CHAPTER SIX
Turn right out of the Canadian CWGC Cemetery’s car park. Follow Zevenheuvelenweg in the direction of Berg en Dal. As you round the bend on the outskirts of the town, the Liberation Memorial is on the left.
To the north of DZ T lie a range of wooded hills that form a part of the highest point in Holland - all of ninety-five metres above sea level! One of these hills is the Duivelsberg or, as the paratroopers of 508 PIR came to know it, Devil’s Hill. Nestling in a valley surrounded by hills is the small town of Berg en Dal, little more than a village in September 1944. Berg en Dal was occupied and held by 3/508 PIR immediately after clearing their DZ on the afternoon of 17 September 1944. Private Henry McLean of Company H was one of the first to reach Berg en Dal:
‘Upon assembling, I was told by Lieutenant De Weese to report to Headquarters. I left the group with 12-15 men to go into the town of Berg en Dal. I was told that the bazooka men with me would set up roadblocks on the international highway to Berg en Dal[the road from Wyler].
While the bazooka men were busily setting up their position, I walked over to the Hotel de Groot and went inside. In the dining room, I discovered that the German officers had been ready to sit down and eat their Sunday dinner when they were surprised by the parachute drop.... Hunger and the sight of food overcame me, so I ate, not one, but two plates full of the delicious dinners.
... Back in the Village Square, I noticed a small café across the street. I decided to investigate the café to see if anything was going on there. Much to my amazement, several people were sitting around talking, apparently oblivious to what was happening. A young girl at the bar asked me, “beer?” Never one to refuse the hand of friendship holding a beer, I accepted. To my surprise, the beer was COLD. To most people that would not be momentous but I had had only warm beer for two years. I will never forget how good that cold beer tasted.’
Operations of 508 PIR Sunday 17 September 1944 Groesbeek-Nijmegen
Private McLean’s rendezvous with normality, including a pool table, was cut short by an officer who ‘raised hell with me’. McLean rejoined his platoon and assisted in beating off a counter-attack on the Wijlerberg feature to the north-eastern outskirts of the town.
Private McLean continues:
‘We bedded down that night in a garden behind the café. At daylight, we were surprised to find a young German soldier sleeping in the Garden with us! While we were interrogating him, a low flying German observation plane flew over us, about 50 feet above our heads. The pilot’s face was clearly visible to us. He took us so completely by surprise, we just stared at him and he at us and he flew on by.’
As far as 3/508 PIR were concerned Monday 18 September was relatively quite. The Division’s post-action report sums up the day in abbreviated military language:
‘Regiment held the high ground vicinity Berg en Dal throughout the 18th against enemy patrols and sporadic enemy artillery action’.
The sporadic artillery fire, however, caused significant casualties. For instance, Lieutenant Garry’s platoon despite taking cover in cellars suffered six casualties from German shells bursting in the town. Lieutenant Garry was one of those wounded.
‘Long range heavy German artillery landed in front of Hotel de Groot and it took all the meat off Bill Garry’s leg from buttocks to the knee. Doc Klein amputated the leg in Nijmegen Hospital. After the operation, Garry seemed to be fine. He was talking and having a cigarette at 11 p.m. He died before morning.’
The Capture of Beek and Devil’s Hill – Tuesday 19 September 1944
Thirty six hours after their drop, 3/508 PIR had only secured a tenuous hold on three and a half miles of the Wyler - Nijmegen road, at the foot of the high ground to the north-east. This was another potential counter attack route towards Nijmegen from Germany: Cleve via Kranenburg. Therefore, it was important that 508 PIR established itself in the small town of Beek, a mile downhill from Berg en Dal. 21st Army Group described the opposition facing 508 PIR that had gathered since the afternoon of 17 September.
‘In the BEEK area the enemy held the line with about a battalion of infantry, some of whom were dug in and supported by tanks, also dug in, and a number of 88mm guns.’
In the town itself there were probably about a company of infantry. The attack was launched at dawn, with the fire support from the 82nd’s divisional artillery, more of which had arrived by glider the previous day. Paratroopers of 3/508 PIR swept into the outskirts of Beek. However, clearing the stout buildings took some time, with the Germans, although outnumbered, putting up stout resistance. By 11.45 hours XXX Corps’s Operations watch-keeper was logging a message from Headquarters Guards Armoured Division: ‘HCR report enemy beaten off high ground NE of GROESBEEK’. Early in the afternoon, General Gavin passed by during a tour of his divisional area.
