- 20 -

It was well after midnight when the last troops of A Company came through to the bridge and, after a final check up, the CO and Lt Mills passed over the bridge themselves. This was just after 1 a.m.

Thus ended the first day of action for the battalion. It had been a particularly full day and had cost much blood and sweat but the object had been achieved and it was a comforting thought to reflect that, during the whole 23 hours of the operation, not a single German, other than prisoners, had set foot on the bridge.

With the arrival of the seaborne forces the West side of the divisional bridgehead was secured finally and the battalion was freed to face the other way and re-join the rest of the division.

The lack of wireless sets made it very difficult for the company commanders to get their information back to Battalion HQ and this, in its turn, deprived the CO of up to the minute information of the battalion situation.

From 2 a.m. onwards small arms fire with a background of bursting mortar bombs could be heard from all directions west of the Canal, indicating all too clearly that the companies and outposts were having to fight to get into their positions. Only time would show what casualties they were suffering or whether any point was getting so weak that a break through might be expected.

There would be plenty of time anyway because H hour, the moment for the launching of the seaborne effort, which could be expected to produce a reduction in the pressure on the battalion, was not for a further five hours. It was a question of hanging on and dealing with the situations as they arose. The words which Gen Gale had so often spoken at his training; conferences took on a very real meaning "What you gain by stealth and guts you must hold by skill and determination".

About 2.30 a.m. Maj Steele-Baume arrived at Battalion HQ with a mere handful of men. It was clear, he reported, that the bulk of the missing could not be expected until daylight at the earliest.

The Headquarters of B Company was located close enough to Battalion HQ for the passage of information to present little problem. No information could be expected from the battle outposts and contact with them would test all the skill of the runners.

A Company soon became completely cut off so that runners were unable to get through to them at all. These runners would, quite rightly return to Battalion HQ with an eye witness account of the situation as they had seen it. The accounts they gave were not encouraging. A Company was being attacked from three sides and, even as they were giving these reports, small arms fire could often be heard in the direction of the fourth side. The company was under strength when they went in and must now be in a difficult position; it was important to find out what the true situation was and to send them what reinforcements could be found.