Operation Blackcock

Battle for the Rur triangle

Part of: Western Front , World War II

date	14. bis 27. January 1945
place	Limburg (Netherlands) and Heinsberg (Germany)
output	Allied victory

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom of Canada	German Empire
Commander
Miles Dempsey ( 2nd Army )	Gustav-Adolf von Zangen ( 15th Army )
Troop strength
a tank division 2 infantry divisions a command brigade	2 infantry divisions 2 parachute regiments one heavy tank division
losses
1152 men	unknown, more than 2000 prisoners

Operation Blackcock was the code name for the conquest of the Rur triangle ('Roer Triangle') between the cities of Roermond , Sittard and Heinsberg from January 14th to 26th, 1945.

The aim of the British 2nd Army was to push the German 15th Army behind the Rur and its tributary Wurm and to push the front further towards the Rhine . The operation was carried out by three divisions under the command of the British XII. Corps stood:

• 7th Armored Division (better known as "Desert Rats"),
• 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division and
• 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division ("Wessex Wyverns").

Operation Blackcock - named after the male Scottish grouse - is relatively unknown, although there were many deaths on both sides: many villages and hamlets in the Rur triangle were fiercely fought over, and this in a particularly harsh winter.

Starting position

By late 1944, the front line in the Dutch province of Limburg had stabilized along some natural barriers. By far the most difficult barrier to overcome was the Meuse . After overcoming it, the next obstacle came the Wurm , a tributary of the Rur flowing from the south (near Aachen) to the north , which flows into the Rur north of Heinsberg. The Rur is a tributary to the right of the Meuse, has its source in the Eifel and flows through Heinsberg towards Roermond , where it flows into the Maas.

Heinsberg was the northernmost point of the western wall, often evoked by Nazi propaganda (also known by the Allies as the 'Siegfried Line' and not to be confused with the Siegfried Line at the end of the First World War), which ran along the banks of the Rur. South Limburg had been liberated by the Allies in September 1944; the area along the Sittard - Geilenkirchen line was still in German hands. The Germans had built the Maas-Rur position in autumn 1944 ; this ran between Heinsberg in the south and Venlo in the north.

From the Allied perspective there was a triangular area that protruded into the front ( Geilenkirchen salient ). As part of Operation Clipper , which began on November 10, 1944 , British troops captured Geilenkirchen on November 19 . Then the offensive came to a halt; Heinsberg, which was largely destroyed on November 16, 1944 with 2,223 bombs (total weight 1,019 tons), was not captured until January 24, 1945.

Here the front ran along the Saeffeler Bach, a small river that turned out to be a significant obstacle.

Because of the Ardennes offensive started by the Wehrmacht in the front area of ​​the 1st US Army in mid-December 1944 - and the Northwind operation started on December 31, 1944 - the Allies had to withdraw resources from other locations to stop them. Therefore, the XII. Corps of the British 2nd Army taken over by the US Army to guard the front line north of Sittard . The front on the Meuse was formed by the British VIII Corps .

The British XII. Corps opposite was the German XII. SS Army Corps under Günther Blumentritt , who had two infantry divisions between Geilenkirchen and Roermond ( 176th Infantry Division and 183rd Volksgrenadier Division ). In the area of ​​Roermond these divisions were reinforced by the Paratrooper Regiment Huebner .

Battle plan

The rough planning for conquering the Rur triangle was based on three axes:

• The left axis, formed by the 7th Armored Division, aimed to capture the bridge over the Rur in Sint Odiliënberg . Operation Blackcock began for the 7th Panzer Division by bridging some rivers south of Susteren .
• The middle axis - 52nd Lowland Division - was aimed at taking Heinsberg . To this end, a breach was made in the German defense lines at Höngen so that the road from Sittard to Heinsberg could be used for the advance.
• The right axis - 43rd Division (Wessex) - aimed to capture the area southeast of Dremmen . It should take advantage of the breach that the Lowland Division should open.

