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Harry Madge

January 24, 2024

WDRA MEMBER

The 'AVALON' Mystery

Within the Overloon War Museum, Netherlands, sits a freshly painted but clearly damaged Crab Flail Tank, named 'AVALON (T147955)'. Until recently it was assumed to belong to 22nd Dragoons with the museum even having a plaque proclaiming so. The 22nd Dragoons and the Lothian & Border Horse being the only other two regiments in WW2 to use Hobart's crab flail.

With the increase of historical records being added to the internet, it has been reidentified as a tank of the Westminster Dragoons! However the story of AVALON has only recently been pieced together and elements are still missing.

If you come across any more information or ideas on how to add more detail to AVALON's history then please comment on this thread.

Here is the story of AVALON (so far):

Background

Operation CONSTELLATION was launched in October 1944. After a failed attack by the Americans, the British replaced them to take the towns of Overloon and Venray in the Netherlands. Further South, A Squadron, The Westminster Dragoons were sent to support 11th Armoured Division. They were to provide flailing for 3rd Battalion The Monmouthsire Regiment (3Mons) alongside the 15/19th Kings Royal Hussars in their Cromwell tanks. 3Mons were tasked to clear the small village of Broekhuizen on the West bank of the River Maas. Broekhuizen was heavily fortified and acted as one of the last defensive positions that would prevent Allies from entering Germany. The Germans cleared the town of civilians and created an extensive array of defences, houses were knocked down to provide good arcs for machine guns, an AT and anti-personnel minefield covered the West of the town, an elaborate trench network as well as artillery observers in the church tower and brewery to coordinate with guns on the East of the river. In addition to this, 500m to the West of the town sat Broekhuizen Kasteel. A manor house with an adjourning farm and orchards. The house was surrounded on 3 sides by a water-filled moat, had 3ft thick walls and clear fields of fire all around it. The house itself was domineering and was referred to as the 'kasteel' or castle by locals as well as the Allies. Inside the kasteel were 16 young Fallschirmjager soldiers of 6 Kompanie, Regiment 20, 7 Division. Lead by Leutnant Lampersbach. These 16 fanatical soldiers were to play a key role in the upcoming Battle of Broekhuizen.

The Battle (Operation SWANSEA)

A day prior to the battle, an attack on the Kasteel had already been attempted by a platoon of C Company, 9 Bn Cameron Highlanders on the 28th November 1944. That action saw the Cameronions use the outer moat to approach the Kasteel from the West. They climbed out of the ditch to run towards the inner moat, all within 30 metres of the out-buildings of the Kasteel, which was believed to be occupied by just a few Hitler Youth. Lieutenant Liddell orders the attack, but having held their fire to let the British come nearer, the Germans unleash their opening volley of machine gun fire. Soldiers; Cooper, Davis, Russel, Delaney, Wheeler and Turnbull are instantly killed, a further 11 are wounded and have to be left behind as the rest of the platoon begin their withdraw. It becomes clear that the Kasteel is not occupied by a few inexperienced Hitler ‘Jugend’ and that it would take more than a platoon to capture it.

On the 29th November, Maj B A Wallace of A Sqn, The Westminster Dragoons receives his orders to support 3 Bn Monmouthsire Regiment (3Mons) as part of 11 Armoured Division, as they are ordered to take both the Kasteel and the larger town of Broekhuizen to the East. He is to move 2 Troops from his current location of Deurne to a hamlet West of Broekhuizen called Stokt. Maj Wallace and his two Troop Leaders Lt W S Hall and Lt G R Cooper drive up to Stokt in a couple scout cars to plan their attack. They’re taken to an observation post in the closest last remaining house in Stokt by an officer of 3Mons to conduct their recce. Through a hole in the roof they manage to get a view of the Kasteel and its surrounding moats and orchards. In particular were the small wooden pegs in the ground that surround the South side in the open fields, Dutch locals had pointed this out to mark the German minefield that protected the Kasteel from the South and Western approaches. The WD officers returned to their scout cars at the edge of the hamlet and meet back at 3Mons battalion headquarters about a mile away for their orders group. Here they also met officers of the artillery and 15/19 Hussars who were to be in support of the attack with fire and tank support. Meanwhile, Capt P J Squirrel had brought up the Squadron tanks the twenty miles from Deurne to a harbour location on the edge of a nearby wood.

