294th Field Company Royal Engineers constructs a 210 foot long Bailey bridge over the Dessel-Schoten Canal at Ravels in two days.

An assembled Bailey Spain is seen about to be launched across the canal from the north bank using two crib-panel piers as support; the remains of a German-built wooden trestle bridge which carried the Turnhout-Tilburg road from 1940 to 1944 can be seen. Sappers fit rocker plates on to the pier on the south bank where an armoured bulldozer is on hand to haul the Bailey across the canal with its powerful cable winch supervised by a sapper sergeant who receives orders from the team on the opposite bank via a field telephone. Utilising the rocker plates on both piers, sappers complete the hauling operation. Major- General Barker, 60C 49th (West Riding) Division, confers with Major Tyzack, OC 294th Field Company RE, and watches the bridge building. Sappers remove wood packing before lowering the Bailey onto the piers with Hydraulic jacks. The top runs are painted white as night-time driving aids. A single-span Bailey spans the canal nearby. Decking planks are laid on the bridge; the sign for "Bubbles Bridge" is erected. 49th. Division transport and civilians are seen using the completed crossing.

IWM: A70 175-4

The side of the little locomotive reads: "Polar Bear Special Poppel-Turnhout"

"...The Polar Bears had taken over the local cinema in Turnhout. Bing Crosby in "Going My Way" was a particular favourite of George, Dennis and John. Without passes we climbed aboard the steam train to drive the four miles to the town. The whole town was swarming with khakiclad figures wearing the insignia of the Polar Bears on their sleeves..."

from: 'Mike Target' by John Mercer


After the 294th. Field Company, Royal Engineers had helped to build a 210 foot, triple single Bailey bridge over the Dessel-Schoten canal, they adopted it and laid railway lines over it to run a train - the "Polar Bear Special", suitably decorated with divisional and company signs - between Poppel and Turnhout. Just as it was running nicely they had to move on and leave their 'toy' behind.

"...The Polar Bears were now held responsible for holding a long front line from Brecht along the north bank of the Dessel-Schoten canal towards Poppel - a distance of 20 miles (32 KM.). General "Bubbles" Barker formed a series of composite task forces. The first was named Eykynforce, and consisted of the 11th. Royal Scots Fusiliers with anti-tank guns, Royal Engineers, Kensingtons, a 7th. Duke of Wellingtons carrier platoon and part of the Belgian White Brigade.

The 146th. Brigade continued the advance on October 3rd. The 4th. Lincolns occupied Ravels and continued to Chapel St. Jean (Kapel van Sint-Jan Baptist te Weelde) ..."

Chapel Saint Jean Baptiste at Weelde (Ravels)  / Kapel van Sint-Jan Baptist te Weelde (Ravels) 

"...Meanwhile part of the 49th. West Riding Division also moved up. On the left of the Polish Division the 147th. Infantry Brigade was holding the line opposite the 711. Infanterie-Division, while on the right the 146th. Infantry Brigade was ordered to capture Poppel two kilometres south of the Dutch-Belgian border. The brigade was supported by the armoured cars of the 49th. Recce and the Sherman tanks of A and B Squadron of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers (Canadian 27th. Armoured Regiment).
At the end of the afternoon both the Hallams and the 1/4th. KOYLI took the village of Poppel, three kilometres from the border and only nine kilometres from Tilburg..."

"...The slow pace of the advance worried Crocker (I Corps). An attack towards Tilburg was still on the agenda, but the lack of speed meant a rethinking of the route there. He ordered the 1st. Polish Armoured Division was to advance through Alphen the following day while the 49th. West Riding Division would attack from Poppel.
Depending on the results, the Poles were to swing either northeast, towards Tilburg, or northwest towards Gilze. In the event, neither would happen. By now, Von Zangen was determined to block the Allied threat to his army, whatever the cost..."

