97-684: Operation Berlin may refer to: Operation Berlin (Arnhem) , a Second World War evacuation operation in the Netherlands Operation Berlin (Atlantic) , a Second World War German commerce raid in the Atlantic Operation Berlín (Colombia) , a 2000 Colombian Army ambush against the FARC See also [ edit ] Battle of Berlin Topics referred to by
194-452: A strafing German fighter struck his upper chest and carried on through his body, piercing his lungs , stomach and intestines . He underwent five operations and spent fourteen months recovering. He was replaced as GOC of X Corps by Lieutenant-General Sir Richard McCreery . It was a year before Horrocks recovered sufficiently to tell Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke , the Chief of
291-777: A Lancashire born doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), and his wife, Minna Horrocks, "who had all the gaiety and charm of the Irish". Born in Ranikhet in British India on 7 September 1895, young Brian—after having had "particularly happy memories of the four years spent at Gibraltar when my father was working on the causes of Malta fever "—returned to Britain, where he was educated at Bow School, Durham , later Uppingham School , Rutland , an English public school , "where I gravitated automatically into
388-565: A case of the remainder of the 2nd Army struggling desperately to relieve 30 Corps cut off by the Germans north of Arnhem. Maybe in the long run we were lucky." During the operation and for several weeks after the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Brigadier General James M. Gavin , came under Horrocks' command, and Gavin, impressed by Horrocks, later wrote of him: He was truly a unique general officer and his qualities of leadership were greater than any I have ever seen. In lecturing at
485-726: A commission at all but for the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. Horrocks was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Middlesex Regiment , a line infantry regiment of the British Army , on 8 August 1914. Horrocks, in charge of a ninety-five-man draft of replacements, joined the 1st Battalion of his regiment as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during
582-709: A corps in my Army. I knew I could not have a better man and so it turned out; he was exactly what was wanted for the job which lay ahead. On arriving in North Africa, Horrocks' corps was ordered to defend the Alam el Halfa ridge in northwestern Egypt from an expected attack by the Afrika Korps . Concerned that heavy casualties would jeopardise his planned El Alamein offensive , Montgomery instructed Horrocks to repel Erwin Rommel 's forces "without getting unduly mauled in
679-511: A division in battle, he was further promoted to acting lieutenant-general and sent to Egypt to command the Eighth Army 's XIII Corps , under Montgomery. General Sir Harold Alexander and Lieutenant-General Montgomery had decided to make a "clean sweep" when replacing the dismissed General Sir Claude Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) Middle East and Eighth Army commander respectively. Officers perceived to have failed under
776-557: A fellow Middlesex Regiment officer, since the landings in Normandy two months earlier. Horrocks retained control of XXX Corps during the advance through Belgium, taking Brussels , and at one point advanced 250 miles (400 km) in only six days. Supplies were a constant concern; the major French deep-water ports were still in German hands, and Allied supply lines stretched back to the Normandy beaches. Montgomery's 21st Army Group
873-494: A field covered with manure which had recently been departed by some cows; Captain Gibbons was furious, insisting that the officers should share in the misery of their subordinates. "My heart sank but I knew instinctively that he was right", Horrocks later wrote. Douglas Delaney writes that the "willingness of soldiers to follow was constructed on gestures like this. It is interesting how some events, though seemingly insignificant in
970-472: A further five days, by 21 September almost three-quarters of the division was destroyed or captured. Postwar analyses have been divided, some stressing a perceived lack of urgency on the part of Horrocks' men, while others note that German defences in the area were severely underestimated by First Allied Airborne Army intelligence . Particularly important was the failure to identify the remnants of two SS Panzer divisions, which after Normandy had been sent to
1067-487: A high cost, and the Allied forces unwilling to try to re-take it after a failed attack by the 2nd New Zealand Division . The army's defensive success raised morale, and Horrocks was praised by his subordinate, Brigadier Philip Roberts , for his "wonderful knack of inspiring confidence and enthusiasm wherever he goes". Montgomery, too, was pleased, saying "he deserves great credit for his action on that day". Horrocks
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#17327660075971164-645: A second, but the pair were arrested before the duel could take place. He managed to defuse the situation before it came to trial, by claiming his faulty Russian had been the cause of the misunderstanding. His next assignment was in Yekaterinburg in the Urals , where he was appointed second in command of a training school for non-commissioned officers attached to the Anglo-Russian Brigade. He found this post frustrating, having to dismiss nearly
