German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

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karlo
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Joined: 05 Jan 2007, 00:54
Location: dublin, ireland

Re: German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

#31

Post by karlo » 10 Sep 2011, 17:01

karlo wrote:
karlo wrote:
daverpol wrote: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)!

Image ImageImage Image

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

Thanks again,

Dave.
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keith robson
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Re: German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

#32

Post by keith robson » 15 Jan 2012, 23:27

dompilmac wrote:I4AM 81 YEARS OLD.i HAVE LIVED IN GHEEL(Geel) and have passed the whole war as a youngster,living on the Market Place.
I have observed the battles during the whole period of time and after the famous 10th september ,we were forced out by the german troopers from Modell, to leave the center because so they said a very big counter attack was upcoming.so we went through the fronlines 9 kilometers farther to Kasterlee.
That nighy of the sept 10 there were four shermans stationed at the strategic points of the market.One at the corner direction of Mol, the second near the townhall and the St Amandschurch, the fourth was in front of our house, mid market, has turret turned backwards, to the street were the sherman from capt Robinson came.
During the night a giant of a pantherattack tank without a turret came exactly from the side of the English.
The panther had a sharp turn to make in order to reach the open market,saw the sherman and shot, straight into the corner house of the market. The Sherman replied illico but his bullet got in the other corner of the market house on the opposite,the panther shot back and hit the second sherman, the first one in front of our house shoot back and hit the panther in the right axel making the big animal to a stop.
The boys in the sherman yelled victory and the gunshooter came up and was shot down .Another was killed, the soldiers brought the capt and the wounded in our house to be cared off. I have letters of the capt who was first brought to the hospital and later turned back to London, he wrote me a couple of letters
as to the Sherman positioned towards Mol i went to look and saw a german in the street hidden away.
The tankcommander was quietly listening to something in his earphones when i told him to be very carefull, he didn't take any notice. A while later his tank was shot down and the whole corner set a fire.
During the night german soldiers came with a british brencarreer from the english side, behind the german panther to evacuate the occupants and set the tank a fire, the whole cornerhouses were burned out.
I have several pictures of the scenes, also the one with british soldeers taken prisoner, evacuated by the germans.
That same day a very heavy mortarbomb was fired on the center so heavy as one told in your story but even more, at each breath i took four to five bombs exloded around us.
I had a look on the market place and saw that german troopers were fleeding away near the park but they were stopped by FeldPolizei who chased them backwards into the battle but at that moment a mortarbomb fel just in the middle several deads and wounded, I assisted in the evacuation and one of the soldiers was still alive but so badly heard his chin was gone, a big splinter in his head and he was put with the dead on a little waggon to be evacuated.
I could go on for hours but have written o 200 pages book with the war events.

On the other side of the market place i found a german in themost realistic picture one can imagine of a soldier let it be german or british
indeed he feld flat on the ground in his left hand his rifle in the other hand a handgranat, his helmet was next to him and I saw in splendid gothic letters his name "Letzkov", i took his helmet and last it later, i have tried to find where to contact someone but failed
My name is:Ray Lepoudre, 26 rue des Floralies,26, Brussels 1200
phone 32 02 770 4208.
Requests welcome in english, german,french and flemish

Hi Ray,

SSM WF Robson of the Sherwood Rangers was my great Uncle and I have his Military Medal awarded to him for bravery on the 10th September 1944 in Gheel. Your memories of that night are fascinating. Our Uncle Mac as he was known in the Family was a quiet man who did not share his experiences of the war so I am delighted to find your vivid account of that night on these pages. If you have any further information please let me know.

kind regards

Keith Robson


Tom from Cornwall
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Joined: 01 May 2006, 20:52
Location: UK

Re: German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

#33

Post by Tom from Cornwall » 11 Jun 2012, 12:09

Hi,

further to my identification of some of the German units at GHEEL, I thought the following extract from the war diary of 6 DLI might be of interest (WO171/1290):
At 1130 hours on the 9th Sept B Company reported enemy seen in the Area West of GHEEL in strength: this target was subsequently “stonked” by Artillery and many enemy were seen killed – the remainder running off into woods due WEST of GHEEL, some 1,000 yds distant. Shortly after this incident A Company over-ran an enemy mortar position on the right sending back a batch of 10 POW – a very mixed bunch identified as G.A.F., 572 Gren Ersatz Regt and 3 Poles. All gave information freely – one stated that GHEEL had been reinforced considerably by 200 – 300 men, mostly from G.A.F.
Not sure about the reference to 572 Gren Ersatz Regt - perhaps an individual replacement?

Regards

Tom

Mark Knight
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Joined: 02 Jul 2012, 14:10

Re: German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

#34

Post by Mark Knight » 02 Jul 2012, 14:53

Hi, glad I found this post!

I am doing some research on my grandfathers (Willam Murray Simpson) death on 8th September 1944. Only know a few details; he was in an REME regiment as a Craftsman and was killed driving a lorry and is buried in Geel War Cemetary. I am trying to find out more about what happened.

Tom from Cornwall
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Re: German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

#35

Post by Tom from Cornwall » 04 Jul 2012, 20:43

Mark,

According to the Commonwealth Graves Commision record of your grandfather's grave, he was a REME craftsmen attached to a Royal Artillery Regiment. I would guess, therefore, that he was attached to one of the 3 field regiments that belonged to 50th Infantry Division, although that division also included an anti-tank and an anti-aircraft regiment of Royal Artillery which are also possibilities. It is possible that his death was recorded in one of the War Diaries of these particular units; these are held at the National Archives in Kew and are probably a good place to start. Additionally I believe it should be possible for you to obtain your grandfather's service records from the MOD.

The CWGC site is at the folllowing link:

http://www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead ... M%20MURRAY

Regards

Tom

Mark Knight
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Joined: 02 Jul 2012, 14:10

Re: German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

#36

Post by Mark Knight » 05 Jul 2012, 14:47

Thanks Tom.

I have applied to the MOD for his serice records and the REME museum at Arborfield offer a background service when you pass them these records.

It is amazing how much information I am starting to aquire with so little to start from!

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Davy
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Joined: 12 Jun 2005, 22:46
Location: Belgium - Mol

Re: German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

#37

Post by Davy » 07 Jul 2012, 22:56

Hi Mark,
here some pictures of his grave in Geel War Cemetery.
I live only a few miles from this cemetery and visite this a few times a year.
If someone need more pictures, please ask and i take my bike and camera ... :wink:

Greatings, Davy
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joannawilde
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Joined: 07 Dec 2018, 10:31
Location: UK

Re: German Units in Gheel,Belgium,1944.

#38

Post by joannawilde » 07 Dec 2018, 11:10

Greetings from UK to all. My father was driving the Sherman that was hit by German bazooka from a café. The shot killed the wireless operator and the rest of the crew then sort refuge in one of the buildings, so I am told. I do not yet have his tank number but hope to find out soon. His name was Gilbert C Wilde, if anyone here had relatives who were there or knew him , please get in touch, thank you.

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