In the early morning of 6 October the British frontline practically ran along the Dutch-Belgian border north of Poppel. To the left, the Hallams were in Aerle, to the right 4th. Lincolns had dug in south and north of the customs building. In between and slightly ahead was 'C' Squadron 49th. Recce Regiment. In line with Crocker's orders to halt the advance and regroup, the only activity planned that day was for the Hallams and the 4th. Lincolns to take over the forward positions from 49th. Recce. 
The Hallams under Lieutenant-Colonel Trevor Hart-Dyke would send troops to the hamlet of Nieuwkerk (basically no more than a cluster of farms), while the 4th. Lincolns under Lieutenant-Colonel F.P. Barclay, were to take over the Recce's position along the Goirle road about four hundred metres ahead of them. 
After 'C' Company had taken over in Nieuwkerk, Hart-Dyke inspected the area. He decided to take no risks and ordered 'B' Company to join 'C' Company that afternoon. This should be enough, he hoped. The Germans soon forced him to act. The first signs of an impending German attack was the shelling which started at 10:30 hours and was kept up throughout the morning.
Around noon it was clear that serious trouble was brewing, just as Barclay ordered his carrier platoon to move up ahead he decided to send 'C' Company instead.

Two 25-pounder field gun detachments belonging to 
69th. Field Regiment, Royal Artillery's 189 Bty. bombard German units in the vicinity of Poppel near the Belgian-Dutch border from gun-lines near Weelde - October 7th. 1944.

(IWM: A70  174-9)

As the British battalions were relieving the Recce squadron, Kampfgruppe Chill was getting ready for the big counterattack in the woods and heath north of the border. Chill had ordered Von der Heydte with I. and III./FJR6 to attack along and east of the Goirle-Poppel road and for two of Dreyer's battalions, I./ Fallschirm Panzer Ersatz und Ausbildungs-Regiment Hermann Göring (commanded by Major Horst Pohl since the previous Kommandeur had been taken prisoner on 27 September) and Bataillon Ohler , to attack west of the road, while the third battalion, I./ FJR2 (Finzel), was kept in reserve. Reinhard himself, visiting the forward troops, urged Major Stadelbauer ( I./ Grenadier-Regiment 937  ) to assist the attack from Gorp should Von der Heydte become stuck. The attack began at two p.m. It came along the road and across the Braken heath. It first struck the 4th. Lincolns. The artillery fire should have alerted the British troops but still at least two hundred Fallschirmjäger managed to crawl across the heath unseen and straight away the British troops near the road were in trouble. This was not all their fault and was partly due to the "alacrity " with which the Recce Squadron moved out from this position just as 'C' Company 4th. Lincolns were relieving them. This, no doubt, encouraged Von der Heydte's men to redouble their effort, thinking that the British troops were about to withdraw. The effects was that 'C' Company came under increasing pressure. Then followed the first 'white flag incident'.

A group of Fallschirmjäger indicated that they would like to surrender. Two of their comrades were wounded. A corporal with some stretcher bearers went forward to investigate, but he arrived at the same time as a German NCO with some men who had also witnessed the incident. They shook hands, had a friendly conversation and the NCO told the corporal and his escort that they were 'English Gentlemen'. However, they were not allowed to take back the potential PoW's and he had to leave the two stretchers behind. As he was outnumbered and outgunned the corporal could only comply and return to his own lines empty-handed and furious. A second white flag followed soon after. In this case the white flag was simply a ruse by the Fallschirmjäger to infiltrate between two platoons. The ruse worked and No. 15 Platoon became completely isolated, although eventually two-and-a-half sections (out of three) made it back. The situation became more and more threatening. Sturmgeschütze were reported further up the road, although none showed up, and at 15:50 hours B Squadron plus one troop C Squadron the Sherbrooke Fusiliers were ordered to assist the 4th. Lincolns. The Sherman tanks arrived just in time to break up the second attack by FJR6 which went in at 17:30 hours. Together with the divisional artillery this meant that the German attack ended as dusk approached and 'C' Company received permission to pull back through their old lines while the tanks went back to harbour at the road junction south of Maerle for the night.

'A' Company was now out in front. While beating off the attack some Fallschirmjäger fell into British hands and it became clear to them that most of their problems had been caused by I./ FJR6 led by Hauptmann Peiser. The Hallams in Nieuwkerk were also in trouble by now. The Germans had infiltrated between the Hallams and the Lincolns, helped by the terrain, which Hart-Dyke described as ' jungle like in the thickness of the trees and shrubbery '. This meant that the detachment in Nieuwkerk were now unprotected on their right. Snipers and mortar fire made life in the hamlet increasingly uncomfortable and by the end of the afternoon 'C' Company had suffered 23 casualties. 