1261-454: A series of British Army regimental histories. In 1968 Horrocks collaborated with J & L Randall as editor of the board game Combat , made by the Merit company. Horrocks' portrait and signature appear on the box and his introduction to the game states: "In war no two battles are ever the same because the terrain is always different and it is this, more than anything else, which influences
1358-552: A single narrow raised highway through flat or flooded countryside. The bridge at Nijmegen , just 8 miles (13 km) from Arnhem, was not captured by the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment on the first day as planned, and XXX Corps had to assist in its capture on their arrival in Nijmegen two days later, causing a further delay of 36 hours. Horrocks was not personally blamed for the operation's failure although he himself writes in his autobiography that "If we were slow then
1455-688: A third of his initial cadre on medical grounds, and struggling to get supplies and support from the White Army authorities. Despite this, he developed a rapport with his men and an admiration for the Russian soldier. Although British forces were ordered home shortly afterwards, Horrocks and another officer, George Hayes , remained to advise the First Siberian Army. The White Army was in retreat, and Horrocks joined them as they fell back to Vladivostok, 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away. He
1552-496: A year to recover before returning to command a corps in Europe. It is likely that this period out of action meant he missed out on promotion; his contemporary corps commanders in North Africa, Oliver Leese and Miles Dempsey , went on to command at army level and above. Horrocks' wound continued to impair his health and led to his early retirement from the army after the war. Since 1945, Horrocks has been regarded by some as one of
1649-670: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Operation Berlin (Arnhem) Operation Berlin (25/26 September 1944) was a night-time evacuation of the remnants of the beleaguered British 1st Airborne Division , in German-occupied territory north of the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden in the Second World War . The aim of
1746-455: Is difficult to fight with one hand tied behind you." "It is always easy to be wise after the event but, knowing what I do now, I think it would have been better to have committed the 43rd Division on a different axis. Instead of passing them through the Guards on the 22nd, I should have ordered General Thomas [GOC 43rd Division] to carry out a left hook across the lower Rhine much farther to
1843-543: The 131st (Surrey) , 132nd (Kent) and the 133rd (Sussex) Infantry Brigades together with supporting units, was stationed in Kent preparing to repel the expected German invasion of the United Kingdom . The division was responsible for the southern Kent coast east of Folkestone and was serving under the command of XII Corps , commanded by Montgomery, who secured for Horrocks his new command. In March 1942, Horrocks
1940-535: The 1st Armoured Division , a Free French brigade and the attached New Zealand Corps (which included the 2nd New Zealand Division and the British 8th Armoured Brigade ), was ordered to attack as part of Operation Supercharge II after XXX Corps failed to breach the line. He carried out a flanking manoeuvre through a pass judged by the Germans to be impenetrable, rendering the Mareth position untenable and forcing
2037-708: The 9th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment of the Territorial Army (1926–1930); student at the Staff College, Camberley (1931–32); Staff Captain at the War Office (1934–36); brigade major with the 5th Infantry Brigade (1936–38); and instructor at the Staff College. The Territorial Army posting, which Horrocks considered to be among his happiest periods, provided experience in dealing with citizen soldiers, "those truly remarkable people,
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#17327660075972134-741: The First Paratroop Army (General Kurt Student ) had arrived and set up strong defensive positions along the opposite side of the canal. The task of breaking the strengthened German line, which stretched from Antwerp to the North Sea along the Scheldt River, would fall to the First Canadian Army in the month-long, costly Battle of the Scheldt . By mid-September, XXX Corps had been diverted again, this time to
2231-522: The German Army was forced back over the Rhine. The corps employed firepower on a massive scale, and "every trick that had been learnt during the past two and a half years was brought into play, and several new ones added". For a short period XXX Corps had nine divisions under its command. Before the operation, Horrocks accepted an offer to use Bomber Command to attack the town of Cleves , assisting
2328-695: The Glider Pilot Regiment . They expected to be relieved by XXX Corps within two days. The landings and parachute drops began on 17 September 1944 and lasted three days. German resistance was much more effective than anticipated. The II SS Panzer Corps had been sent to this part of the Netherlands to refit after Normandy . Only a small force led by Major John Frost were able to reach Arnhem bridge . The British paratroopers managed to take one end but were outnumbered and outgunned and were defeated after four days of intense fighting. The rest of
2425-643: The House of Lords , controlling admission to it, and taking part in ceremonies. In 1957, Horrocks had the unusual duty of ordering Vivien Leigh out of the House when she interrupted proceedings to plead that the St James's Theatre be saved from demolition. On other occasions, because the Black Rod had to remain in place during long debates, Horrocks relieved his boredom by completing football pools coupons. This had
