War Diary: 65th Norfolk Yeomanry Regiment - 258 Battery

Month and year: December 1944

The 65th Norfolk Yeomanry Anti Tank Regiment's 258th Anti Tank Battery December 1944 war diary covers the units time in Holland and entering Germany.

National Archive Reference: WO 171/921

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Page 1 of 5

Place	Date	Summary of Events and Information
Field	Dec.1	Eight new SP 17-pdrs arrived during night to replace 8 X 3" M.10's. Bty
		now consists of 12 SP 17-pdrs. Nos 1, drivers, D/Ops & Fitters spent the day checking and testing the new equipment; remainder continued individual
		weapon training.
	2	Maintenance and testing of new guns continued. Individual training under Troops. All Gun & Tank Crews now fitted out with Tank Suits.
		"Free & Easy" held in Bty Canteen, Under the very able chairmanship of Gnr LEVY, supported by our enthusiastic dance band, the evening was a great success.
	3	The Gun Fitters worked very hard to complete various modifications - gun
		counter-balances were set back, fittings for Azimuth Indicators completed, fwd mountings for Brownings fixed, & strip of armour plate welded over top
		half of open sight aperture. Individual training as before.
	4	All guns now have Azimuth Indicators, and training of Tp Cmdrs, Nos I & Layers in Indirect Fire is stepped up. Exercises today were concentrated
		on laying the guns in the ZL and checking parallelism. Gun crews are becoming familiar with their instruments and with the drills WO have evolved, and want
		very much to try them out on the enemy. As the Bty owns neither Director nor Pt. II Range Table, parallelism has hitherto been a little shaky, but today we
		tested (by every means we could think of except by shooting) a somewhat novel drill for "parallel lines to a named gun", and this method seems to
		be extremely accurate.
		Mobile cinema show in afternoon.
	5	Training as yesterday. BC amplifies our very inadequate Range Tables by
		methods he hopes will prove accurate, & works out false telescopic elevations for direct shooting with the telescope.

Page 2 of 5

Place	Date	Summary of Events and Information
Field	Dec. 6	Training as before. Orders received that we are shortly to move to NEEROETEREN area. Capt PAGE recces billets in this area. We are told that we
		have been allotted a day in the near future for firing reduced charge HE on the HELCHTEREN ranges.
	Dec.7.	Orders received in the fifternoon for BC to attend conference at 157 Bde, 52 Div. BC 2 i/c attend conference which gives-outling of operation "SHEARS"
		in which the Bty is to come under comd of 157 Bde. Bde want Bty to move into their area as soon as possible & recce for billets is arranged.
	Dec. 8	Firing practice on the HELCHTEREN ranges. The practice began with direct shooting at stationery tgts at 800 and 1200 yds. Indication of tgts left
		much to be desired, but the shooting was good; the tgts were small ( & rapidly became smaller , but 10 crews out of 12 proved themselves capable of obtaining
		direct hits on any tgt with the third round or better. The shooting was interesting as a strong cross wind made necessary a correction for line; but-
		contrary to expectation- all guns shot extremely accurately for line, but showed very considerable divergence in elevation. Laying for elevation so far as it was possible to check it, appeared to be accurate; but the telescope
		elevation for a measured range of 800 yds varied from 1700 to 2100; and for a range of 1250, from 2700 to 3200. Unfortunately it was not possible to zero
		the guns, and the cause of the discrepancy remains uncertain. Browning firing practice was carried out simultaneously with the anti-tank practice. Little
		time was left for Indirect Shooting, but two tgts were successfully engaged, which was sufficient to demonstrate that the guns were very satisfactorily parallel.
	Dec.9	At 0600 hrs Bty (incl A & B Ech) left Heikant (route BREE-ASCH-BURG-BEEK) &
		moved to come under cmd 52 Div. The Adv Party arrived at the area allotted to them to find about 3000 American Cavalry billeted in the area. New billets
		found by 1300 hrs in GR HAASDAL, into which Bty moved, having spent the morning by the side of the road in the first snow storm of the year.
	Dec 10	Maintenance on guns and vehs. BC goes to conference with Bde Comd & gets further details for operation "SHEARS".