  Lieutenant-Colonel Trevor Hart-Dyke 

Lieutenant-Colonel Trevor Hart-Dyke  with his wife in August 1990

Dyke-Hart called for a DF task which eased the situation, but only temporarily. The hayrick in the centre of the village started burning as a result of sniping and the carriers and three six-pounder anti-tank guns had to be moved under heavy fire. Throughout the afternoon Second Tactical Air Force tried to intervene on the battlefield, but on all three occasions Typhoons from 257 and 266 Squadrons (146 Wing) and from 609 Squadron (123 Wing) were unable to do so because there was no red smoke to indicate the enemy locations. At the end of the afternoon Spitfires from 66 and 127 Squadron (132 Wing) dropped twenty-four 500-pound bombs on the woods west of Nieuwkerk.

Ground crew of 127 Squadron carry out a daily inspection of Supermarine Spitfire MK-XVI, RR 257

As dusk fell the shelling abated, a sure sign that German patrols were out. Hart-Dyke considered he should do no less and what followed was a confused night with patrols from both sides sometimes moving along the same ditch, but in opposite directions. However, worse was to come for the British troops.

The fighting continued throughout the night and into 7 October as FJR6 tried to push the British troops back even further. The night was worse than the day. For 'A' Company 4th. Lincolns, who were now at the tip of the line it was a true nightmare. The men were tired, they had no sleep for two nights now, and noises could be heard from the woods around them. Fallschirmjäger continued to infiltrate and in the darkness it was impossible to tell who was who. As the Lincolns' after action report said, the noises "were enough to strain the nerves of all but the coolest head."  At  04:30 hours the proverbial balloon went up. Fallschirmjäger  popped up everywhere and soon three platoons of 'A' Company were being forced back. As a result a six-pounder and a seventeen-pounder anti-tank gun were left behind. The crew of the smaller gun had managed to remove the breech plate, but the seventeen-pounder was still fully intact. A counterattack by 'C' Company an hour later was blocked by Von der Heydte's men.
Fearing that his opponents might turn the seventeen-pounder gun on them, the 'A' Company commander had it knocked out with a PIAT bomb. As soon as it got light the cavalry arrived and the old positions of 'A' Company were recaptured by eight a.m. Half an hour later the German attack began to falter and the Fallschirmjäger in front of the 4th. Lincolns started to dig in. Now that the German positions had been located deadly mortar and artillery fire (273rd. Battery) was unleashed on FJR6.
Throughout the day screaming could be heard and ambulances were seen carrying off the wounded. In fact, one of these ambulances strayed too close to the Allied lines, but was still allowed to depart in one of those all too rare cases of decency that sometimes occur on a battlefield.

Around the same time the Hallams were coming under increasing pressure in Nieuwkerk. While 4th. Lincolns were being attacked in the early hours, the Hallams in Nieuwkerk were subjected to barrage after barrage. Kampfgruppe Chill  made a renewed attempt to reach Poppel. This time Artillerie Gruppe Übel (I./ Artillerie-Regiment 347) with its ex-French 15.5cm. guns was to be in support. From its positions near Moergestel it was to change directions so that it could cover the new target area. An earlier German attack at seven a.m., from the east, had been easily beaten off, but the next one could not be halted so easily. The attack, by Kampfgruppe Dreyer  supported by the Jagdpanther of I./ schwere Heeres Panzerjäger-Abteilung 559, started at 08:30 hours and came in from the northwest.
For some reason Leutnant Koch's Jagdpanther was in the lead. An hour before this second attack went in Hart-Dyke had sent out a call for help to the Sherbrooke Fusiliers. The RAF also spotted the "Tiger" approaching Nieuwkerk and four Typhoons from 609 Squadron roared down and fired their guns and a total of 31 rocket projectiles. Through the smoke they could not observe the result, which was nil anyway. Brigadier Walker (146th. Infantry Brigade) had told the Canadians to send one troop of tanks to Nieuwkerk straightaway and the other three to Aerle where the rest of the Hallams were still in position. Hart-Dyke also requested DF fire as 'C' Company reported enemy approaching from the west, but the advance could not be stopped and German troops entered the hamlet. They then got behind a standing patrol on the bridge, crossed the stream, fired some light machine guns into the trees and generally made the situation of 'C' Company most uncomfortable if not critical.
Then a Sturmgeschütz and a Jagdpanther approached. The Jagdpanther stopped at the tiny crossroads next to the bridge across the Poppelsche Leij, no more than a stream really, within a few metres of 'C' Company headquarters.

