1st KOSB WAR DIARIES

1st KOSB WAR DIARIES - NORTH WEST EUROPE

Tuesday, February 06, 1945

D +

245

NWE

WD CHECKED ✓

START LOCATION

HEGELSOM

FINISH LOCATION

LOUVAIN (Leuven) Belgium

WAR DIARY

SUMMARY OF EVENTS AND INFORMATION

The Bn moved in MT to the LOUVAIN area, starting at 0600 hrs.

The Route was as follows:-

HORST - VENRAY - DEURNE - HELMOND - EINDHOVEN - HECHTEL - BOURG LEOPOLD - DIEST - LOUVAIN.

The Bn area was in HERENT just NORTH of LOUVAIN.

The wheeled vehicles arrived at about 1600 hrs and the tracked vehicles from 2000 hrs onwards.

Locations were as follows:

Bn HQ 848606

"A" Coy 845608

"B" Coy 843610

"C" Coy 849610

D" Coy 839610

'A' and 'B' Echelons at 818637

The whole Bn was in civilian billets.

ALTERNATIVE SOURCES

Personal accounts, other War Diaries and excerpts from books

"On the morning of the 6th February the Division started to move right out of Holland and back to the Louvain area for a thorough rest before the coming battle for Germany. The Battalion found itself in the village of Herent, living in very comfortable billets and with ample facilities for amusement and recreation. During the day hard training was continued, but in the evenings everybody found means of enjoying himself in his own particular way, and the magnificent hospitality of the Belgians made this one of the finest periods of the whole campaign. Now and then flying bombs would serve to remind us that the war continued but, in spite of such disturbances, everybody had a genuine rest. The Battalion was looking extremely smart and fit, when at last we prepared to return to the struggle. This time, though, it was to be no affair of waiting and watching, but the final stirring advance into the heart of the Third Reich".

WIG Wilson's - A Short History of The First Battalion The King's Own Scottish Borderers in North-West Europe