Cleve - Goch: The Unhinging of the German Defences Before Goch
It was the 43rd Division, striking through Cleve on 10th February, which unhinged and then roiled up the entire German defensive system before the key town of Goch. After eight days of heavy battle, during which it took over 2,400 prisoners and advanced some 10 miles, the Division was firmly established on the vital escarpment overlooking Goch and had laid the town wide open to attack.
With the main axis later 3 feet under water 129 Brigade. the 4th Somersets and the 4th and 5th Wiltshires with the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in support, effected a daring midnight penetration of Cleve (first German city to fall in the West) on the 9th. These were the first troops to enter the city. The next morning, with the surprised Germans apparently attempting to reinforce the garrison, a pitched battle developed with enemy infantry, tanks and self-propelled guns. The Brigade Headquarters was involved in the battle among the ruins of the bomb shattered city. Fighting strongly in a confused situation a Platoon of the 5th Wiltshires forced the surrender of eight German officers and no less than 170 men; the enemy attempting to infiltrate across the platoon front. Another enemy party of an officer and 78 mon was fought, cornered, and then captured by an officer and 20 gunners of the 59th Anti-Tank Regiment.
Forcing an enemy withdrawal the Division consolidated on the southeast boundary of the city by the evening. Next day the attack went in east and south between Cleve and the north side of the Reichswald Forest. The 7th Somersets pulled off a daring 2,000 yard penetration at night to surprise the Germans in the village of Horstmannhof.
But the vital objective was the high ground, including three important hill features, flanking the main Cleve-Goch road on its eastern side. The plan throughout was to seize Goch by securing this high ground and thus unhinge the entire lay-back defensive system north of the town. Opposition was extremely bitter. Groups of farm buildings had been turned into carefully prepared strongpoints. They had to be seized one by one against Panzer and Panzer Grenadier units and a Battalion of van der Heydte's paratroop-saboteurs of Ardennes fame. The Wiltshires, the Dorsets and the Hampshires bore the brunt of the fiercest resistance and desperate counter attacks before the first footing was gained on the high ground with the capture of Eselberg Hill. This feature was held by the 4th Wiltshires against a severe counter attack coming in from three directions. Between the 13th-16th the Division fought continuously day and night. The Artillery gave the closest support, the 94th Field Regiment at one time firing at 1,400 yards range with nothing between them and the enemy infantry in Cleve Forest. A second hill feature, east of this Forest, was captured at the second attempt on the 15th. Severely counter attacked a platoon held its fire until the enemy were only 40 yards away and then mowed them down with automatic fire. Infantry 6 pounder antitank gun crews checked two more counter attacks in close range battle with self-propelled guns which were destroyed or forced to withdraw in spite of their superior gun power.
Daring to risk two completely open flanks, and by-passing the strongly held Cleve Forest, the Division thrust hard south on a narrow two battalion front. By mid-day on the 16th the two other hill features east of the Forest were in our hands. After its 'start line' had been cleared at the point of the bayonet by a platoon of the Worcestershires a new Brigade attack went in. As it did so the break in German resistance came, Within the next 24 hours the two battalions of the Somersets, the Worcestershires and the DCLI took together some 1,000 prisoners. Cleve Forest had been outflanked by a 2,500 yard advance and the enemy forced to abandon it. The capture of so many prisoners was however no mass surrender: fighting was still severe, But the persistent pressure was too much for the Germans. The DCLI in Kangaroos broke out on to high ground on the left flank; the Worcestershires and the Somersets made the final assault on the escarpment before Goch on the afternoon of the 17th and gained their 15 objectives. Below them. and only 1,000 yard:, distant, lay the key town of Goch.
In action continuously for nine days the Division had outflanked and completely rolled up the strong German defences and opened the way for the capture of Goch the next day, The Royal Engineers, who had been up against continual bomb craters in this offensive, further eased the attack on the town by constructing six tank crossings over a 20 foot deep anti-tank ditch during the night. They worked silently under the noses of the enemy.
On the 6th March the Division crowned its brilliant work by capturing Xanten, vital hinge of the Wesel defence line. which the Germans had been ordered to hold at all costs. This attack was opened by the 5th Wiltshires who fought their way into Luttingen against the bitterest opposition from paratroops. Their entry made the German hold on Xanten almost untenable. The 4th Somersets, in a dawn attack, advanced on Xanten down the main road from the north, overcame stiff resistance on the line of an anti-tank ditch on the outskirts, cleared the town itself and by dusk had patrols on the Alter Rhine only a short distance from the river proper.
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