- Contributed by听
- originalmarjorie
- People in story:听
- T Hook
- Location of story:听
- North West Europe
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A2191259
- Contributed on:听
- 10 January 2004
My father Thomas Hook from St. Boswells was in D Coy 5th KOSB and went to the low countries on 21st Oct 44. The aim was to free the Scheldt estuary so that allied ships could get to Antwerp. They achieved this and then went on to take part in the static defensive warfare along the Maas.
The 5th KOSB then helped hold the line in winter at Tripsrath woods and supported the Royal Scots whose job it was to try to straighten the line. It was bitterly cold and snow was falling and Christmas 44 was spent in the woods.
The next big test for 5th KOSB was Operation Blackcock. On 21st Jan 45 the German village of Waldfeucht was to be taken. At 1 am the operation started and by 3.30 am the village was secured. However, the Germans counter attacked with Tiger tanks and as the British had no effective anti tank weapons the situation was dire. The fighting raged on for many hours - 18 in total before the Germans were routed. During this fighting, D Coy. of the 5th KOSB had become isolated with a tiger tank coming right up to their headquarters. They were off air for some time. Capt. Ravenscroft and my father (his batman) threw 36 grenades from a house onto Germans in the street below, killing quite a few. After this incident, he was captured and taken to Stalag XIB.
This POW camp was near Hanover and was used to bring many men from camps in Eastern Germany to avoid the advancing Russian force. The food was very poor - two servings of thin soup a day and a chunk of black bread. Very few Red Cross parcels got through.
I would be interested to hear from anyone with similar experiences, as my father never really talked about his time in the army. Apparently, when he was demobbed he used to spend hours night fishing on the river Tweed and my grandmother was very worried about him. I suppose there were many horrors which he could not share with anyone. It must have been hard to adjust to the normality of everyday life again.
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