Beachhead on the Rhine - Brigadier Derek Mills-Roberts
- Si Biggs
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Unit/ Formation: 46 Cdo RM
Location: Wesel
Period/ Conflict: World War II
Year: 1945
Date/s: Friday, March 23, 1945
Brigadier Mills-Roberts summarised his plan: 'I decided to send 46 Commando over first in the Buffaloes and go with them with a small Brigade Headquarters. No. 46 had to capture the bank of the river and 6 Commando – which would be next ashore from the storm boats – had to sweep up the river bank and enter Wesel. The other two commandos would be brought across the river by the Buffalo ferry.'
Having captured much of the town, reenforcement of the lightly armed commandos, was to come in the form of 1 Cheshires being ferried across the river at the earliest opportunity. Meanwhile, 17th US Airborne Division was to drop north of Wesel at 1000 hours and link up with the Commando Brigade in the northern part of the town.
The airborne drop would take between three and four hours, during which artillery fire would not be possible. For that period, the Commando Brigade would have to hold on to Wesel without fire support. Brigadier Mills-Roberts with his tactical HQ, along with Major Ted Rushton of 3rd Mountain Regiment and his signals detachment, embarked in the Buffaloes carrying 46 Commando RM. Time dragged around to H Hour.
Mills-Roberts recalled the final wait and the move to the river: I looked at my watch – ten minutes to go – we were due off at 2200 hours. I said to Donald, ″My watch has stopped.″ We checked. ″No″ he said. ″This is a long ten minutes.″
The Buffaloes were now warming up ... the large vehicles lurched forward. Our driver put his foot down and soon in front of us loomed the dyke. The momentum we carried sent us three quarters of the way and then we slid drunkenly back to the bottom, but the driver took another run and this time there was no mistake.
All accounts of the crossing describe how the 25-pounder shells of 6 Field Regiment, who were firing at a rapid rate for ten minutes, were bursting on the bank opposite and drowning out the sound of everything else. Suddenly the area was lit up by fifteen foot flames from a direct hit from an enemy mortar on one of the Buffaloes ahead on the far river bank. This beaconlike blaze attracted the Germans’ attention and brought further shells and mortar bombs. Captain Gibbon, an Army commando attached from the Border Regiment, commanding B Troop, was the first man of 46 Commando to leap ashore.
The Germans in the trenches on the river bank were stunned by the bombardment and within a few minutes, Captain Pierce RM, at the head of Y Troop, had rounded up sixty-five prisoners. Meanwhile, Captain Gibbon was pushing inland with B Troop.
His artillery forward observation officer and his signallers had been in the Buffalo which had been hit, and he was, consequently, unable to call for fire support. Realising this, he led his men close under the preplanned creeping barrage and reached the assault position for their objective, the Wardmann’s Haus, five hundred yards from the river bank, while shells were still bursting around it.
So close to their own fire was B Troop that their sergeant major and another man from Troop HQ were killed approaching the building. The fighting around the first Wardmann’s Haus was over quickly, with the defenders, a company HQ and two platoons, being overwhelmed by the Commando’s aggression. The last of them surrendered promptly when their commander was killed and grenades were thrown into the cellar.
Some sixty Germans were taken prisoner, including two officers. 46 Commando, bringing up the rear from the bridgehead, took up a position between No. 3 and No. 45 RM Commandos.
Thus deployed, the Brigade held the north and north-western outskirts of Wesel and were well positioned to be able to repel enemy counter-attacks and to clear the remainder of the town after dawn.
However, the commandos may have secured their objectives but Mills-Roberts wanted to adopt an aggressive posture. He wrote, ‘While the commandos were digging-in, offensive patrols scoured the immediate area and brushes with the enemy were frequent’. Read the full story via the link.
I looked at my watch – ten minutes to go – we were due off at 2200 hours. I said to Donald, ″My watch has stopped.″ We checked. ″No″ he said. ″This is a long ten minutes.″
Brigadier Mills-Roberts
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