Argylls in action right to the end

Joyful welcome from liberated villages

An insight into the part played in the final days of the war by the 10th A&SH was given in a letter from a non-commissioned officer.

In the letter, dated November 23, he spoke of the “extreme delight” with which he and his comrades were greeted as they passed through French and Belgium towns and villages that were at last freed from the control of the Germans.

He told also of marching through northern France and meeting stiff opposition at the Sambre à l’Oise Canal before passing through miles of undulating grassland divided by parkland and hedges.

The troops were issued with hatchets and bill-hooks to help them hack their way forward. At times they encountered German machine gun placements and snipers.

“At one farm we came to three Jerries who were standing at the door with their hands in their pockets, coolly waiting to be taken prisoner,” said the soldier, who then spentng a “miserable night” out in the open during heavy rain.

Around 10am next morning the canteen kitchen turned up with a ‘dixie’ of hot stew for the hungry troops.

Next day the battalion resumed its advance and came under heavy fire from machine guns positioned in the top windows of some buildings.

Resistance did not last long and the Germans. deciding “discretion was the better part of valour, got off their mark”.

Referring to the reception they received as they liberated towns and villages, the soldier said: “It will live long in the memory.

“Older people thanked us with tears in their eyes and a catch in their voices, while the younger folk danced around us laughing and shouting.

“Here we got a plentiful supply of coffee, crumpets and a kind of oatcake but made sweet.”

As the soldiers continued their advance they sustained casualties from heavy longrange shell fire and were held up by machine gun fire on the outskirts of Avesnes, in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.

It was while in Avesnes that the writer got word of the Armistice while attending a staff parade.

“I conveyed the news to the company and it was surprising how quietly it was received,” he added. “Everybody seemed to take the thing for granted.”

Despite the ceasefire, the Argylls continued their advance and still had to contend with scarce rations and delayedaction mines which were regularly going off.