 Typhoons from 609 Squadron 

Disaster was looming for the Hallams, but then fate intervened in the form of two Canadian Shermans that rounded the corner of the sandy road that very moment. They could not have come at a better time. However, a Jagdpanther was a tall order for two Shermans. But then fate intervened a second time. Spotting the first Sherman the Jagdpanther rushed to the attack. The Sherman backed off the road at high speed firing as it went. The Jagdpanther carried on. However, there was a six-pounder anti-tank gun next to a building at the crossroads. It had been left there because the crew thought that it was faulty. It certainly was not, because when the Jagdpanther pulled up the crew of Sergeant Newman fired at the SP from nine metres. The shell hit and stopped it. The Jagdpanther apparently tried to turn in order to fire back but the barrel hit a tree and Sergeant Newman put four more rounds into the rear from point blank range, upon which it caught fire. The crew, some of them badly burned, bailed out and were taken prisoner, except for the commander, Leutnant Koch. He was rescued by the accompanying Fallschirmjäger and taken back to a dressing post. From there he went to a military hospital in Utrecht where he died the following day.

A fairly accurate drawing of the wreck of Koch's Jagdpanther, made in August 1945 by Mr. de Vries.
In the background part of a roof is visible indicating the location of the Jagdpanther, just past the crossroads in Nieuwkerk facing the Poppelseweg. The wreck remained there until 1946.

One of the crew reported to the Hallams that there were four more 'tanks' in the woods north of Nieuwkerk and soon the area was plastered by medium guns. Knocking out the Jagdpanther meant that the Fallschirmjäger following it, stopped in their tracks. An immediate counterattack, supported by the Canadian tanks soon restored the situation. Still, the position was far too exposed and Hart-Dyke was told that he could pull back the two companies to rejoin the rest of the battalion in Aerle. The withdrawal was effected around noon. The Hallams in Aerle had also been under some threat. At least two Sturmgeschütze reared their ugly heads to the northwest and some infantry popped up. But DF tasks were put down by the British artillery and no attack materialised. The Sturmgeschütze drove off unharmed, no doubt to rejoin the rest of 559 further north.
One Carrier, one Dingo scout car and one Sherman had to be left behind in Nieuwkerk and fell into German hands. The following day they were proudly displayed to the people of Tilburg. The Dingo was kept by Oberleutnant Franz Kopka to be used by 559, the carrier went to Chill while the Sherman was passed on to LXXXVIII. Armeekorps.

Behind the desk General der Infanterie Gustav Adolf von Zangen
and sitting on the right Reichsminister für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion
Prof. Dr. Albert Speer

Von Zangen could be content. The attack by Kampfgruppe Chill  had not yet reached Poppel, but it had achieved its primary goal, to plug the gap between LXVII. and LXXXVIII. Armeekorps. The success for the time being effectively neutralized the threat to the inner flank of 15. Armee. Von Zangen now hoped that this success could be exploited by pushing the Allied forces back across the Belgian border. In his own analysis Chill was less sanguine. He pointed out that the British artillery in particular posed a major problem.
That day at least 10.000 shells had been fired on his sector (his Oberstleutnant Schuster, estimated the number to be 8.000). If there was to be any chance of success for a continued attack on Poppel, he wrote, he needed Panzerjäger and more ammunition for his artillery.
Little could he know that the next day events elsewhere would make his request redundant. The same day on which one dangerous move was blocked by 15. Armee, another one, sixty kilometres further west, was about to materialize.

(SOURCE: AUTUMN GALE / JACK DIDDEN & MAARTEN SWARTS)

Hotel ‘De Golf’ in Nieuwkerk was severely damaged during the fighting in October 1944. The owner, Baron Alain Jamblinne de Meux, had the building demolished in 1950.