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Canadian attack on forts at Boulogne

Discussion in 'Western Europe' started by scrounger, Mar 20, 2011.

  1. scrounger

    scrounger Member

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    Hi; I am wondering if anyone has any information on the Canadian Army's attack on the German held town of Boulogne France in September 1944? As part of the research into my family's history I would like to learn about the buildup and battle that took the life of my uncle. Victor Allan Doiron was with the 3 rd division,Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, He was killed in action on Sept 5 , 1944 and is buried at the Pas De Calais War Cemetary..
     
  2. macrusk

    macrusk Proud Daughter of a Canadian WWII Veteran

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    WarMuseum.ca - Fortress Europe: German Coastal Defences and the Canadian Role in Liberating the Channel Ports

    "...Though Spry's division lacked naval gunfire support, he did have an unusual substitute. Two 14-inch and two 15-inch British guns firing from Dover shelled German coastal positions in the Calais-Cap Gris Nez area up the coast from Boulogne to prevent the massive 16-inch guns there from disrupting the Canadian attack. Boulogne's German commander later remarked that he knew "when the attack did come it would be thoroughly prepared to the last weapon, and that the Canadians would attempt to take the port with as few casualties as possible." He was correct in more ways than one, for as the attack neared, the Canadians and Germans, concerned about civilian casualties, negotiated an agreement to evacuate 8000 residents from the city. Despite massive artillery and bomber support (nearly 800 aircraft dropping 3200 tons of bombs on September 17), few of the German defensive installations were seriously damaged. It still took infantry and tanks six days to secure the fortress-port. The Canadians lost 634 killed, wounded and missing; they captured over 9500 Germans.

    Boulogne's port facilities had been severely damaged and, in any event, could not be used effectively until the Allies reduced the nearby batteries at Cap Gris Nez and Calais. These were equally formidable. A combination of natural and constructed defences surrounded Calais, the location of no less than seven heavy coastal batteries. A somewhat lacklustre garrison of over 7500 men defended the flooded landscape dotted with concrete bunkers linked by barbed wire and minefields and covered by artillery and anti-tank guns. The 3rd Division watched as hundreds of bombers dropped their loads for three successive days prior to the assault, which began on September 25. Artillery fire drenched each German bastion in turn to allow flame-throwing tanks to get close enough to perform their grisly tasks. This kind of pressure ground down the morale of the defenders, causing some to surrender after only token resistance. On October 1 the fight for Calais and its great guns ended. The Canadians suffered about 300 casualties and took 7500 prisoners. As at Boulogne, the port installations in Calais, so needed to resupply the Allied armies, were badly damaged."

    The fight for the channel ports: as the British and American armies raced across France and grabbed the headlines, the First Canadian Army was assigned the unglamorous task of clearing Dunkirk, Boulogne and Calais | Esprit de Corps | Find Articles at

    WWII: Clearing the French coast - Canada at War

    Clearing The Channel: Air Force, Part 33 | Legion Magazine

    http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/caj/documents/vol_09/iss_1/CAJ_vol9.1_06_e.pdf "Canadian Operational Art: The Seige of Boulogne and Calais" by Terry Copp

    HyperWar: The Victory Campaign [Chapter 14]

    BBC - WW2 People's War - Battles of the Scheldt Estuary

    7th Canadian Infantry Brigade - eNotes.com Reference

    This entry at the Juno Centre specifically mentions the 3rd division on Sept 5, 1944 http://www.junobeach.org/e/2/can-eve-rod-sch-e.htm



     
  3. macrusk

    macrusk Proud Daughter of a Canadian WWII Veteran

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    You may also want to look for these books:

    Signals

    History of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, 1903-1961 / by written by Officers of the Corps and edited by John S. Moir. Ottawa, 1962. 366 p.
    UG575 .C3 C34 1962


    The invisible war: the untold secret story of Number One Canadian Special Wireless Group, Royal Canadian Signal Corps, 1944-1946 / by Gil Murray. Toronto: Dundurn Group, c2001. 302 p.
    D547 .C2 B4 1916


    With the 4th Canadian Div'l Signal Coy. C.E. on active Service [microform] / by Canada. Canadian Army. Fourth Canadian Divisional Signal Company. 2 microfiche.
    FC51 .C3496 NO.78083

    • 4th Divisional Signal Company, Canadian Engineers on active service
    which I found listed in the holdings of the University of Calgary Library University of Calgary Libraries - Canadian Military History. You may be able to borrow these through an inter-library loan.