Page 3 of 5

Place	Date	Summary of Events and Information
Field	Dec. 11.	The morning was spent on maintenance & billet improvement. BC gives details
		of plan to Tp Cmdrs & maps, air photos, etc of area concerned are studied. In the evening we are told that operation SHEARS is postponed owing to the extreme
		softness of the ground.
	Dec 12.	On relief of 156 Bde in GEILENKIRCHEN area by 157 Bde, the Bty came under cmd
		156 Bde, & continued planning for operation SHEARS. We obtained steel wire wool camouflage & "paddlers" for the guns. Work on the paddlers held up as
		modification to the sponsons will be necessary before they can be fixed.
	Dec.13.	Maintenance & individual training. 4 men sent to Regimental Leave Centre
		at BRUSSELS - a very welcome inovation.
	Dec 14.	Operation "SHEARS" indefinitly postponed. Bty in to return to Regtl Comd and
		recce was carried out in SITTARD area. Good billets were found in the town. The only snag being that the town is within range of enemy field guns & is a good tgt.
		No other suitable area was found so the first billets were chosen.
	Dec 15	Bty moves into new billets a school in SITTARD. There are two good veh parks for
		the Echelon vehs and hard standing in a cul-de-sac for the M.10s. The whole Bty, less Tac HQ Officers Mess & canteen can be centralised in the school.
	Dec 16	Bty comes under comd 131 Bde in counter-penetration role. The day is spent in recce of positions.
	Dec 17	Church Parade in morning. Afternoon F Tp ordered to take up posn to cover rds & rly leading NV from SITTARD (in sp 2 DEVON)
		Evening: Enemy shelled & bombed SITTARD and a large number of incendiaries fell in the Bty area. No damage done.
	Dec 18	Completion of recces by. D. & E tps. Dance and "Free & Easy" held in the
		evening. High-spot of cabaret was ballot for leave to UK. 102 ORs are eligible for leave and names were picked out of hat by six nursing sisters
		from local C.C.S.

Page 4 of 5

Place	Date	Summary of Events and Information
Field.	Dec.19.	D & E Tp are deployed. D.Tp in mobile role behind FDLs in pine woods at
		7369 (in sp 1/5 Queens). E.Tp - Rt Section TUDDERN 7169. Left Section MILLEN 6971 (in sp 2 DEVON)
	Dec.20	Nos 1, D & E Tp, complete recce of positions. F Tp relieved by I Tp (259 Bty)
		& returns to reserve in Bty HQ area.
	Dec 22.	"Paddlers" are to be fitted to M10's to improve performance accross soft
		ground. Modification to sponsons required to allow paddlers to move round without touching sponsons.
	Dec 23.	Re-grouping takes place of Btys under cmd 131 Bde so that operational control
		is made easier: Under cmd 258 Bty: E.Tp
		F.Tp I.Tp (259 Bty)
		B.Tp (257 Bty) Under cmd 259 Bty : H.TP
		G.Tp D.Tp (258 Bty)
	Dec 24.	Preparations made for Christmas and a dance held in the School Gymasium to
		which the local youth and beauty came. The Dance was a success.
	Dec.25.	Christmas Day: In the morning there was a church parade, but the ground was too hard for football. CO & Acting CRA visited tps during the morning.
		Christmas fare was good and BHQ & F Tp had good dinner in gymnasium. In the evening there was another dance.

Page 5 of 5

Place	Date	Summary of Events and Information
Field.	Dec 26	At last light F Tp relieves E Tp in the villages of TUDDERN & MILLEN.
		(Devons relieved by D.L.I.)
		In the afternoon a childrens party was held in the school. About 30 children were invited and about 200 turned up. However there still seemed
		to be enough food.
	Dec 27	E Tp, who were in posn on Christmas Day, had their Dinner in the school.
		There as another dance in the evening.
	Dec 31.	Dance held to see the New Year in.

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War Diary: 65th Norfolk Yeomanry Regiment - 258 Battery

Month and year: December 1944

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