MIA Letter Fallschirmjager Regiment 16 – Haalderen Holland 1944

155,00

MIA letter Feldwebel Hermann Freibel

Fallschirmjager Regiment 16

Haalderen – Nijmegen bridge 1944

1 in stock

A letter and small paper to the family of an Fallschirmjager Feldwebel who went MIA in December 1944 during an attack on the Nijmegen bridge.

The Battle of Haalderen

The Battle of Haalderen was a German offensive operation in the Betuwe in the winter 1944/45 during the Second World War. The operation was set up to advance to the Waal Bridge near Nijmegen, which was in the hands of the Allies, and then destroy it by engineering units. This failed due to tough British resistance, resulting in the loss of most of the attacking units.

During Operation Market Garden, the Waal Bridge near Nijmegen was captured on September 20, 1944, but the bridge near Arnhem did not succeed. Despite Allied attempts to expand their bridgehead in the Betuwe and German attempts to suppress it, the front in the bridgehead had come to relative peace by mid-October 1944. However, for the Germans the bridge near Nijmegen a great danger. The Germans used all kinds of resources, such as air raids, frogmen and mini-submarines to destroy the bridge. This had only partial success. The plan was then conceived to deploy the German 6th Parachute Division, which had occupied the front line around the Betuwe since November 19, 1944. This division had only recently been created and consisted of very young and motivated soldiers, but without any combat experience. The same applied to the (non-commissioned) officers. The commander of the division, Generalleutnant Plocher, described the division as “partly suitable for defense”. The 2nd battalion of the 16th Parachute Regiment would advance via Haalderen and Bemmel to the north side of the Waal Bridge, whereupon engineer units had to destroy it.

On the British side, the British 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division had been in the Elst-Haalderen area since November 29, 1944. At Haalderen itself, the 7th Battalion Duke of Wellington's Regiment had only been in position for a few days. Due to high water levels, many trenches were unusable and the battalion increasingly began to use the houses as resistance nests.

British units

7th Battalion Duke of Wellington's Regiment (Major Denis Hamilton)
A company (Captain J.C. Fox)
B Company (Major G.M.M. Smallwood)
C company (Major G.V. Fancourt)
D Company (Major A.B. Kavanagh)
11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers
D Company (Major A.L. Rowell)
Both the 7th Battalion Duke of Wellington's Regiment (further abbreviated to 7 DWR) and the 11th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers (11 RSF) were part of the 147th Infantry Brigade of the British 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division.

 

German units

Fallschirmjager Regiment 16 (Oberst Walter Dorn)

2nd Battalion
5th company
7th company
10th Company (his Company)
14th company = Fallschirm-Panzerjäger-Kompanie with 6 x PAK 7.5 cm
The 16th Parachute Regiment was part of the German 6th Parachute Division.


Map taken from: 

http://jameskitchenerheath5051929.blogspot.com/2016/12/street-fighting-haalderen-holland-3rd.html

The battle

On December 4, 1944 at 3:10 am, the divisional artillery of the 6th Parachute Division (which had 28 x 10.5 cm howitzers and 8 x 15 cm howitzers) opened fire for a short, 10-minute barrage. This barrage was started 10 minutes too late and was not very effective.
At the same time, the 10th company (his Company) of paratroopers penetrated the front line between the English positions and advanced into the village of Haalderen. Some English platoons were surrounded.
The 5th and 7th companies also partly followed. Around 4 a.m., 7 DWR reported that fighting was taking place over every building in Haalderen. The German troops came within 200 meters of the 7 DWR battalion headquarters. Battalion commander Major Denis Hamilton then planned a counterattack. First, all regimental artillery and all 4.2-inch mortars were brought into action, especially against the rear areas where the 5th and 7th companies had gathered. This caused considerable losses. The counterattack then started around 5:15 am, with three Carrier sections in particular doing excellent work. D Company of 11 RSF started its part of the counter-attack from 07:15 and made rapid progress. By 10 a.m. the British troops had regained full control of the front line and many German prisoners of war had been brought in by 12.15 p.m. This was followed by combing the village and clearing out the last small pockets of German resistance (usually in separate houses). This lasted until around 7pm.

During these attack Feldwebel Hermann Freibel was taken POW.

Used condition, has been folded.

code: B24252