2522-683: The Order of the Bath in the King's Birthday Honours that year, he served as Honorary Colonel of a Territorial Army unit of the Royal Artillery . In 1949 he was appointed Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod , a post traditionally held by retired officers; this appointment was confirmed on the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952. Black Rod has the responsibility of supervising the administration of
2619-600: The River Thames , with "the shock and loss" being "almost insupportable". At the outbreak of the Second World War, Horrocks was working as an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, where he had taught since 1938. After helping organise a new, shorter, officer-training course, in December 1939 he was promoted to substantive lieutenant colonel. The following May, he was despatched to France to command
2716-715: The Sandbostel concentration camp, Stalag X-B . XXX Corps had reached Cuxhaven by the time hostilities ceased in May. Horrocks received two further mentions in despatches for his service in north-west Europe on 22 March and 9 August 1945, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 5 July. He was honoured by the governments of Belgium (the Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm and Grand Officer of
2813-633: The Siegfried Line and into Germany with only light casualties. Aided by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie 's XII Corps to its right, XXX Corps began crossing the Rhine on 23 March, and, although there was a foothold which had been established, the enemy put up strong resistance, notably at the town of Lingen on the Dortmund–Ems Canal . Thereafter progress was rapid, however, with Bremen –which "produced 6000 prisoners including two generals and one admiral"–being captured on 26 April, exposing
2910-549: The Trans-Siberian Railway . The journey took more than a month, and as the only party member fluent in Russian, Horrocks had to deal with many of the difficulties encountered. At every station, he had to ward off station masters intent on acquiring the carriages. While stopped in Manzhouli , the British officers' presence provoked a duel between two Cossack officers. Horrocks accepted an invitation to act as
3007-461: The 1st Airborne Division, originally requested the 1st Polish Brigade to cross the river and take up their positions on the night of 21 September. Neither unit had any boats and the Poles withdrew to Driel for the night, setting up a hedgehog defence . Elements of XXX Corps reached Driel the following day but at the same time the Germans formed a blocking line to the west to prevent an Allied advance on
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3104-602: The 1st Airborne division established a defensive perimeter around the Hartenstein Hotel in Oosterbeek (a suburb west of Arnhem), known since as the Oosterbeek Perimeter. The British forces' hope was that when XXX Corps did arrive, they would be able to cross the river and establish a bridgehead. Four days after the start of the operation, the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade landed at Driel south of
3201-474: The 2nd Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, a machine-gun battalion directly subordinate to the 3rd Division headquarters of Major-General Bernard Montgomery . British doctrine at the time retained heavy machine guns under the direct command of a corps or division, rather than as an organic part of subordinate formations. He joined the battalion during its retreat to Dunkirk , and after only 17 days had impressed his superiors sufficiently to be given
3298-504: The 43rd (Wessex) Division outlined a plan to put across a battalion of his division and one of the Polish battalions – to the fury of their commander Major General Stanisław Sosabowski . Despite this it seems that Horrocks realised that the position of the 1st Airborne Division was untenable and plans were drawn up for its withdrawal. That night's attempt to cross the river was disastrous. Insufficient boats arrived for both battalions and only
3395-533: The 4th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment made the attempt. Unfortunately, their crossing arrived on prepared German positions and of the 315 men who crossed before daylight, over 200 were captured. Two men who did reach the Airborne forces carried copies of the withdrawal plan for Urquhart's consideration. The reinforcement attempts met with only minimal success. The next step was to evacuate
3492-576: The American service school I stated frequently that General Horrocks was the finest general officer I met during the war, and the finest corps commander. In the aftermath of the failed operation, XXX Corps, which also had the U.S. 84th Infantry Division under command in its first battle, took its first German town, Geilenkirchen , as part of Operation Clipper . During the Battle of the Bulge , Horrocks
3589-539: The Arnhem area for rest and refitting; intelligence had stated that only "a few infantry units and between 50 and 100 tanks" were in the Netherlands. However, Ultra reports revealed the movement of the 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions to Nijmegen and Arnhem, creating enough concern for Eisenhower to send his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, to raise the issue with Montgomery on 10 September. Montgomery dismissed Smith's concerns and refused to alter
