units without more than a few minutes worth of ammunition.
Food was also just beginning to be a problem, the restrictions of their various faiths meaning that it was less easy to scavenge, or accept gifts from the friendly population.
A serious enemy thrust on Vogt had been bloodied and repulsed, the combination of British tanks, Indian artillery and USAAF ground attack proving too much for a large mechanized force that withdrew in disarray.
Nonetheless, the position was still precarious and the withdrawal continued.
Those units melting into the cool shadows of the trees found ample munitions and hard supplies waiting, the result of a magnificent effort by the Division’s logistical chain, meaning that this was a line that they could hold. Bullets and explosive had taken priority over bread and meat, so only modest amounts of food reached some units, whilst others waited in vain
M any men went hungry that evening.
P artially because of the absence of food.
P artially because of the presence of the enemy.
They were known as the ‘Red Eagles’, a homage to their divisional badge.
Their service during the Second World War was exemplary, from the 1940 campaigns in the Western Desert, through East Africa and the rout of the larger Italian Forces, Syria, and finally Italy.
Italy, where the division earned undying glory in and around the bloodbath that was Monte Cassino.
The 4th was considered an elite formation, but it had taken heavy casualties in the process of acquiring its illustrious reputation.
Returned from a stint of armed policing in Greece, the Indian Division had slotted back into the Allied order of battle alongside sister units with whom they had shared the excesses of combat, only to be swiftly transferred north, and into the cauldron of the new German war.
It performed well against the new enemy and swiftly relieved the exhausted 101st Airborne.
The new positions assigned to the 7th Indian infantry Brigade covered the routes out of Wolfegg and the approaches to Vogt.
The 4th/16th Punjab Regiment, ably supported by two platoons of the 6th Rajputana MG Battalion, had stood firm in and around Vogt, British tanks from the 26th Armoured Brigade causing heavy casualties amongst the attacking T34’s.
As the Soviet probes continued, the 2nd/11th Sikhs were pushed hard along their defensive line, set in parallel with Route 324 to the north of Vogt.
On Route 314 to the north, British soldiers of the 1st Royal Sussex Regiment folded back but did not give, forcing the attacking Soviet infantry and cavalry to retreat leaving scores of dead on the field.
An unusual error in Soviet attack scheduling had delayed the central assault, enabling the defending artillery to concentrate on assisting the Sussex Regiment before switching to the aid of the forces defending Routes 317 and 323.
Fig #52 - Junction of Routes 317 & 323, near Wolfegg, Germany.
2007hrs, Friday 7th September 1945, Junction of Routes 317 & 323, two kilometres south-west of Wolfegg, Germany.
Company Havildar Major Dhankumar Gurung looked around him, able to make out the shape of one of his men here, a weapon manned and ready there.
8th Platoon was quiet, safely hidden behind their tree trunks, protected by the hastily scraped foxholes, or comfortable in the old German trench.
Not one man had suffered any injury as the Soviet artillery, weak by comparison to normal, had probed the defensive positions of the Sirmoor Rifles.
Part of their line was a trench that was eight foot deep, wood reinforced, and with firing steps along its length. Some fading graffiti marked it as German, and a relic of the previous conflict.
Gurung’ s soldiers had extended the trench, and taken advantage of natural depressions in the ground, as well as fallen tree trunks, creating a strong position from which to resist.
Thus far, the battalion had not seen an enemy, apart from the occasional flash of an aircraft
Food was also just beginning to be a problem, the restrictions of their various faiths meaning that it was less easy to scavenge, or accept gifts from the friendly population.
A serious enemy thrust on Vogt had been bloodied and repulsed, the combination of British tanks, Indian artillery and USAAF ground attack proving too much for a large mechanized force that withdrew in disarray.
Nonetheless, the position was still precarious and the withdrawal continued.
Those units melting into the cool shadows of the trees found ample munitions and hard supplies waiting, the result of a magnificent effort by the Division’s logistical chain, meaning that this was a line that they could hold. Bullets and explosive had taken priority over bread and meat, so only modest amounts of food reached some units, whilst others waited in vain
M any men went hungry that evening.
P artially because of the absence of food.
P artially because of the presence of the enemy.
They were known as the ‘Red Eagles’, a homage to their divisional badge.
Their service during the Second World War was exemplary, from the 1940 campaigns in the Western Desert, through East Africa and the rout of the larger Italian Forces, Syria, and finally Italy.
Italy, where the division earned undying glory in and around the bloodbath that was Monte Cassino.
The 4th was considered an elite formation, but it had taken heavy casualties in the process of acquiring its illustrious reputation.
Returned from a stint of armed policing in Greece, the Indian Division had slotted back into the Allied order of battle alongside sister units with whom they had shared the excesses of combat, only to be swiftly transferred north, and into the cauldron of the new German war.
It performed well against the new enemy and swiftly relieved the exhausted 101st Airborne.
The new positions assigned to the 7th Indian infantry Brigade covered the routes out of Wolfegg and the approaches to Vogt.
The 4th/16th Punjab Regiment, ably supported by two platoons of the 6th Rajputana MG Battalion, had stood firm in and around Vogt, British tanks from the 26th Armoured Brigade causing heavy casualties amongst the attacking T34’s.
As the Soviet probes continued, the 2nd/11th Sikhs were pushed hard along their defensive line, set in parallel with Route 324 to the north of Vogt.
On Route 314 to the north, British soldiers of the 1st Royal Sussex Regiment folded back but did not give, forcing the attacking Soviet infantry and cavalry to retreat leaving scores of dead on the field.
An unusual error in Soviet attack scheduling had delayed the central assault, enabling the defending artillery to concentrate on assisting the Sussex Regiment before switching to the aid of the forces defending Routes 317 and 323.
Fig #52 - Junction of Routes 317 & 323, near Wolfegg, Germany.
2007hrs, Friday 7th September 1945, Junction of Routes 317 & 323, two kilometres south-west of Wolfegg, Germany.
Company Havildar Major Dhankumar Gurung looked around him, able to make out the shape of one of his men here, a weapon manned and ready there.
8th Platoon was quiet, safely hidden behind their tree trunks, protected by the hastily scraped foxholes, or comfortable in the old German trench.
Not one man had suffered any injury as the Soviet artillery, weak by comparison to normal, had probed the defensive positions of the Sirmoor Rifles.
Part of their line was a trench that was eight foot deep, wood reinforced, and with firing steps along its length. Some fading graffiti marked it as German, and a relic of the previous conflict.
Gurung’ s soldiers had extended the trench, and taken advantage of natural depressions in the ground, as well as fallen tree trunks, creating a strong position from which to resist.
Thus far, the battalion had not seen an enemy, apart from the occasional flash of an aircraft
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