‘...I moved once again to the 508th sector in which the combat was most intense in the division’s area. The pressure continued to mount [in response to the American attack] all through the wooded area from Beek to Wyler and from Wyler to Groesbeek. I went down through the woods, following the road from Berg-en Dal. The German dead were all about, testifying to the violence of the fighting.’
Company A, 508 PIR, captured the wooded high ground that offered good observation and fire positions. The area was defended by German Fallschirmjäger.
Turn right at the T Junction and head towards Wyler, passing a large restaurant on the right. After half a mile look out for signs to the Duivelsberg Restaurant. The road is single track but there are passing places. Watch out for pedestrians who have de factopriority in this whole area. The road is not made up but even the lowest vehicles can reach the bar/restaurant, which is reached by following the road through the woods. Park here. This busy establishment is normally open throughout the day and serves welcome food and drink. The track to the crest of the Duivelsberg (the highest point in Holland) is opposite the restaurant. Note the broken ground and trees that led to the desperate and confused close-quarter fighting. It is worth noting that the area was in Germany in 1944. This may partly account for the German determination to hold the feature. A post war border change took the demarcation line to the waterway at the foot of the hill.
As a part of 508 PIR’s general advance from Berg en Dal to the Wyler/Nijmegen road, a platoon from Company G was tasked to secure the wooded high ground of the Duivelsberg. As the highest point on the low ridge of hills, the feature offered good observation and fire positions covering the surrounding countryside. Devil’s Hill itself is a ridge about two hundred metres long and no more than thirty metres wide.
As the platoon approached the hill from the west, they came under heavy fire and fell back to their start line. The hill was held by German Fallschirmjäger in some strength, with as ever a high proportion of automatic weapons. Not only were the German paratroopers some of the most effective enemy infantry remaining fighting in the West, but the route initially selected by the Americans was up some steep rocky terrain. Reinforced by a squad (approximately ten men) from the platoon manning a nearby roadblock, the Company G platoon repeated the attack but without success. Again they were beaten back by the weight of enemy fire.
With Devil’s hill firmly held by the enemy, the mission to secure the feature passed to Lieutenant Foley’s Company A, who took the Company G platoon under command. He concluded his orders to his junior commanders with the words ‘The hill will be taken at all costs’. The plan this time was to attack from the south. While they were moving around to the new line of departure, guided by a Dutch Resistance volunteer, Germans were spotted approaching from the direction of Wyler. This necessitated dropping off a reinforced squad to block the Germans and from hastily dug shell scrapes, they held the enemy with long-range fire.
German Fallschirmjäger dug in and ready to repel the US airborne assault.
In the woods, it was difficult to locate the enemy’s main position and during the approach, two scouts and a bazooka pair were killed by a carefully positioned enemy machine-gun on the left flank of the paratroopers. The Company’s advance came to a halt. Under cover of rifle fire, an American machine-gun team made its way stealthily through the trees to a fire position that overlooked the enemy position and quickly took them out. Probably alerted by the firing to the south of their main position, a German patrol ‘bumped’ Company A’s left flank but in a brief fire fight it was halted and chased away by a squad of paratroopers. However, in their enthusiasm the squad found that they had managed to penetrate the enemy position and they were effectively cut off from the rest of Company A. Private Angel Romero recalls how:
‘The firefight took us up the hill, and we were driven down the other side and cornered in a small ravine. With no place to run for cover and what seemed ten to one in fire power, Sgt Piper asked if we should make a break for it or surrender. Russell Ludemann spoke fluent German and spoke to the Jerries for about two minutes. We were getting complacent when the Germans opened fire. Piper had a Thompson and immediately returned their fire. Someone said, “Lets try to get out, we’re done for any way!”
I was at the back and closest to the best exit in the ravine. I ran out towards the top of the hill. I used to run pretty good, and on that day I would have beaten any of today’s runners, steroids or no.’