The next morning the 2 Troops begun their move to the start line. Approaching from the North West, the recent heavy rain had meant many of the farmers tracks quickly turned to deep mud. This resulted in 2 of the flails bogging in and blocking the route for the rest of the battalions armour, however one was soon towed out and the column was able to move around the other (this tank could possibly be AVALON). At 0900hr the artillery begun its barrage on the Kasteel and nearby town of Broekhuizen, the 14 German paratroopers hunker down into the basement and withstand most of the shelling whilst the building crumbles around them. In addition, a smokescreen is laid down to provide cover from view to German artillery observers to the East. With 2 Troop and A Company on the startline, at 1000hr the first 3 flail tanks under the command of Lt Cooper begin their lanes from the gap between woods 903214 (West) and 908214 (East). The flailing takes a Northern approach towards the Kasteel with mines striking about a hundred yards in, two tanks of Squadron HQ then take up the gap between the woods to observe the progress and report back to CO 3Mons, LtCol R C Stockley. Soon after the flails broke from the wooded cover, A Company 3Mons, followed behind in the freshly beaten paths. Again, the Germans waited until the infantry were out in the least amount of cover when they opened up with mortar, machine gun and artillery fire. This saw Major Nodwell, A Company Commander, becoming one of the first casualties, with many following quickly after. The marshy ground bogged down another flail which then became too canted to bring its 75mm gun to bear against the enemy (this tank could also possibly be AVALON). In addition to the already bogged flail of 2 Troop, Serjeant H Bee’s crab is hit by either an artillery shell or 88mm, luckily the crew manage to bail out after deploying local smoke and make it back safely. Another crab is sent to take up his place and continue to flail the path. 2 Troops flails successfully created a safe path to within a few yards of the Kasteel before turning back and returning to the woods away from German artillery. Meanwhile, A Company casualties were started to mount around the flails. With little available cover, many fell victim to the German anti-personnel ‘Schü-mine 42’ that were outside of the flail lanes. To make matters worse, communication with the assaulting troops back to HQ were broken, with the CO unsure of the situation at the front of the attack, he sends his Intelligence Officer forward. Capt Gibbs is quickly killed before getting to the soldiers pinned down at the front of the attack, with the impasse growing, he then sends his second-in-command Major Allen to report on the situation, who is immediately wounded.

Now 1030hr; Maj Payne, Sergenat-Major Davies and Sergeant Wheeler from A Company, are 60 metres from the Kasteel, within the orchard to the South were pinned down in a ditch, unable to push their soldiers any further. In an attempt to break the deadlock, two flails from 2 Troop that had flogged paths to the Kasteel were ordered to return to the rear of wood 903214 in order to flail 2 new lanes from the West in Stokt towards the Kasteel. Two Troops of B Sqn Hussars under Capt C N Weatherby also supported the platoon of D Company as they attempted to open up a new angle on the Kasteel, however this soon failed when the two flails bog down including one commanded by Serjeant Bailey. With this failure, Maj Wallace reports back to LtCol Stockley of the grounded attack and the growing casualties, at this point LtCol Stockley, instead of calling up his reserve Company and possibly out of some desperation, gets in a tank of the 15/19th Hussars, accompanied by CO and Adjutant 15/19th and is taken to the front as it appeared to have lost all its officers and there was no one to lead the final assault on the objective. He gets out and calmly walks up to Maj Payne and the others in their ditch. He looks at the Kasteel and his men and says: “They still haven’t got me, have they?” before jumping out the ditch with revolver in hand. He charges toward the Kasteel bridge calling out “Come on. Attack again”, with this, Maj Payne and some 15 soldiers join him before being cut down in machine gun fire. With the CO, Company Commander, Second-in-Command and Sergeant-Major all dead, many of A Company start to withdraw under a remaining sergeant. Now seeming impossible to take the Kasteel with an infantry frontal assault and with the Battalion Commander dead, at 1345hr, CO 15/19th Hussars Col Taylor brings up a number of his Cromwells to within 20 metres of the Kasteel before bombarding every window and door with almost point-blank fire. By this point many of the German paratroopers have withdrawn from the upper floors to the basement and despite vowing to fight the last bullet, the last being reserved for themselves, some of the younger paratroopers resolve is starting to wane. In particular one 18-year old starts shouting that he wishes to live rather than commit suicide or be blasted by tank fire, he rips off his jacket and ties his white shirt to the end of his rifle. His comrades soon follow suit and some 16 Germans emerge from the ruins in surrender. With the bitter fight for the Kasteel over, quite a few of the 15/19th Hussar crewmen have to quickly disarm or talk down the remaining men of A Company before they could get their way with the prisoners.

