Breaking the Siegfried Line

In this second of Tim Saunders' volumes on theopening stage of the 1945 Rhineland Campaign,the focus is to the north of the Reichswald, on theflood plain of the River Rhine and a narrow stripof slightly higher ground. Amidst the rapidly rising flood waters, 3rdCanadian Division earned the nickname 'TheWater Rats' as they fought to clear villages anddykes, while on their right, the 15th ScottishDivision fought through the Germans' outerdefences with tanks becoming deeply boggedbefore facing the Siegfried Line defences.Even though deceived by a faulty estimate ofallied intent, German resistance to the GuardsArmoured Brigade, the specialist assault vehiclesof 79th Armoured Division and the Scottishinfantry, was stiff as they broke through the anti-tankditches and bunkers. Aiming to maintain momentum, GeneralHorrocks, the commander of XXX Corps,released 43rd Wessex Division and 8 ArmouredBrigade into the narrow corridor between thefloods and the Reichswald, which resulted ina terrible traffic jam. Despite this, the WestCountry soldiers and tanks were soon in thebadly bombed ruins of Kleve, the first substantialGerman city to be taken by the British. German reaction to the attack on the'Reichswald plug' was to send their survivingpanzer and panzergrenadier formations southinto counter attacks to blunt the allied offensivethat was poised to spill out into the Rhineland.