3686-559: The Axis into another retreat. Three Italian divisions were destroyed, and the German 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions and the 164th Division were heavily depleted. Horrocks continued to command X Corps in the following weeks before being transferred to the First Army to take over IX Corps after its previous commander, Lieutenant-General John Crocker , was wounded in a training accident. Also transferred with him from
3783-454: The BEF's retreat following its baptism of fire at the Battle of Mons . By the time he and his men had got to Southampton his ninety-five-man draft had increased to ninety-eight, with three others, in their keenness to get into the war, having sneaked in. He described the feeling at the time: This was, I should think, the last time there was any romance attached to war. It is impossible now after
3880-557: The British had only two infantry battalions and two small administrative missions, one charged with training and arming the Russians with British war-surplus equipment, and the other with improving the White Army's communications. Horrocks' first task, along with a party of 13 British officers and 30 other ranks , was to guard a train delivering 27 carriages of shells to the White Army in Omsk , 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away on
3977-482: The British territorials", which would prove highly valuable during the Second World War. He received a brevet majority in 1935, and was promoted to substantive major in 1936, and brevet lieutenant colonel in 1937. In 1928, Horrocks married Nancy Kitchin, daughter of an architect for the Local Government Board . They had one child, a daughter named Gillian, who drowned in 1979 while swimming in
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4074-515: The Dutch border before being recaptured. He was eventually placed in a compound for Russian officers, in the hope that the language barrier would hinder his escape attempts; Horrocks used the time to learn the Russian language . Years later, working in the House of Commons , he startled Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin by greeting them in their native tongue. In the latter part of the war he
4171-594: The Eighth Army to the First Army were the 7th Armoured and 4th Indian Divisions and the 201st Guards Brigade, all highly experienced veterans of the desert. He led this corps in the final Allied offensive in Tunisia during April and May 1943, capturing Tunis and accepting the surrender of the remnants of Rommel's Army Group Africa . He was mentioned in despatches on 24 June, and for his service in Tunisia,
4268-471: The German forces after their crippling defeat in Normandy." "Even if the 2nd German S.S. Panzer Corps had not been in a position to intervene so rapidly, and if we had succeeded in getting right through to the Zuider Zee, could we have kept our long lines of communication open? I very much doubt it. In which case instead of 30 Corps fighting to relieve the 1st British Airborne Division, it would have been
4365-560: The Imperial General Staff (CIGS), that he was "very anxious to be given another corps". Restored to the acting rank of lieutenant-general in August 1944, he was sent to France to assume command of XXX Corps during the cataclysm engulfing the trapped German 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army in the Falaise Pocket . Montgomery had been dissatisfied with the performance of the corps and its GOC, Gerard Bucknall ,
4462-403: The Order of the Crown with Palm ), France ( Croix de Guerre and Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur ), the Netherlands (Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau ), Greece (Commander of the Order of George I ), and the United States ( Legion of Merit ). On 12 April 1945, Horrocks met with two German officers just outside the town of Winsen during a ceasefire. A document setting out
4559-425: The Poles. Unfortunately, these arrived late and the Poles, unfamiliar with the craft, were able to put only 153 men across the river – less than a quarter of the hoped for reinforcement. On 24 September, Horrocks visited the Polish positions to assess the situation. That afternoon a conference was held at Valburg to discuss how best to relieve what was left of the 1st Airborne Division. Major General Ivor Thomas of
4656-555: The Rhine . His time was enjoyable for him, later writing: For us in the occupation forces life in Cologne was very pleasant, because, owing to the chronic inflation of the German mark, we always had plenty of money, a most unusual experience for me. He then followed the battalion back to the United Kingdom during the 1921 coal strike , then to Ireland , which was then embroiled in the Anglo-Irish War . His duties included searching for arms and dealing with ambushes and roadblocks, which he called "a most unpleasant form of warfare". This
4753-445: The Rhine on 21 September. Without equipment to cross the river, they were unable to assist the British. Although the Allies managed to win the Battle of Nijmegen (17–21 September) and move XXX Corps across the river Waal that day, the troops were exhausted after five days of fighting and did not advance further until the next day. The spearhead of XXX Corps reached the Poles on 22 September. Major General Roy Urquhart , commander of