The original plan consisted of two Phases. Phase 1 was the assault of the Kasteel, starting at 1000hr. Phase 2 was the attack on the town of Broekhuizen which was to start at 1015hr. In reality; Phase 2 didn’t start until 1100hrs due to the difficulty in taking the Kasteel. 3 Flails of 4 Troop and C Company begun their advance from the Eastern wood (908214), from South to North. Lt Hall’s flail lead with the two other crabs in echelon, followed closely by C Company. The slow advance of 1mph whilst the flails spun allowed the Germans to fire on the exposed infantry which decimated their number. Every now and again Lt Hall would halt the tank and allow its gunner Tpr Keith Ravensdale to traverse its 75mm to engage targets in the town. With this technique they continued to bound forward through the minefield. Once the lanes were made two crabs were ordered to return to the start line, the risk being that German artillery observers were starting to hone their fire from the East side of the River Maas. Lt Halls crab remained and would go firm some 50 yards South of the German defensive position, providing fire support whilst the 3Mons made the last bounds into the town. It was here that Hall’s tank was hit by a Panzerfaust between the gun mantlet and co-axial housing, injuring both Hall and the loader. After the loader and Lt Hall bailed out, Tpr Ravensdale, the gunner, heard calls from Tpr F W McCartney (unsure if driver or co-driver) and the remaining driver/co-driver beneath him. They were unable to climb out their hatches due to the 75mm gun blocking them from opening. With the electric traverse damaged, Ravensdale manually traversed the gun to allow his crewmates to escape before himself bailing out the cupola ring to the rear of the tank. He then begun his crawl back some 700 yards to the start line along the tank tracks they had created minutes earlier. On this return he came face to face with the point man of C Company who was wounded and bleeding from his shoulder; who said to him "F..k this for a game of soldiers", in which Ravensdale concurred. Soon after returning to the start line, Ravensdale recalls looking back at their crab (T212282) as it was hit by another panzerfaust and promptly brewed up. C Company struggled to get a foothold into the first buildings of the heavily fortified Broekhuizen with many men injured on the edge of the town. Brigadier-General Church the brigade commander who had come down after LtCol Stockleys death by then was in overall command, C Company’s attack also started losing momentum and radio comms some halfway through the town. A Troop from A Sqn 15/19th were ordered at 1300hr to put in an attack into the centre of Broekhuizen from the Kasteel in the West with D Company 3Mons whilst the other Troop of A Sqn continued to fire from the Southern wood. The remaining men of C Company and men of D Company fought through the trenches and buildings one by one until it was cleared at around 1600hr. This included 100 German prisoners, however many managed to escape in the evening over the river to the East. Though some of the rubber dinghies they were using were spotted by the Brits and promptly sunk, this lead to quite a number of retreating Germans to drown in the River Maas. Three captured Monmouths were forced to join the Germans in one of their rubber boats. It was too small to hold them all and the British were put overboard in shallow water and left there. Dripping wet, they managed to return to their lines. With the Kasteel and Broekhuizen captured, the losses taken by 3 Bn Monmouthshires was so heavy that they were non-deployable and taken out of combat for more than 14 days.

31 men were killed from 3Mons, among them 10 officers and 3 NCOs, with the Cameron Highlanders soldiers killed prior to the attack, the balance is 43 killed and over 140 wounded. The exact figure of the losses on German side is unknown: estimates range from 17 to 60.

4 crewman from 15/19th Hussars received head wounds from shell splinters. A Cromwell was so severely damaged that it could not be recovered after hitting mines and two other tanks were hit by A.P. shot from East of the river, but did not receive serious damage.

Sadly, a few days after the battle Lt G S Cooper of the Westminster Dragoons returned to recover some of the tanks but was killed by a remaining Schü-mine, making him the only WD death of the operation. LtCol Stockley, Lt Cooper and other soldiers who fought at Broekhuizen are now buried in the Canadian Military Cemetery in Groesbeek.

A composite map using modern satellite imagery and a map used from the recollections of LtCol Stockley (CO 3Mons)

Image: Air Photograph - The area 1 month before the battle

Images: KASTEEL - Before and After the battle

Images: AVALON and other Flails from Operation SWANSEA

Battle Scars

20mm Penetrations:

Many sources claim that AVALON was knocked out via a German Panzerfaust (shoulder mounted anti-tank weapon). However the AFV Casualty State in the War Diary shows AVALON was knocked out due to a heavy mine explosion that destroyed it's transmission. It's likely this was mixed up with Lt Halls tank that was indeed brewed up from a panzerfaust. Interestingly, despite it's terrifying reputation for destroying tanks, panzerfausts place 4th in terms of Allied tank kills; first being other tanks or Anti-Tank (AT) guns, second being aircraft then third AT mines. When looking at the 20 or so penetrations along the right hand sign of the tank, they are much smaller and cleaner than those of a Panzerfaust hit. Which often causes a spall of metal to be pushed out from the outer and inner wall of the hull. Further to this, it is possible to draw some peppering 'path' with the penetrations, indicating it could have come from a burst of fire. Therefore it could be assumed that the damage was done by 20mm rounds, a common calibre from an Anti-Air (AA) gun. It is likely they were inflicted on the abandoned tank as target practice post war, as was quite common.