Even though the loss of yet another squad from the main attack was undesirable, it contributed significantly to Company A’s success by diverting the enemy’s attention from the main approach. The skirmish line advanced up the hill towards the Germans. As they closed in on the enemy, Private John Brickley recalls,
‘The sergeant told us to yell like Indians and charge up the hill. We did.’ Joe Favela from Regimental Headquarters found himself caught up in the attack by being in the “wrong place at the wrong time”.
The American .45 calibre Thompson sub machine gun. It was issued to widely in US Airborne Divisions.
‘When we hit the hill, everyone opened fire. The Germans jumped out of their foxholes and we kept after them. Sergeant Bob White of 3rd Platoon ... attacked on the run over the hill and down the north-east side of the hill. The Germans on that side of the hill had their backs to us. The ones we did not kill ran down the hill to the woods.’
The German reaction was as usual, positive. Having reached cover, they returned fire and wounded a number of Company A paratroopers. At this stage in an attack, when commanders are moving around reorganizing their soldiers to face a counter-attack, they are very vulnerable to enemy fire. One of the platoon commanders was killed and several squad leaders were seriously wounded but having fought through Normandy, soldiers of 508 PIR knew that the Germans would counter-attack. On this occasion, the Americans won the race to be organized and managed to beat the Fallschirmjäger off before they closed on the new occupants of Devil’s Hill. Having been rebuffed by heavy fire, the Germans resorted to stealth under cover of darkness. Private Falvar was sharing a foxhole with the squad BAR man (Browning Automatic Rifle) and stared into the night. The paratroopers were alert but their brains converted every noise and unusual shape into a threat. However, it was not long before the BAR man yelled, ‘They are crawling!’ and in a burst of wild firing, that was taken up by the rest of the company, he shot a German only ten feet from his foxhole. Nineteen year old Private John Schultz recalls that during the first night on the hill:
‘We were on edge with every rustle of the underbrush. We knew we had to conserve our ammunition, but the intermittent fire went on all night as no one was about to take the risk of the enemy using the cover of darkness to regain possession of the high ground.’
The Corps Feldt Attack – Wednesday 20 September 1944
The morning after the capture of Devil’s Hill, the defenders, Company A, 1/508 PIR, had only a tenuous contact with their battalion headquarters. Before they could establish proper communications or be re-supplied with food or ammunition, they were again plunged into battle. Major Karl Heinz Becker’s Kampfgruppe, which consisted of the meagre remnants of 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division, reinforced with units from 406th Division, fell on the range of hills that lay just behind Beek. The Headquarters of Corps Fledt, gave Major Becker the task of capturing Beek and the surrounding hills before pushing eastwards to the Maas Waal Canal where he would meet up with Kampfgruppe Herman attacking north via Mook.
A survivor of the fighting on Devil’s Hill revisits his foxhole.
John Schultz, on Devil’s Hill, bleary eyed after a night with little sleep, remembers that:
‘With morning came noises of motorized equipment at the base of the hill and voices shouting as in preparation for an assault. Then came the mortar fire on our position and we were sure this was the cover for the charge to follow. One shell hit close by and sprayed our foxhole with sand. On my next attempt to fire my rifle, I found it to be jammed. This appeared to be the end for me – I was suddenly useless to help defend our position. I was sure this was it – my one last shot would be my hand grenade, which I stood ready for the exact moment. If I went, at least one kraut was going with me!’
Company A held onto Devil’s Hill but the remainder of the Regiment were pushed back from their positions in the woods overlooking the Wyler to Nijmegen Road. For a further four days Company A fought on surrounded by enemy infantry. Albrich Zieggler, who fought briefly with the Fallschirmjäger Kampfgruppe Budde, explained that his battalion’s mission was to help clear the high ground from the south-east and swing down towards the Maas Waal Canal. Making what he felt would be his last trip to Devil’s Hill he told his story with remarkable passion:
‘In September 1944, I was only just seventeen years of age. I had been mobilized two months earlier and sent with other boys to a Fallschirmjäger school. I was so proud to be a parachutist and listened to the old salt’s stories of 1940 and of Crete but the reality of an infantry fight was different.
After marching all night and waiting in a damp wood all morning, my company passed Wyler on 20 September. The street still had dead and wounded lying as they fell. I had seen dead bodies before from the bombing but it was a shock to see the corpse of a senior veteran that we youngsters looked up to. This frightened us but we were fighting for the borders of the Fatherland.
