September 19th, 1944 - 400 yard dash at the Escaut Canal!
On September the 19th, 1944, D Company of 1st KOSB found itself pinned down for an hour and a half by a single, deadly accurate German machine-gunner during the advance on the Escaut Canal near the Belgian-Dutch frontier.
The details of this action were recounted in a newspaper article. *The text is quite small and hard to read so we have reproduced it in full below, and traced the men mentioned in it.
Shields Man's Dash Past Nazi Machine-Gunner
From a Military Observer
By an unorthodox manoeuvre which will not be found in any military textbook, a company of the King's Own Scottish Borderers in Belgium achieved its objective after being held up for an hour and a half by deadly accurate machine-gun fire from a German post.
The manoeuvre took the form of something closely resembling a cross-country race.
The K.O.S.B., after giving support to two other battalions in an assault crossing of the Escaut Canal near the Belgian-Dutch frontier, were moving forward when they ran into the enemy machine-gun fire on an open stretch of country between some houses and a level crossing at Achel.
The forward sections of a leading platoon in "D" Company, commanded by Major Alastair John Renny (home address: 37 Dorset Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex) first came under fire.
"The Jerry on that machine-gun was certainly a hot shot," said Captain James B. Cranston (home address: 5 Lodge Street, Haddington, who is a member of the well-known St. George's Choir, Edinburgh).
"Our chaps had only to move a twig or a blade of grass to bring down another burst from that machine-gun. We got busy on the Jerry, called up artillery fire, sent three armoured cars searching for him.
"When our shells stopped falling the German machine-gun opened up again. It was uncanny. It seemed impossible to move that machine-gunner.
"Next we decided to try to go forward under cover of smoke. The Royal Artillery laid that down for us, but the screen left too much distance between us and the objective. We fell back on our two-inch mortars and put down more smoke".
400 Yards Gap
"The company was all lined up at the back of a house, just like a crowd or runners in a Powderhall cross-country race, and when we thought the smoke screen was just right we gave the 'off.'
"The whole company streaked like mad across the four hundred yards gap." Officers and N.C.O.s encouraged a few who were straggling behind, "Come on, keep going" ... "You ought to have been there by now" ... "Only a few more yards to go" ... because if any had been left on that perilous "course" when the smoke screen lifted they would have been popped off easily by the German machine-gunner.
As it was, the whole company got through without a single casualty. The German machine-gunner didn't know what was happening until it was too late, and his hail of bullets then went over the heads of the K.O.S.B. sprinters.
The men of "D" Company treated the whole thing as a lark, though it was no joke at the time, and have recorded the 1, 2, 3 as follows:— 1, Major A.J. Renny; 2, Lieut. Albert Brown, aged 23, Brunswick House, Stranraer; 3, Sergt. Dixon Batey, aged 23, 37 English Street, Longtown, Cumberland.
Others who "made good time" were: Pte. Alan Smith, aged 30, 15 Brunswick Street, Edinburgh; Pte. R. Cunningham, aged 28, 61 Knott's Flats, Tynemouth; L/Cpl Francis Herbert, aged 25, 34 Lingfield Close, Shrewsbury; Pte. Michael Leech, aged 19, 42 Stretton Road, Leicester; Sergt. J. Bell, aged 26, 8 Cranston Street, Penicuik, Midlothian.
"It was a risk, but it came off," said Major Renny. "We felt it was our lucky day because in the early part of it a shell narrowly missed my company H.Q. and did no damage."
It will also be remembered by the K.O.S.B. as the day when they had breakfast at 9 p.m. C.Q.M.S. John Sisterson, of 149 St. Thomas's Close, Alnwick, who was in charge of the ration trucks, became involved in a long and important convoy streaming across a bridge newly-built by the Royal Engineers.
The K.O.S.B. breakfast didn't get across the canal until noon, and when the C.Q.M.S. found his company they were too busy fighting to stop and eat. "So I went back, made them dinner instead, and they had that at nine o'clock that night. And did they enjoy it!"
This battalion of the K.O.S.B. landed in Normandy on D-Day.
D Company – Names Mentioned
Name | Rank | Age | Site Link to further info |
Alastair John Rennie | Major | — | |
James B. Cranston | Captain | — | |
Albert Brown | Lieut. | 23 | |
George Dixon Batey | Sergt. | 23 | |
Alan F Smith | Pte. | 30 | |
R B Cunningham | Pte. | 28 | |
Francis Herbert | L/Cpl | 25 | |
Michael Leech | Pte. | 19 | |
Joseph Holgate Bell | Sergt. | 26 | |
John Sisterson | C.Q.M.S. | — | |
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