4850-403: The Russian Civil War . After landing at Vladivostok on 19 April, he was briefed at British headquarters. The White Army under Admiral Kolchak , with the help of released Czechoslovak Legion prisoners, had driven the Red Army out of Siberia . Kolchak's Czech troops were returning home, and the British military contingent was urgently trying to replace them with Russians. To accomplish this,
4947-591: The Westerbouwing, British (260 and 553 Fd Coys) and Canadian (20 and 23 Fd Coys) Engineers make dozens of trips in their small boats from this bank. In one night, supported by other units, they manage to rescue 2,400 airborne troops. At the time the rescued had hardly seen their savers, so they have never been able to thank them. This monument has been erected to express their gratitude (15 September 1989). Brian Horrocks Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks , KCB , KBE , DSO , MC (7 September 1895 – 4 January 1985)
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#17327660075975044-422: The advance of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division . The bombers released 1,384 long tons (1,406 t) of high explosive that devastated the town. Horrocks later said that this had been "the most terrible decision I had ever taken in my life" and that he felt "physically sick" when he saw the bombers overhead. Operation Veritable was successful; by the evening of 9 February (D+1) XXX Corps had broken through
5141-577: The advantage of looking like note-taking to the assembled lords. Horrocks held the post of Black Rod until 1963. Horrocks became interested in writing, and submitted articles about military matters to newspapers and magazines including the Picture Post and The Sunday Times . This led to a short but successful career as the presenter of a series of television programmes, British Castles (1962), Men in Battle and Epic Battle , produced by Huw Wheldon . In these, Horrocks lectured on great historical battles, "highlighting excitement and interest" to allow
5238-496: The army class. There was never any question of my entering a profession other than the army." Of his childhood, he claimed to have had "an extremely happy childhood". Horrocks later wrote that, as his life was devoted almost entirely to sport, he had very little aptitude for hard work. He entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst , in October 1912, "bottom but one". Horrocks's time at Sandhurst was, by his own admission, not very distinguished. "Let me be quite honest about it; I
5335-407: The bigger scheme of things, become embedded in memory, making lifelong memories of themselves." Horrocks was not to last much longer in battle, as on 21 October, at the Battle of Armentières , his platoon was surrounded, and Horrocks, while defending the town of Maisnil against a German attack, received a bullet wound through the lower abdomen and upper thigh, and was taken prisoner. "The war for me
5432-455: The bitter experience of two world wars to recapture the spirit of this country in August, 1914. As I marched through those cheering crowds I felt like a king among men. It was all going to be over by Christmas and our one anxiety was whether we would get over there in time. And all ranks felt the same. Arriving in France, Horrocks was assigned to No. 16 Platoon of the 1st Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, with Captain Edward Stephen Gibbons (who
5529-408: The boats shuttled back and forth across the wide swift river through the night. The evacuation went on until daylight came and the operation was forced to cease. Of the original 10,095 men landed by parachute and glider at Arnhem, 2,500 were fit to fight on the night of 25 September. Of these, 2,163 British, among them, 75 men of the 4th Dorsets, along with 160 Poles, made it across the Rhine and into
5626-533: The east. In September, Montgomery, now a field marshal, made his planned ambitious thrust across the Rhine and into the German industrial heartland, codenamed Operation Market Garden , a priority for 21st Army Group. XXX Corps under Horrocks was to lead the ground assault, passing along a corridor held by airborne forces to link up with the British 1st Airborne Division in Arnhem within four days. In any event XXX Corps never arrived and although 1st Airborne clung on to their tenuous position for
5723-461: The end of 1944. Members of the Glider Pilot Regiment laid white tape through the woods, leading from the perimeter, the grounds of the Hartenstein Hotel , to the north bank of the Neder-Rijn (Lower Rhine) where the Royal Canadian Engineers and Royal Engineers were waiting with small boats to ferry the men across the Rhine to a landing point north of Driel . In September 1944 the Allies launched Operation Market Garden , an attempt to bypassing
5820-433: The end of this 30 mi (48 km) 'airborne corridor' was Arnhem on the lower Rhine . By holding that bridge, the Allied forces could turn south and push into the Ruhr valley . Of the troops dropped into Arnhem, approximately 40 per cent were members of the Parachute Regiment , later supported by members of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade . The remainder of the division comprised battalions transported by
5917-474: The fault was mine because I was the commander", further stating that "the sense of desperate urgency was there all right. There could be no doubt about that, and it was not for want of trying that we failed to arrive in time. I don't believe that any troops in the world could possibly have fought better than the Guards [Armoured Division] and the 82nd U.S. Airborne Division when they captured the bridges at Nijmegen. But, after all we were cut off three times, and it
