German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

[daverpol]

Many, Many thanks to Ray for sharing these photos with me.
They are of the 6th DLI being taken prisoner in Gheel on September 10th 1944.
(My father could be in there somewhere)!



(I'm sorry if I loaded the photo's wrong, but if you click on them you get a larger image).

Thanks again,

Dave.

[boyd6]

hi, i wonder if anybody could help me.

my grandad was serjeant of the 6th battalion of the DLI, EUGENE PATRICK BOYD he died on the sunday the 10th of september 1944. does anyone know if there is any books or information about the 6 battalion on that day. any information would be much appreciated thank you anthony. boyd6@live.co.uk

[Chris V K]

For Dave (Davanport)

Most likely the published photos were taken in the late afternoon of 10 September 1944, by Willem Van Broeckhoven, who was the local photographer of Geel .
You see the first DLI soldiers entering the market-square of Geel . They are accompanied by Shermans of the Nottinghamshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry .
At the moment Willem took these serie of pictures the Germans were withdrawn to the north of the village center of Geel, till just behind the railway and the railway station .
On the evening of 10 September 1944 the Germans, behind the railwaystation, will lance a counter-attack, now supported by the II./Fallschirm-Jäger Regiment Freiherr von der Heydte and by the 1. Kompanie "Jagdpanthers" of the schwere Panzer-Jäger Abteilung 559 .
After heavy street-fighting, the Germans will retake the centre of Geel itself on 12 September 1944, but only just for a very short while...

Kind regards,

Chris
Chris Van Kerckhoven

[Chris V K]

Sorry Dave,

Should be "Daverpol" and not "Davanport", of course .

Regards

Chris

[daverpol]

Chris V K,
Thanks for your information, I would love to know if there are any more photographs existing which were taken in Geel that day. The one's I have were sent to me by Ray Lepoudre who lived in Geel at the time.
I'm still unclear of the location of the farmhouse where my father & his unit were taken prisoner. All I can remember him telling me was that when they were attacked in Geel they pulled back to a farmhouse taking their casualties with them.
It was there that they were attacked by an infantry & armoured unit. From there they were marched to a railyard & transported to Munich & onward to Stalag VIIA at Moosburg.

Boyd6,
I've e-mailed you all the info I have at the moment, I hope it helps.

Dave.

[Chris V K]

From the war-archives of Chris Van Kerckhoven


THE LIBERATION O F GEEL 1944
=============================

The commemorative address published below was delivered by Willem Van Broeckhoven at Geel Town Hall, on Friday 8 September 1978 .

Any citizen of Geel is fully aware of the momentous significance of the Liberation and the freedom we regained through it . Immeasurable though our gratitude to the Liberators is, yet I take the liberty not to talk about it . Instead I would rather try to evoke the local atmosphere of the Liberation days and describe the ordeals the people of Geel had to go through . All this will make it clear how highly the inhabitants of Geel still value what the Liberators did for them .

This account has been drawn up from notes on observations made at the time from the rooftop or from the cellar of my house at the market-place or from behind the curtains and shattered window-planes . Mr August Vandeven, the Geel town-clerk, kindly assisted me in arranging and detailing these notes, thus enriching and enlivening the picture that arises from them .
Let us now retrace our memories to the month of September 1944 .

SEPTEMBER 1944 !

