227th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom) - World War II - Veritable

Veritable

In the opening of Operation Veritable (8 February 1945), 15th (Scottish), operating as part of XXX Corps, had the task of breaching the northern extension of the Siegfried Line, consisting of anti-tank ditches, minefields, concrete emplacements and barbed-wire entanglements, and then seizing the key ground around Cleve. The division led with 46th (Highland) Bde on the right and 227th (Highland) on the left. The opening phase went well, the troops having more difficult with mud and mines that the enemy. By dark, 227 Bde had captured Kranenburg. But the follow-up attack by 44th (Lowland) Bde, carried on tanks and in Kangaroo APCs, and preceded by flail and bridging tanks, was held up on the rough tracks. However, the Corps commander, Lt-Gen Sir Brian Horrocks, heard that the Scots were entering Cleve, so he launched 43rd (Wessex) Division to pass through 15th (Scottish). He afterwards referred to this as 'one of the worst mistakes I made in the war'. 15th (SCottish) had not got as far as reported, and the arrival of 43rd caused 'one of the worst traffic jams of the whole war ... The language heard that night has seldom if ever been equalled' (Horrocks).

The battle then turned into (in Horrocks's words) 'a slogging match'. 15th (Scottish) finally took Cleve on 11 February, and then had to face a counter-attack by XLVII Panzer Corps the following day. During the second phase of Veritable on 22 February, 15th (Scottish) again faced heavy opposition, from Panzer Lehr Division, as well as mines, mud, and an anti-tank ditch, but the division pushed the front to within 2 miles of Weeze and took many prisoners before being relieved by 3rd Division.