Many parties, dances and receptions were held.
The
2 i/c, Major D.L. Gordon,
MBE
finally got over his embarassment at being presented with bouquets
of flowers.
He also became expert at giving speeches though the
RHQ staff suffered considerably
being used as guinea pigs.
The padre,
H/Capt G.S. Fraser organized sight seeing
trips to the scene of many of the famous battles of the last war.
On the 18th March the Division was welcomed by Field Marshall Sir Bernard Law
Montgomery who spoke to the officers at YPRES and to the men on the highway
just outside WERVIK.
The Regiment was inspected by the
CRA
Brig J.S. Ross,
DSO
and on the 21st March was visited by the
GOC-in-C
General Crerar.
46.
At 0300 hours on the 23rd March the unit regretfully said goodbye to their Belgian
friends and moved through ANTWERP to an area near 's-HERTOGENBOSCH.
Everyone was billetted in farmhouses and accommodation was very
limited.
The change from Belgium was especially noticeable in language
difficulties, it being impossible to understand the Dutch.
Great interest was shown in the
VIs
which passed over frequently.
On the 28th March the
FOOs and
reps
joined their respective infantry units and the following day the guns moved
and went into action on the “island” between NIJMEGEN and ARNHEM.
The Regiment was greatly spread out much to the delight of the batteries,
RHQ being far, far away.
Some of the gun pits and all command posts had electric lights, something not even
thought of in a rest area in ITALY......
There was little activity aside from the occasional
buzz bomb in the area.
The
OPs were able to do considerable
shooting since observation was excellent and there was plenty of
ammunition.
On the 2nd April operation “QUICK ANGER” was successfully
carried out, the island being cleared as a first step preparatory
to forming a bridgehead across
the NEDER RIJN.