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#17327660075976014-471: The monument is It is 25th September 1944: The battle of Arnhem is still raging, but the position of the surrounded British and Polish troops on the northern Rhine bank has become untenable. Then the order for their evacuation across the river is given. In that rainy night hundreds of soldiers come in small parties to the river forelands, between the farmhouse and the Old Church – both clearly visible from here – and wait to be rescued. Under heavy German fire from
6111-421: The most successful British generals of the war, "a man who really led, a general who talked to everyone, down to the simplest private soldier" and the " beau ideal of a corps commander". General Dwight D. Eisenhower , the Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe, called him "the outstanding British general under Montgomery". Brian Gwynne Horrocks was the only son of Colonel Sir William Horrocks ,
6208-417: The north. Montgomery told Horrocks that he was not to incur tank losses, so XIII Corps' offensive operations were limited to raids. In the aftermath of the landmark British victory that followed, Horrocks' corps was assigned to the reserve and was reduced in size while the rest of the Eighth Army pursued the retreating Axis forces, "while poor old 13 Corps became the 8th Army's Mrs. Mopp, left behind with
6305-477: The northern end of the Siegfried Line and advance into the Ruhr , Germany's industrial heartland. The goal of Market Garden was to end the war around Christmas 1944 by capturing the Ruhr, thus crippling German war economy. The British 1st Airborne Division and the American 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division were to seize and hold several bridges in the Netherlands through which XXX Corps (General Brian Horrocks ) could advance into Germany. At
6402-404: The old regime were removed, and Montgomery's favoured commanders were brought in. Among these was Horrocks, as Montgomery later explained: I decided to ask Alexander to get General Horrocks flown out from England at once to command the 13 Corps. Horrocks had been in my 3rd Division as a battalion commander; I had got him a brigade and then a division in my corps in England; I now wanted him to have
6499-435: The operation was to withdraw the remnants of the division while covered by the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade and surrounded on three sides by more German troops with more heavy equipment and tanks and being in danger of encirclement. The operation evacuated about 2,400 men of the British 1st Airborne Division, thus ending Market Garden, the Allied plan to cross the Rhine and close the European Theatre of World War II by
6596-416: The plans for the landing of 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Counter-attacks by Army Group B under Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model kept Horrocks' units on the defensive, and delayed their advance by forcing the British to halt and secure their flank. The terrain over which Horrocks' men had to move was also unsuitable, restricting the vanguard (Major-General Allan Adair 's Guards Armoured Division ) to
6693-420: The process". Horrocks prepared for a purely defensive battle, with his armour dug in around the ridge. When the Germans attacked on 30 August, they failed to lure the British tanks towards their 88 mm guns —a tactic that had previously been used with great success—and found themselves battered by both artillery and the Desert Air Force (DAF). The battle ended with the Germans in control of Himeihat hill, but at
6790-423: The programmes to appeal to the widest possible audience. He was interviewed extensively for the Thames Television series, The World at War , and, to his embarrassment, appeared on the cover of the BBC's Radio Times magazine. After his television career ended, Horrocks served on the board of the housebuilding company Bovis , and continuing to write, contributing a column to The Sunday Times and editing
6887-470: The pursuit. Horrocks was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order on 31 December 1942 "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East". Following the fall of Tripoli in January 1943, the remaining Axis forces retreated to defensive positions in Southern Tunisia, in front of the Mareth Line built by France before the war. Here in March, Horrocks carried out one of his most successful actions. His corps, composed of
6984-419: The rank in front of me looked up at his neighbour, who was blessed with a long lugubrious face, and said, Why don't you give your face a holiday, chum? Try a smile ." He also came to greatly admire Captain Gibbons, along with his platoon sergeant, Sergeant Whinney. Once, while it was pouring with rain, the officers of the battalion were offered billets in a comfortable farmhouse, while the other ranks slept in
7081-547: The remnants of the 1st Airborne using small boats across the Neder Rijn at night. Four sapper field companies were allotted for Operation Berlin the 260th and 553rd Field Companies RE and the 20th and 23rd Field Companies RCE. The operation was to start at 22:00 on 25 September but the field companies had left many hours earlier and moved through German positions to the south bank of the Neder Rijn. In dismal weather and under constant German machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire,