Fallschirmjäger Oberfeldwebel captured near Devil’s Hill. A veteran of many campaigns, he wears a War Merit Cross 1st Class with swords on his right breast pocket.
We went on towards the Duivelsberg. We passed tired dark eyed fellow Fallschirmjäger who would not look us in the eye. This frightened us more and the guides who led us through the wood to our attack point were very cautious. They respected the enemy and we boys looked at each other, fearing the worst. The worst came shortly as we walked through the trees. Brrrrr and the forest was full of bullets. Down went comrades and I hadn’t seen anything. I grasped the ground and sheltered in this hollow [which is only a few centimetres deep]. I was terrified and crying. I was only a boy. Eventually I was wounded below my knee and I was picked up by an American and taken in. So ended my first and last battle but as a wounded prisoner on the Duivelsberg, I had to endure our own German shelling for days before I was treated and sent to hospital in Eindhoven.’
Ammunition was running low but the Americans on Devil’s Hill had gained an ascendancy in morale over the Germans. Lt Foley was frequently heard exhorting his men to ‘Go easy on the ammunition. We are running low.’ One morning Sergeant Joe Boon recalls being shouted at as his BAR shattered the predawn silence. ‘Who in the hell is wasting ammunition.’ Joe Boon replied ‘If you think we’ve wasted ammo, come and take a look!’ In front of them lay a row of dead and dying German fallschirmjäger.
Four days later, Company A, 508 PIR, were relieved by a company from the 504 PIR. Veterans of both sides look back at the fighting amongst the trees, as their most important engagement of the war. They regard their time on Devil’s Hill with a mixture of pride in their achievements, horror at some of the events and regret at the cost.
Return to Berg en Dal. Drive through the town taking a right hand turning signposted to Beek. Follow the road down the hill and turn left. A memorial to the liberation is located near the tuning to the right signed, which is signposted to Leuth.
The Corps Feldt’s attack of Wednesday 20 September, also fell heavily on the thinly held front at Beek; little more than a mile north of Devil’s Hill. Here, only two platoons of American paratroopers held the town.
Aerial photograph of Beek taken 10 September 1944.
Supported by 20mm guns and machine-guns mounted in Hauptman Freiherr von Fuestenberg’s Hanomag half-track vehicles, a battalion of Major Becker’s Fallschirmjäger attacked Beek. The half-tracks poured concentrated fire into buildings, while the infantry hurled stick grenades through windows and charged in. The process of clearing each room in turn was deadly. Attacked, by a superior force but never breaking and running, the two platoons fell back out of Beek and up the hill towards Berg en Dal. However, fighting in Beek became the focus of the action and reinforcements from both sides were sucked into the battle, with attacks, and counter-attacks meeting head-on and dissolving into a bloody close quarter mêlée. So focused was the fighting that Brigadier General Gavin wrote:
‘If the Germans had the wit to move even several hundred yards to the right, they could have walked into the outskirts of Nijmegen almost unmolested.’
As was the case elsewhere on the front, Corps Feldt’s attack lost its momentum. With reinforcements, the superbly trained American paratroopers were able to force the German infantry back down the slope and through the smashed and broken trees towards Beek. By midnight, they were firmly in control of Beek and had again blocked the Wyler - Nijmegen Road. However, in the surrounding woods, the Germans still battled with the thinly spread American defences.
The All American and the Yeoman of England
8th Armoured Brigade.
The Nottinghamshire (Sherwood Rangers) Yeomanry (Notts (SR) Yeo), a Territorial Army or reserve unit, were detached from their renowned parent formation. Their War Diary recorded:
‘8 Armd Bde less this Regiment is to come under comd 43 Div, who follow Guards Armoured and 43 Div will be followed by 50 Div. This Regt has under command one squadron Royals [2/HCR], one battery 147 Fd Regt (Essex Yeo), a detachment of RASC, a detachment of light AA and a detachment of a light field ambulance, and is to act as a picketing force after contacting American Parachutists at Grave.... Our column of vehicles consists of 377 vehicles.’