This is the month when the good people of Geel celebrate their annual autumn fair ; they have done so for centuries .
Dressed in their Sunday best and well contended, they are standing at the doors of their houses, watching the Germans' hasty and disorderly flight and waiting for the Tommies to appear . Indoors the Belgian tricolour is unearthed or, in places, a new one is improvinsingly made from a bed-wheet and black, yellow and red paint, for the liberators have approached as close as the southern boundary of the town's territory .
Towards evening, however, a German staff car appears at the corner of Nieuwstraat, the first one after several days to come from the opposite direction . Army officers step out of it and open out ordnance maps . More military vehicles drive up, carrying heavy-armed German soldiers with ready arms . A vehicle equipped with a radio transmitter stops near the bandstand . Then, at 7 p.m., the air echoes with the distand boom of two heavy detonations : as we shall soon learn, the Germans have blown up the bridges over the Albert Canal at Stelen and Punt, thus cutting off the approaches from the south .
As soon as darkness has fallen, guns are brought in ; they are taken towards Stelen and Punt . By the grey morning of Tuesday 5th September the German defences have entrenched themselves on this side of the Albert Canal in a line from Wilders and Stelen as far as Wolfsbossen and Poiel, a little beyond Punt .
The people of Geel stay indoors . From behind the curtains they now spy into the streets, anxious and apprehensive of the imminent fury of war .
During the night of 7th to 8th September German troops have taken up their positions facing the British, either of them invisible to the other side, between the two only the wide waterway of the Albert Canal .

The inhabitants of Geel have little or no notion at all of what is going on . Friday 8th September, the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the day that has been aside for boys and girls who have reached the appropriate age to receive Holy Communion for the first time . A great event under normal conditions . That year, however, the youngsters are given a rough awakening by furious artillery-fire nearby . Yet, the streets in the centre of the town breathe tranquillity and the mothers can take their communicants to church unconcerned by the clatterings of the fierce battle that has just burst forth, no more than five kilometeres away .

On Friday 8th September the first Tommies, men of the 6th and 9th Battalions Durham Light Infantry, manage to cross the canal near the ancient chapel of Liessel, near Stelen, and a great pains establish a bridgehead . The 6th and 7th Battalions Green Howards succeed in doing the same at Punt . Direct connections between the two minor bridgeheads are realized . Then, however, pandemonium breaks out . In the area between Stelen and Punt an inferno builds up . Again and again newly built bridges are destroyed . The liberators manage to set up a front extending from Wilders to Poiel, though . Local resistance people provide them with valuable information .

The inhabitants of the centre of Geel climb to the top of the roofs of their houses or look out of attic-windows so as to find out what is happening to the south . Peeping through the curtain chinks, they watch German reinforcements marching to the front : endless lines of sinister figures with grim blackened faces, the steel helmets dressed in camouflage with twigs . And from the opposite direction the injured are carried to the Red-Cross station near St. Amand's Church, with blood-stained bandages faces grey and features disorted with pain .

Then British shells start striking, ravaging houses at the southern edge of the town-centre, and soon there are sad rumours about civilian casualties . Even the most daring inhabitants of Geel are forced to seek refuge in cellars, herding together with several families, among them mental patients, whom, true to tradition, they accommodate and nourish .

Those who still dare to look out of the window are struck by the continuous stream of wounded soldiers staggering in . They also see the first British soldiers coming in, hands raised above their heads, being carried off into captivity . The guards fire at doors and windows, at random and without any consideration .

Here is a fragment from the diary of T.H. Nicholls, one of the commanding British officers, describing the events of that particular day : "Turning to the right at the Doornboom crossroads, the 9th Battalion set up headquarters at a farm to the left of the road that lead to Wilders . From that spot an attack on Winkelom was to be launched, the initial stage of an operation that was to realize an encirclement of the town-centre... At nightfall, however, the enemy came on again with heavy tanks and infantry . It was only at great pains that we managed to withstand the attack . Yet, the enemy succeeded in piercing through our line, although eventually they were halted near the Doornboom crossroads . Our attempted encircling operation failed, though . During the following night there was a marked activity of German patrols operating in the glow of burning farm-buildings, which the Germans had deliberately set on fire, and at dawn the German spear-head intensified pressure near the Doornboom crossroads . On Saturday 9th September, however, as a result of our incessant counter-attacks, the German offensive powers were entirely eliminated ."
All Saturday long the battle rages along the front stretching from Winkelom to Poiel . For the time being, however, the people living in the centre of Geel are not aware of what is actually going on . Yet, they notice German tanks, among them huge Tiger tanks (sic) (correction : Jagdpanthers), guns and lorries loaded with ammunition moving south, and they can hear the frantic booms of shell-fire and the rattling of machine-guns .