Hübner's defense of Sint Joost

The battle for the Dutch village of Sint Joost was a turning point in the operation. After four days of fighting, the Germans were well aware that the armored division's plan of advance relied heavily on the use of roads, mainly because of the adverse winter conditions.

Sint Joost was on the advance route of the 7th Panzer Division on their way towards Montfort . On January 20th, in cold and foggy weather, infantry and cavalry units of the 'Desert Rats' began their first attack on the suspected two German companies of the 2nd battalion of the Huebner Paratrooper Regiment in Sint Joost. Ultimately, it took them four waves of attack to conquer the village; the last one took place on January 21st (a Sunday).

A total of 60 paratroopers were captured. The 9th Durham Light Infantry suffered 33 casualties in Sint Joost, of which eight men were killed; the 1st Rifle Brigade 34 (three Fallen). Over 100 German soldiers died, most of them in house-to-house fighting . The surviving German soldiers only ventured out of the cellars under the protection of civilians because they feared they would be shot by the victors. Hübner had lost almost two companies through death or capture.

Montfort

Between the evening of January 19 and January 23, the Dutch village of Montfort was shot at or bombed seven times and hit by over 100 bombs. Most of these projectiles fell into the center. Almost all of the 250 houses were damaged. Whole families perished in some of the houses that were completely destroyed. During these 'bombing raids', the Germans and civilians took cover in cellars or sought shelter in wooded areas.

The 143rd Wing of the Royal Canadian Air Force lost six aircraft during Operation Blackcock; two of them crashed in Montfort. When Montfort was finally liberated on January 24th, the surviving residents were in severe shock. 186 of them died in the attack, most of them from the collapse of the buildings in which they were staying.

losses

The Allies achieved all of their goals in Operation Blackcock. The German divisions were driven back - with the exception of an area directly south of Roermond, where German paratroopers were still fighting.

The 52nd Lowland Division had the toughest battles: 752 soldiers were killed, 101 of them were "killed in action". In addition, 258 of them fell ill at the front; most of them from diseases caused by the extreme cold and adverse weather conditions. The 7th Panzer Division had over 400 failures.

The 'Desert Rats' only lost 20 tanks by shooting down. Another 23 tanks were broken down due to technical problems. Ten of those shot down were total losses; the remaining tanks could be repaired.

The German losses are not exactly known; the number of prisoners exceeded 2,000 men. During Operation Blackcock, the Desert Rats took 490 prisoners, including six officers. The Lowland Division took over 1200 prisoners, the Wessex Division about 400.

Subsequent actions

After the completion of the operation, the Allies could begin planning the occupation of the Rhineland .

The Canadian 1st Army began Operation Veritable on February 8, 1945; this aimed to break through the German defense lines in the Reichswald near Kleve (about 60 km north of the Rur triangle). This turned out to be more difficult than expected; the battle in the Reichswald lasted over two weeks. The Operation Blockbuster to Uedem caused many injuries and deaths.

The operation grenade the 9th US Army launched on 23 February 1945: General William Hood Simpson's army crossed the Roer early morning. Twelve hours later, Simpson had 16 battalions on the east bank, plus seven heavy bridges and a few light attack bridges. His army suffered only minor losses and took 700 prisoners that day.

The XVI. US Corps formed a task force that moved north towards Venlo to join forces with British forces there.

On March 1, Roermond was occupied by the Recce Troop (reconnaissance unit) of the American 35th Infantry Division ("Santa Fe Division") without a single shot.

Since the loss of terrain as a result of Operation Blackcock, the Germans feared that their section of the front between Heinsberg and Venlo , the Maas-Rur position , which had been provisionally fortified since autumn 1944 , would be encompassed on both sides. The military were only able to convince Hitler in the last days of February (or obtain his approval to do so) to evacuate the promontory without a fight.

literature

• David R. Higgins: The Roer River Battles: Germany's Stand at the Westwall, 1944-45. Casemate Publishers, 2010. ISBN 978-1-935149-29-3 .

Web links

• Official US report on Operation Blackcock (PDF, 74 pages)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See contemporary witness report on page 18 (PDF; 180 kB)