went well for a time, and the leading platoon had no difficulty in taking the right hand of the first two houses. I then ordered Howitt's and Sergeant Cleveland's platoons forward. It was just getting light, though it was too dark to distinguish friend from foe at twenty yards. One spandau was firing from 200 yards away, but not apparently at us. We seemed to have achieved surprise.
With Kyle and Company H.Q. I followed Sergeant Cleveland's platoon through an orchard, across a stream and up to the two nearest of the main buildings. Sergeant Cleveland's platoon entered the left-hand one, and we the right. Ours consisted of a large cattle byre with about six smaller rooms leading off it. By now there was a certain amount of firing taking place, for in several directions the enemy appeared to have come to life. It was still pretty dark and I was afraid of us shooting each other. I paired off the men with us and posted two at each of the four doors of the byre.
Kyle went outside for a moment, and when he returned he was shot at by his servant at five yards' range, and missed. Then there was a burst of fire from one of the men in a doorway behind me.
"You bloody fool," I shouted at him, as someone fell in the straw at his feet, gasping, groaning and choking his life away. But this time it was a full-blooded Hun, though unarmed and half-dressed.
I went to the window to read the battle. There seemed to be hardly any shooting taking place. It was clear that Howitt's platoon had not taken the main building for there was not a sound from there nor any sign of them in front.
I went across to Sergeant Cleveland's platoon next door. He told me that when anybody tried to cross to the next building they were fired on by two spandaus from dug-in positions in the garden behind. It seemed to me that the Company was not in any particular danger as the buildings they were occupying were substantial and the enemy were not showing any aggressiveness. But it was obvious that more men would be necessary to clear the remaining buildings. We were not through to the Battalion by either R/T or line so, after consulting Kyle, I decided to return and send up another company and some tanks.
On the way back I found that though Corporal Henderson's platoon had still got the first house, they were not yet in the second one, which was held by the enemy. Corporal Henderson was firing a piat at it somewhat ineffectively. I told him to use his smoke and rush the house, and then take the whole platoon across and join up with Kyle.
Cornish and I then had a very nasty time getting back over the open ground as it was light enough to be seen, and two spandaus fired at us. We ran like mad, taking it in short rushes from cover to cover. Luckily there were one or two small bomb craters in the largest field, without which I do not think we could have got across. As an additional insult somebody fired one shot from an anti-tank gun at us.
Unfortunately, for one reason or another, it took about two hours to get B Company off with some tanks and crocodiles. Just before they started one or two men from A Company came in to say that the company had been overwhelmed and they were the sole survivors.
Even with the armour to support them, B Company had quite a difficult time and some ten men killed in capturing Thomashof. They took about eighty prisoners. George Morrison, as usual, was exceedingly brave in what was a very nasty attack. He is very sick about the support given him by the crocodiles, only one of which would cross the open ground with his company. One of the new officers, Ventris, also did well, being wounded five times in the course of the battle and only giving up when George ordered him to do so. He had been with us only four days. "It was fun while it lasted," he said, as they took him away on a stretcher. I had made Alec and George toss up as to which company should do this attack. George lost, so Alec insisted in accompanying him to give him his moral support for the first part of the attack. What magnificent chaps those two are!
From one or two survivors and a stretcher-bearer who was taken prisoner and escaped, it seems that Howitt's platoon reached the front of their building and saw one or two men in the doorway. Thinking (God knows why) that it might have been some of the rest of the company, they challenged them, and the reply was a burst of fire. Howitt was killed - we found his body tonight - then the rest of the platoon scattered. The enemy was very strong and shortly afterwards put in several attacks, and the company was overwhelmed through lack of leaders. No doubt parachute troops or commandos would have made short work of the Huns in Thomashof, but our experience is that once the leaders get hit, the attack pegs out. Anyway, they fought well as we found eight or ten dead, and no doubt a number of the forty-three that are missing are wounded. I saw very little sign of damage done by our medium artillery. God knows what they were firing at.
I am feeling utterly exhausted, and depressed beyond words, as I think that the A Company disaster today was my fault. Firstly, I could have asked for a Typhoon attack on Thomashof yesterday afternoon, and secondly I should have insist that the place was too big to attack with one company, which was all we had available while still having to hold part of Goch.
History Section Reference :
Reichswald
Museum Reference :
Documents - Reichswald
Black Watch - Reichswald.