    From HyperWar: The Victory Campaign [Chapter 14] I found the following regarding the Canadian Army and Boulogne around Sept 5 1944.

    "The Poles now took the lead of the 2nd Canadian Corps advance and drove northward without meeting much opposition. By noon of 4 September they were reported in Hesdin. In accordance with the orders previously issued, the 4th Division concentrated immediately east of Abbeville to rest and reorganize. The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division followed the Poles across the Somme and pushed north parallel to the coast. On the morning of the 4th its 9th Brigade crossed the river Canche near Montreuil and moved on towards Boulogne.[SIZE=-1]3[/SIZE] Blown bridges on this river and the Authie were making trouble similar to that met with on the Somme. One of Field-Marshal Montgomery's liaison officers reported on this day, "The problem facing 2 Cdn Corps at the moment is not German soldiers but bridging difficulties."

    In this phase, indeed, with the Army moving rapidly forward, the Engineers had constant bridging problems, especially as the First Canadian Army routes crossed the rivers flowing into the Channel near their mouths, where they were widest. There was a chronic shortage of bridging equipment during September. Simultaneously the construction or rehabilitation of airfields in the new areas for the wings of No. 84 Group was an equally important commitment of the R.C.E. and R.E. units working under the Army's Chief Engineer (Brigadier Geoffrey Walsh took over this appointment from Brigadier A. T. MacLean at the beginning of the month). This was likewise a very busy and exacting period for the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. By 2 September the Army's "main signals artery" was complete to Rouen; that day cables were successfully put across the Seine at Duclair (only to be broken two days later by a ferry dragging its anchor). On 9 September it was recorded that cable connection had been established with Headquarters 2nd Corps at Cassel; the Corps now had speech and teleprinter communication with Army "after being entirely on wireless for one week".[SIZE=-1]4[/SIZE] Mere distance was a serious problem for commanders and staffs, and particularly for Army Headquarters. General Crerar in the second week of Septemberwas directing operations from Le Havre in the south to Bruges and Ghent in the north, a front of nearly 200 miles. Fortunately, his light Auster aircraft gave him the means of maintaining personal contact with his two corps commanders as well as with Field-Marshal Montgomery.

    Early in September we had not yet appreciated that the Germans intended to fight for the Channel Ports; air reconnaissance had reported the Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk areas "deserted",[SIZE=-1]5[/SIZE] and indeed, as we have seen, it was only on 4 September that Hitler issued his order for defence (above, page 301). On the evening of the 4th General Simonds sent a directive[SIZE=-1]6[/SIZE] to his divisional commanders emphasizing the objects of pursuit to the Scheldt and destruction or capture of all enemy south of the river within the Army boundary. The 2nd Canadian Division when it moved forward was to clear the coastal strip from Dunkirk to the Dutch frontier. The 3rd Canadian Division, having been previously directed to push through to the Dunkirk area (above, page 303), was now merely ordered to ensure that the 2nd Division's route was clear and thereafter to reorganize about Calais. But by the night of the 5th-6th the 3rd Division had come up against the landward defences of Boulogne and established that the enemy was holding hard there. A momentary intention to contain Boulogne with one brigade while the balance of the division pushed on to Calais and Dunkirk[SIZE=-1]7[/SIZE] was quickly abandoned, and soon after midnight a divisional operation order[SIZE=-1]8[/SIZE] was issued: the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division was now to "capture Boulogne and destroy its garrison". The 7th Brigade was pushed on to seize high ground south-west of Calais and cover the flank of the operation." and further down the page "....General Spry's 3rd Canadian Infantry Division had come up against the defences of Boulogne on 5 September and that night issued a preliminary order concerning the capture of the place (above, page 326). But the town was far too strong to be taken without a deliberate attack and heavy support; and this meant delay. It is recorded that General Simonds considered "bombers, Priests [armoured personnel carriers] and medium artillery as vital to plan"; "other

