As a result there was little enemy shelling of the actual crossing SOUTH EAST of
ARNHEM.
With daylight the bridgehead expanded rapidly and by afternoon things had
quietened down considerably.
47.
The late afternoon of the 14th April brought the surprise news that the whole
5 Canadian Armoured Division was to concentrate in ARNHEM that night and
to make an armoured breakthrough at first light.
The Regiment immediately climbed on wheels and started rolling at 1715 hours.
The
reps and
FOOs
left to join their respective infantry battalions and the unit finally arrived
across the river in the wee hours of the morning.
After some wandering around in the pitch black the advance parties were found and the
guns put in action.
Sharp at first light the tanks cracked off with the infantry following up in the
afternoon.
No artillery support was called for, the breakthrough being
a complete surprise
and the “
Mighty Maroon Machine”
was really rolling.
The following morning the Regiment joined in the chase and moved up going
into action at an old
Jerry barracks.
From here the Air
OP did a shoot on what he described as “enemy
concentrating for a counter attack”.
This was successfully dispersed with several
MIKE targets and the
Regiment moved on, a battery at a time, to OTTERLOO.
The 5 Canadian Armoured Brigade had reached OTTERLOO the day before and
had passed through to BARNEVELD and NIJKERK.
The 11 Canadian Infantry Brigade was detailed to mop up along the axis of
advance and to hold the
L of C.
The
Irish were deployed in OTTERLOO,
the
CBH in BARNEVELD and the
Perth on the high ground EAST of LUNTEREN.
48.
The Regimental
recce party reached OTTERLOO
at approximately 1400 hours and found that the town had been cleared, but the woods on the
outskirts were still being mopped up.
The first battery was deployed by 1640 hours
RHQ and the other two batteries not arriving
until 1900 hrs.
During
the afternoon a platoon of the Irish and a troop of tanks had proceeded
out of the town to the NORTH.