ndrh1945 - Operation Veritable

Operation Veritable

Known in Germany as the "Battle of the Reichswald", Operation Veritable began on 8 February 1945. The aim was to push the German military back to the east side of the Rhine within 5 days in order to then conquer the "armoury of the German Reich", the Ruhr region. However, flooding, thaws and tactical errors meant that the operation made only slow progress.

Preparations

Onset of winter

The flooded lowlands

Water and mud

Mobile sawmill

Montgomery in the Reichswald

Rocket launcher

Preparations

The Grave - Nijmegen road is prepared for supply transport. Removal of ice on the Waal using dynamite to prevent damage to the Bailey bridges. Artillery fires "Branch No.3 Public Relations" leaflets to Germany.

Quelle: youtube.com / The War Amps / Canadian Army Newsreel
Originaltitel: Canadian Army Newsreel No. 59
Länge: 2:56 Minuten (Ausschnitt), mit Ton

Preparations in the Nijmegen area for Operation Veritable, establishment of supply depots, artillery fire in the direction of the Reichswald, dykes destroyed by the German military, Buffalos in the flooded areas, advancing troops, Montgomery and Crerar.

Quelle: youtube.com / The War Amps / Canadian Army Newsreel
Originaltitel: Canadian Army Newsreel No. 60
Länge: 3:20 Minuten (Ausschnitt), mit Ton

Onset of winter

Canadians make Dutch children happy and organise a sledge race in their winter quarters. Carcasses of the cargo gliders from Operation Market Garden in September 1944, winter quarters, line of tanks firing across the Meuse towards Germany.

Quelle: youtube.com / The War Amps / Canadian Army Newsreel
Originaltitel: Canadian Army Newsreel No. 58
Länge: 4:21 Minuten (Ausschnitt), mit Ton

The flooded lowlands

The northern flooded outer areas, Kranenburg as an island. Armed forces cross the flooded areas north of Reichswald and Kleve with amphibious vehicles.

Quelle: youtube.com / British Pathé
Originaltitel: Air Shots Of Devastated Town
Länge: 2:00 Minuten (Ausschnitt), ohne Ton

Water and mud

Blown dykes, the onset of a thaw and rain hindered the advance of the troops. Jeeps, Sherman tanks and other military vehicles make their way through muddy roads.

Military vehicles pass the flooded roads in the lowlands towards Kranenburg.

Quelle: youtube.com / British Pathé
Originaltitel: Flooded And Mud Bound Roads (1944)
Länge: 2:03 Minuten, ohne Ton

Quelle: youtube.com / British Pathé
Originaltitel: Invasion Scenes - Europe (1945)
Länge: 1:26 Minuten, ohne Ton

Mobile sawmill

Companies 5 and 9 of the Canadian Forestry Corps (CFC) set up and operated mobile sawmills in the Reichswald and produced timber. The Royal Canadian Engineers use it to build prefabricated rafts for the Rhine crossing, among other things. Timber is also needed for the construction and repair of log dams. Large quantities of timber also had to be provided for the later construction of the Bailey bridges.

After the end of the war, further areas of the Reichswald were cut down as part of the reparations payments that Germany had to make. The logging was coordinated by the NGTC (North German Timber Control), which was under the control of the British Military Forestry Administration. These so-called "reparation cuts" created large gaps in the forests, with 2,500 hectares of the Reichswald clear-cut in 1948.

Quelle: youtube.com / The War Amps / Canadian Army Newsreel
Originaltitel: Canadian Army Newsreel No. 66
Länge: 2:03 Minuten (Ausschnitt), mit Ton

Montgomery in the Reichswald

Soldiers are honoured by Montgomery and Crerar during a ceremony.

Quelle: youtube.com / The War Amps / Canadian Army Newsreel
Originaltitel: Canadian Army Newsreel No. 62
Länge: 0:52 Minuten (Ausschnitt), mit Ton

Rocket launcher

This new type of multiple rocket launcher was developed and tested by the Canadian army in the summer and autumn of 1944. The first missions on the continent took place during the liberation of Walcheren. From mid-February 1945, the unit was officially named "1 Canadian Rocket Battery". The rocket launchers are deployed in the Reichswald, during the conquest of Asperden, Hervorst, Goch and in the Hochwald and near Xanten. A total of 13,300 rockets are fired at 33 targets as part of Operation Veritable. *1

Quelle: youtube.com / The War Amps / Canadian Army Newsreel
Originaltitel: Canadian Army Newsreel No. 64
Länge: 2:03 Minuten (Ausschnitt), mit Ton

Quellen:
*1 Canadian Rocket Battery, RCA, 1944 - 1945, Knight

ndrh1945 - die Webseite mit Filmaufnahmen aus den letzten Kriegsmonaten des zweiten Weltkriegs am unteren Niederrhein. Aufnahmen aus Kleve, Goch, Weeze, Kalkar, Sonsbeck, Xanten und weiteren Orten.