    --336--
    gadgets" were desirable but not so much so as to necessitate postponing the attack to wait for them.[SIZE=-1]58[/SIZE] But Bomber Command, the armoured carriers and a great force of artillery* were all committed to the attack on Le Havre; and Boulogne could not be attacked until Le Havre fell and these resources were freed. From one fortress to the other was roughly 135 miles by road.
    Boulogne was ringed on the landward side by a series of high hills which dominated all approaches. Mont Lambert on the east, in particular, rose 550 feet; and farther south the Herquelingue "feature" was almost as high. These and other positions had been heavily fortified by a resourceful enemy, for Boulogne had been on Hitler's original list of "fortresses" (above, page 50). The garrison was under an able and experienced senior officer, Lieut.-General Ferdinand Heim, who had served in Poland as Chief of Staff to General Guderian and had risen to command a corps in Russia. Its strength (estimated by our local intelligence as between 5500 and 7000)† was actually about 10,000.[SIZE=-1]59[/SIZE] Its quality was not especially high, the 2000 infantry consisting of a fortress machine-gun battalion and two fortress infantry battalions, all made up of low-category men. A good part of the artillery and engineer personnel of the 64th Infantry Division were present.[SIZE=-1]60[/SIZE] As at Le Havre, the enemy was strong in artillery, the guns including coast-defence pieces up to 30.5-cm. (12-inch), of which however many could not fire landward, and at least 22 88mm. guns, plus about nine 15-cm. howitzers belonging to the 64th Division. Apart from the dual-purpose 88s there were few anti-tank guns.[SIZE=-1]61[/SIZE] Under German orders some 8000 civilians left the city between 11 and 13 September--Canadian Civil Affairs officers making efficient arrangements for transporting, feeding and housing them.[SIZE=-1]62[/SIZE] The attack on Boulogne, Operation "W[SIZE=-1]ELLHIT[/SIZE]", was to be executed in four phases. General Spry intended to launch his main assault from the east against the general area of Mont Lambert, using the 8th and 9th Infantry Brigade Groups, after a heavy preliminary bombardment by aircraft and artillery. In the second phase the two brigades would secure the centre of the built-up area and, it was hoped, seize a crossing over the Liane River before the bridges could be blown. The third phase would see the capture of outlying strongpoints at Fort de la Crèche, Outreau and Herquelingue; the fourth, the capture of Nocquet on the coast and the heights of St. Etienne.[SIZE=-1]63"[/SIZE]
     
  4. macrusk

    macrusk Proud Daughter of a Canadian WWII Veteran

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    duplicate post
     
  5. FalkeEins

    FalkeEins Member

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  6. scrounger

    scrounger Member

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    Thank you for the excellent information , I know very little about my uncle's death except to relate that my dad (he was in the R C N ) was told. He was directing military traffic that was moving down a road near Boulogne when a German shell landed close to him, he was killed almost instantly, he was23 years old ..
     
  7. Ben Bunker

    Ben Bunker New Member

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    Dear member,

    already some that you posted this topic. Interesting are the last words you wrote how he died. I only know his name, first names, and the date he died.

    Perhaps this gives some more info:

    On 5 september some good men died during the advance to the area of Boulogne-Calais. We can split this in different pieces.
    1. the shooting of heavy German artillery on Samer:

    1.a they hit HQ 8th CIB in the afternoon
    1.b. they hit troops of the artillery probely also in the afternoon
    1.c. they hit in the evening / night from 5/6 september HQ 9th CIB

    2. the first infantry attack on Boulogne by troops of 9th CIB / Fort Garry Horse etc.

    3. things we do not know

    In my research I always thought that most men died on the attack on 5 september on the hill of Herquelingue but this is not right. The shooting on Samer did cause a lot of wounded and dead men.
    One of the Wardiarys, 8th CIB, says on 5 september: Lt. W. Thurnwell, 3rd Canadian Signals, 2./IC, K-sectie wounded. So this story belongs in my opion at 1a, when German artillery fired on HQ 8th CIB.

    Do you have any more info on you're uncle at what time he died and where he received his first (field)grave? And are there any pictures of him?

    I could be possibel that he was working on the traffic jam on the route to Samer. Some wardiarys say the 8th and 9th CIB where driving after each other and also artillery came in behind. So to much traffic on the route that was under German observation and could be fired on with 4x 28 cm guns from Battery GroBer Kürfurst at Cap Gris Nez.

    Greetings from a Dutch member, Ben
     

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