Again and again severely wounded soldiers are carried in from the south ; some come staggering in . Shells strike in several places, also on the market-place . The news that British tanks have crossed the river Nete does not raise any joy anymore, nor do the words of an injured German soldier who stumbles past, "Der Feind ist am Stadtrand ."
In the evening more and more shells strike . Everywhere there is the sound of crashing window-planes . The residents of Geel seek refuge in their cellars . They will stay there for several days on end .
The following night is comparatively calm ; only the heavy footfall of platoons of Germans, all of them marching southwards, off and on disturb the quiet of the night . In the morning of the next day, Sunday 10 September, nothing but, at long intervals, the dull booms of distant guns, can be heard . The hazy motionless dawn of day seems to augur a calm and glorious Sunday .
As the immediate peril of life seems to be past, the civilians emerge from their cellars to warm their hearts in the peaceful streets, which are bathed in sunlight . With a sense of relief they start sweeping the glass splinters .
On Sunday 10th September the church bells remain silent and no church-goers turn up until 11.30 a.m. . The intrepid few that collect for the low late morning mass sit huddling together in the back of the church while at the other end of the empty church the priest reads mass in an ominously low voice .
By the time the last of the church-goers are getting home again, however, pandemonium breaks out, for suddenly a seemingly interminable bombardment by British artillery bursts forth . Apart from a 15-minute lull, it lasts from a quarter past one until three p.m. !

Then, after a quarter of an hour's anxious deathly hush, a distant roar becomes audible, which grows to a shaking rattle . The deserted streets echo excited shouts, which carry to the deepest cellars : "Tanks are coming !... Tanks marked with a white star ! Tommies ! Liberation !"
Flags start making their appearance and very soon the Belgian tricolour hangs gloriously from the façade-windows of a great many houses .
The annual local fair will come off, after all !
The members of the secret army now come out frankly . The people living around the market-place and in the adjoining streets to the south offer bread and refreshments to the liberators, whose blackened faces under helmets camouglaged with twigs, greet them with breezy smiles .
Further on, though, the streets remain deserted .
No more than three heavy Sherman tanks and a few small Bren carriers have taken up positions near the town-hall and on some street-corners . The lead armoured verhicle does not venture beyond the school-building in the street leading to the railway-station .
Indeed, the people of Geel have been a little previous in believing that Liberation Day, so long and ardently yearned for, has come at last .
It is rumoured that in the churchyard near St-Dimpna's Church three heavy British tanks have been wrecked, that the troops in the right wing of the encircling movement have sutained heavy casualties beyond remedy, that the supply of equipment and troops is insufficient due to the capacity of the temporary bridge over the Albert Canal .
All of a sudden renewed shell-fire puts a deafening end to the brief pause of relief and to the premature exhilaration of the people of Geel . This time German artillery is at it . Soon the streets in the centre of the town present a sad scene of devastation, littered as they are with splintered glass, débris, tiles, wires, branches, and among these the dead bodies of soldiers and civilians, limbs ripped up, all covered in blood, their faces distorted by the agony of death and the stiff lips wide open in a terrified grin .

Then night falls over the half-liberated town....

- END OF PART ONE -

Kind regards,

Chris

Attachments :
============
Geel World War II Cemetery .
Grave of BOYD, Sjt. Eugene Patrick, 3957584 . 6th Bn. The Durham Light Infantry . 10th September 1944 . Age 27 .
III.A.4.
Photos taken by Chris Van Kerckhoven on 13 November 2008 .