The Regiment, delayed in its move up Hell’s Highway by the attack of 107 Panzer Brigade on the newly built Bailey bridge at Son on the evening of 19 September, reached Grave the following day. Here they contacted the 82nd Airborne and came under their command. ‘Our role is to support this Division from any form of counter attack,’ recorded the Adjutant. The Regiment promptly deployed into action with two squadrons of Sherman tanks and the Recce troop forward, with the third Squadron in reserve. The Regiment’s war diary details their locations:
Trooper of the Reconnaissance Troop Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, armed with an American carbine, takes cover behind a sentry box on the border between Holland and Germany.
‘A Squadron with D Sqn ROYALS [2/HCR] are to be responsible for the SE sector from WYLER in the north to MOOK south. B Sqn with our own Recce Tp are to be responsible for the north from WYLER to NIJMEGEN.’
British Honey tanks cross into Germany at Ooij with American paratroopers aboard.
Recce Troop was equipped with Honey light tanks, mounting 37mm guns, which were mainly for self defence. Their role was to gain information by stealth, without fighting for it. However, to troops such as paratroops, who have few heavy weapons, any tank – even a small one is welcome and pressed into front line service. However, in comparison to the German 88mm, the Honey’s gun was tiny. But, nonetheless the paratrooper unused to the luxury of armoured support, initially had grander ideas than just fire support, from the Shermans and Honeys as the Notts (SR) Yeo’s regimental history describes:
‘The Americans had not as yet had any experience with tanks, and General Gavin asked Colonel Christopherson to “clear the Reichswald” – just like that; as if all we needed to do was to buzz around for a few minutes playing hide and seek among the trees for the German paratroops to come out screaming for mercy. However, we explained the position, and our American allies immediately got the hang of things and co-operated with us in the most splendid manner.’
Despite the condescending tone of the historian, the two very different military organizations worked extremely well together over the coming days. Corporal John Cropper of B Squadron offers a grass roots view:
‘The Americans were a very appreciative lot and were very informal as far as rank etc was concerned, which suited me down to the ground, as we were not the most formal of military units either. ... If we were asked by the infantry to shell a position, we did and worried about getting permission later.’
However, in the words of the regimental historian, the Notts (SR) Yeo found the Americans to be adaptable, ‘as well as being most tough and determined fighters’. The historian goes on to explain how the Yeomanry:
‘began to pick up all sorts of American military and other phrases; and in netting-in our wireless sets, the somewhat prim [British] expression “strength five” was replaced by the more full blooded “booming thru”.’
A letter the Notts(SR)Yeo from General Browning summed up the mutual feelings:
‘You have now been working with the 82nd American Airborne Division for a week. You have had a lot of scrappy fighting which inevitably entails very close cooperation with rather small parties – tanks and infantry at troop/ company level.
I think I ought to let you know that the American Airborne Division has expressed unstinted praise and admiration for the way in which your people have operated. I am happy to say that when I met your Brigadier yesterday evening, he informed me that you have very much the same opinion of the American Airborne troops.
Men of the Sherwood Rangers and 82nd Airborne paratroopers share a light-hearted moment together.
Thank you very much indeed for this very satisfactory exchange of compliments which is entirely due to the cooperation and fighting abilities of your Regiment.’
Nothing pleases an alliance commander more than having his allied units getting on well together.
Returning to the action, on arrival in the Berg en Dal area, first having co-ordinated counter attack plans in and around 1/508’s positions, B Squadron was tasked to mount an armed recce. The Recce Troop along with a troop of their larger Sherman brethren cautiously ventured out onto the flat land to the south east of Nijmegen. This area was altogether more suitable for armoured operations than the Reichswald, despite some boggy terrain. The tanks were able to advance,
‘as far as Ooij without contacting much opposition and in doing so Captain McKay and his Recce Troop crossed the German frontier and captured a PoW who had been a naval cadet.’
This was the first of several joint Anglo/American operations that eventually saw the front line being pushed forward by 504 PIR to Ubbergen – Ooij on 22 September. The following day an attack by 508 PIR took the frontline towards Beek and Erlecom.
A drive to Ooij is worthwhile, as it takes the visitor out on to the flat low ground that is dominated by the Duivelsberg ridge. The small fields surrounded by drainage ditches, with bridges capable of taking only light weight farm machinery, made cross-country movement by armour extremely difficult.
Sherman M4 with a 75mm gun outside the Groesbeek Museum. This tank has been painted up as one of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry vehicles. ‘Robin Hood’ was the CO’s tank.