[Chris V K]

THE LIBERATION OF GEEL 1944
=============================

- PART TWO -

Then night falls over the half-liberated town . The fearful silence of the night is only disturbed by the muffled sounds of German soldiers climbing over hedges and fences, and penetrating into the gardens in the town centre, where they entrench themselves . Flag after flag is furtively fetched in .
Monday 11th September . The attempts of the British to thrust a wedge into the German defences have resulted in a complete deadlock . German troops force their way into the back of houses . This Bren carrier after that is forced to give way . Sherman tank after Sherman tank bursts into flames . By approximately 6 p.m. the Germans have regained control of the Geel town-centre, as far as the intersection named "Het Zonneke" to the south . In many a place despairing citizens huddle together in their cellars, while the ground-flood is occupied by German soldiers, the upper floor still being the cramped theatre of operation for British troops . The blaze of hand-grenades, bazookas and burning tanks leaps up high in the darkness of the night .
In the course of Tuesday 12th September the people of Geel feel let down and defenceless, given up to the rage of an outraged enemy . It is about 4 p.m. when sheer terror burtsts over the town . The Germans have picked the time carefully . Or are they just fortunate ? For on the British side the 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division is to be relieved by the 15th Scottish Infantry Division, an operation which will not be completed until midnight . The despairing population of the town-centre is unaware of what is actually taking place .
The Germans urge them on to the streets, as if they were riff-raff, under threats of hand-grenades and pistols . All men agd between 16 and 60, are forcibly marched off, past guns that are spitting fire and destruction, in the direction of Kasterlee, with no reason why nor reassurance whatever being given . Children and women stay behind, panick-stricken, wailing and sobbing, the houses of many of them on fire or wrecked .
At about 8 p.m. the darkness of night closes in on a sad day . From afar the men who have been marched off as hostages, notice flames licking the pinnacle of St. Dimphna's Church and soon the entire roof of the church is ablaze .
For those who have stayed behind and for the men who have gone underground, this pillar of fire appears a harbinger of disaster and destruction and in abhorrence they recall to their memories the sad fate of the little French village of Oradour . They creep away back into their shelters, for another endless night, their insecurity intensified by hesitating footfalls over their heads in the apparently deserted street .
Wednesday September 13th . Excited shouting pierces the wavering early morning light : "The Tommies !... The Tommies are here again !" And, indeed, near the town-hall they perceive a British staff-car and then the streets resound with the booming of Allied rolling war-material, rushing past and moving north, self-confidently . The people of Geel effusively scramble from their cellars . Once again people are seen bursting into tears, tears of joy this time . This time no tricolour flags are hung out, though, for it does not take long before most people realize that their predicament has not come to an end yet : the line of fire has been shoved north no farther than 4 kilometres .
In the course of that night the above mentioned relief of the 50th Northumbrian Division of the 30th British Army Corps, commanded by general Brian Horrocks, by the 15th Scottish Division of the 12th British Army Corps under major-general C.M. Barber, has been completed . On Friday 8th September, the very day on which at Stelen and Punt the battle of Geel began, troops of the 30th Army Corps under general Brian Horrocks had succesfully breached the Albert Canal line at Beringen . This very 30th Army Corps, which makes up the right flank of general Dempsey's 2nd British Army, is to mve on towards Eindhoven . That's why these troops have been relieved by a unit of Ritchie's 12th Army Corps, which now forms a front extending between Merksem and Geel .
This explains why the 44th Brigade of the 15th Scottish Division turns up at Geel . By one dash they push through as far as the canal at Geel - Ten Aard, for in the course of that same night the Germans have beaten a hasty retreat . They have demolished the bridge and taken up positions across the canal .
The centre of Geel now presents a scene of great bustle . There is a continuous stream of troops moving north along Stationsstraat to the front at Ten Aard, followed by other units moving east along Nieuwstraat towards Beringen and Eindhoven, on the way liberating Meerhout and Mol without a blow .
Meanwhile the 15th Scottish Division digs in south of the Meus-Scheldt canal .

In the early morning of Thursday 14th September, in spite of a barrage from the German side, two companies of the Royal Scots manage to cross the canal left of the former main-road . Before noon four more companies can be taken across and the small bridgehead is extended as far as that former main-road .
They cannot build a bridge there, though, nor can they get across the road, as the Germans have pierced the canal embankments on that side, causing the canal section between Lock 8 and Lock 7 to get drained so that tens of vessels moored in that section get set aground and the Scots, in the flooded area, are seriously hampered in their actions . It is only with heavy losses that they succeeded in crossing the canal by means of a ferry consisting of folding-boats . During the following night the Germans launch two fierce counter-attacks in succession, thus enforcing the British bridgehead to be considerable reduced .
In the morning of Friday 15th September the Royal Scots Fusiliers are rushed in as reinforcements . They manage to widen the bridgehead on either side of the road but are to concede ground in the afternoon . Towards evening the King's Own Scottish Borderers appear at the front, providing badly wanted reinforcements . At the same time, with dogged resolution, though suffering heavy losses, engineers keep trying to move vehicles and armoured cars across . Yet, it still proves to be impossible to throw a bridge across the narrow canal .
In the course of Saturday 16th September the British succesfully beat off three German attacks in succession thanks to the information provided by an observation post who manages to hold out high up in the tall building of the Geel Flour Mills .
By the morning of Sunday 17th September the bridgehead at Ten Aard has not only been widened again but British troops have also pushed on as far as the church . German shellfire, though, still prevents the British from taking guns across the canal .
On that very sunday afternoon the grey sky over the torn battlefield of Ten aard is darkened as the greatest airfleet of all times thunders by, heading for Eindhoven - Nijmegen - Arnhem . Thus the two major partners in Montgomery's tremendous "Market Garden" venture, air-forces and land-forces, meet at Ten Aard . Indeed, the end of the holocaust seems to be in sight .
This "Market Garden" operation aims at creating a corridor all the way through the Netherlands right up to the German frontier . Airborne troops are to seize and keep the bridges over the rivers Meuse, Waal and Rhine in the Arnhem and Nijmegen area, thus securing free passage for the land-forces to push towards Germany . Part of these land-forces are to move on via Beringen, Lommel and Eindhoven, the other part via Geel, Turnhout and Tilburg . They are unexpectedly and considerably delayed, though, mainly in the Geel area, which causes the promising allied venture to fail .

On that Sunday afternoon, one week after they were to have celebrated their annual fair, the people of Geel are struck with awe when they watch that huge air-fleet fly over their town in endless tightly closed up formations, for two hours on end : bombers first, followed by transport planes and gliders carrying the landing-forces .
At Ten Aard, however, the fierce battle is to rage on for a full more five days . On Tuesday 19th September the sorely tried 44th Brigade of the 15th Scottish Division is relieved by the Highland Light Infantry Battalion of the 227th Brigade, soon followed by the rest of this Brigade and the Glasgow Highland Light Infantry, as well as engineers and artillery . On Thursday 21 September, they are relieved by the 7th Armoured Division of the 30th Army Corps, which, 15 days before at Stelen, launched the initial offensive in the battle of Geel .
The Germans, fearing being encircled, finally retreat during the night of Friday-Saturday 22nd - 23rd September . At last, after ten endless days, the battle at Ten Aard comes to an end . Though completely liberated now, the town of Geel remains wrapped in deep mourning .

Thirty-four years have rolled by since then . Most of the wounds afflicted by that savage war have healed and life continues normally again, the people of Geel tasting the full joys of the freedom the British then recovered for them . Yet, dear British friends, every year again the grateful people of Geel walk in procession to the war memorials and also to the British War Cemetery, in faithful piety to commemorate their victims of war, quite in the spirit of your brother-in-arms T.H. Nicholls, from Warwickshire : "We have seen the pick of Great Britain, at the signal for attack, dash forward in the fields of Geel, too many of them never to return .
Their memory will linger with us for ever...
The name of Geel in indelibly impressed on the minds of those who were lucky enough to survive this unforgettable battle . It was a heroic one, fought without hatred or fear, a grim struggle, which once again emphatically displayed the determination and unawavering resolution of the British soldier .
The British War Cemetery at Geel not only testifies to the touching devotion of the good people of Geel to our dear comrades-in-arms who were not allowed to carry on the battle with us until a victory that was never in doubt, but also to the determination to triump over any attempt aimed at setting up an oppressive regime, the steady resolve of all freedom-loving nations ."

Willem Van Broeckhoven


Kind regards,

Chris
Chris Van Kerckhoven

Attachments :
============
Geel, September 1944 .Temporary field grave of 3957584 Sgt. BOYD E. 6 Bn D.L.I.
Remark, officially, Sjt. E.P. Boyd got killed on 10th September 1944 .
The wooden cross mentions 12th Sept. '44...
Photocollection Chris Van Kerckhoven

[karlo]

my grandfather was kia in geel on 10th sept also...he was in the sherwood rangers...he is buried in stelen churchyard with some members of DLI...here is a pic of the churchyard...k

[spitfire1]

hi my name is john slade
i would like to know if anyone new of my uncle through surviversof gheel. his name was V.H SCOTT PRIVATE he was only 19 when he was killed on 10 sept 1944 . his mum , my nan only died a couple of years ago . and still never got over loseing her first son . i now have all his letters etc i think my mum has a photo of him as well.
maney thanks j slade

[CHRISBREN]

my grandfather was kia in geel on 10th sept also...he was in the sherwood rangers...he is buried in stelen churchyard with some members of DLI...here is a pic of the churchyard...k

MY WIFE'S UNCLE GODFREY BRIDGE IS ALSO BURIED AT STELEN.HE ALSO DIED THAT NIGHT OF 10TH SEPT.WE WERE TOLD HE WAS IN A SHERMAN TANK THAT CAUGHT FIRE AFTER BEING HIT BY A HEAVY GERMAN TANK.IT IS HER WISH TO SEE THE GRAVE SO IN THE NEW YEAR A VISIT IS BEING PLANNED. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME ON THE FORUM,THANKS,,Chris

[karlo]

On april 17th,45 i got another letter in which he tells me
quote
I wonder if i may ask you to do me a great favour,Raymond; You remember my Tank being knocked out at Geel and that my Wireless Operator was killed. I have since leanr that he is burried on Geel churchyard. His name is JOHN GREENAN, Could you please have a look at it for me and see that it is nice ...unquote.

picture of radio op. Tpr.J Greenans grave in Gheel Cemetery as mentioned previously...k

[karlo]

my grandfather was kia in geel on 10th sept also...he was in the sherwood rangers...he is buried in stelen churchyard with some members of DLI...here is a pic of the churchyard...k

MY WIFE'S UNCLE GODFREY BRIDGE IS ALSO BURIED AT STELEN.HE ALSO DIED THAT NIGHT OF 10TH SEPT.WE WERE TOLD HE WAS IN A SHERMAN TANK THAT CAUGHT FIRE AFTER BEING HIT BY A HEAVY GERMAN TANK.IT IS HER WISH TO SEE THE GRAVE SO IN THE NEW YEAR A VISIT IS BEING PLANNED. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME ON THE FORUM,THANKS,,Chris

Picture of Tpr. G Bridges grave in Stelen cemetery

[karlo]

hi my name is john slade
i would like to know if anyone new of my uncle through surviversof gheel. his name was V.H SCOTT PRIVATE he was only 19 when he was killed on 10 sept 1944 . his mum , my nan only died a couple of years ago . and still never got over loseing her first son . i now have all his letters etc i think my mum has a photo of him as well.
maney thanks j slade

grave of Private Victor Scott DLI in gheel cemetery ..k

[karlo]

Many, Many thanks to Ray for sharing these photos with me.
They are of the 6th DLI being taken prisoner in Gheel on September 10th 1944.
(My father could be in there somewhere)!



(I'm sorry if I loaded the photo's wrong, but if you click on them you get a larger image).

Thanks again,

Dave.

[karlo]

Many, Many thanks to Ray for sharing these photos with me.
They are of the 6th DLI being taken prisoner in Gheel on September 10th 1944.
(My father could be in there somewhere)!



(I'm sorry if I loaded the photo's wrong, but if you click on them you get a larger image).

Thanks again,

Dave.