7178-463: The road bridge. During the day the 1st Division found six rubber boats and again assisted the Polish attempt to cross. That night the plan was put into operation but the tow rope to pull the boats across snapped and the oars were too small to row against the river's strong current. 55 men crossed but only 35 were able to reach the British positions. On 23 September, the 43rd (Wessex) Division arrived at Driel in strength and offered assault boats for
7275-569: The safety of Driel. Operation Berlin rescued some 2,500 airborne troops with the 23rd Field Company RE recovering the majority of the paratroopers in approximately 150 boatloads. The 23rd Field Company lost seven killed and 14 wounded while five were decorated for their actions. On the south bank of the Rhine there is a monument commemorating the role of the Canadian and British engineers who participated in Operation Berlin. The text on
7372-428: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Operation Berlin . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Berlin&oldid=711926866 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
7469-407: The temporary rank of brigadier , and the command of 11th Brigade . The brigade's previous commander, Kenneth Anderson , had been promoted to General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3rd Division during the evacuation , when Lieutenant-General Alan Brooke , commander of II Corps , was recalled to the United Kingdom and Montgomery took over the corps. On Horrocks' return to Britain, he
7566-529: The terms of a no-fire zone around the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was typed out and signed by both parties. On the day the camp was liberated by the British Army (15 April 1945), Horrocks organised the rescue of the thousands of inmates by rounding up all the food stores, water trucks and army medical services he could get hold of quickly. Horrocks continued to serve in the armed forces after
7663-446: The unpleasant task of clearing up the battlefield of Alamein". At one point the only formation under his command was a salvage unit clearing the wreckage of the battlefield, which he visited daily. In December, he relinquished command of XIII Corps to Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey and took over command of X Corps, the lead corps in the advance of the Eighth Army, after Lumsden's dismissal for his perceived poor performance during
7760-496: The use of their legs, and were forced to crawl to the toilet, which caused Horrocks' wounds to become infected. Conditions improved after his discharge and transfer to a prisoner of war camp . On his way to the camp, Horrocks befriended his German escort—he attributed their rapport to the mutual respect that front line troops share. He was promoted to lieutenant on 18 December 1914, despite being in enemy hands, and often tried to escape, once coming within 500 yards (460 m) of
7857-546: The war believing that his corps might have advanced another 100 miles (160 km) with the fuel available. Although some doubt this could have been achieved without delays, it is now known that XXX Corps was opposed by only one German division, although Allied forces were unaware of this at the time. The pause allowed the Germans to regroup around the Scheldt River, and by the time the Allies resumed their advance,
7954-497: The war, initially as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command , receiving substantive promotion to lieutenant-general in 1946, with seniority backdated to 29 December 1944. He briefly commanded the British Army of the Rhine , until he fell ill in August 1948; he was invalided out of the service early in January 1949 by the lingering effects of the wounds he had received in North Africa. Promoted to Knight Commander of
8051-425: The west and so attack the Germans, who were engaged with the 1st Airborne Division, from behind. This might well have been successful but even then I must emphasise that we should only have been able to establish a bridgehead position on the north bank of the lower Rhine. We could not have advanced any farther as envisaged in our original orders. The failure at Arnhem was primarily due to the astonishing recovery made by
8148-436: Was Black Rod in the House of Lords for 14 years. In 1940 Horrocks commanded a battalion during the Battle of France , the first time he served under Bernard Montgomery , the most prominent British commander of the war. Montgomery later identified Horrocks as one of his most able officers, appointing him to corps commands in both North Africa and Europe . In 1943, Horrocks was seriously wounded and took more than
8245-549: Was a British Army officer, chiefly remembered as the commander of XXX Corps in Operation Market Garden and other operations during the Second World War . He also served in the First World War and the Russian Civil War , was taken prisoner twice, and competed in the modern pentathlon at the 1924 Paris Olympics . Later he was a television presenter, wrote books on military history, and
8342-473: Was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 5 August. He was also given the rank of temporary lieutenant-general and war substantive major-general. In June 1943, after returning to command of X Corps, Horrocks sustained serious injuries during an air raid at Bizerte , while watching an amphibious rehearsal by the 46th Infantry Division for Operation Avalanche, the Salerno landings . Bullets from
8439-467: Was by now operating 300 miles (480 km) from its ports—twice the distance logistical planners had accounted for—so XXX Corps was diverted towards Antwerp to secure its docks and harbour . The city and port fell to the 11th Armoured Division in early September, but Montgomery halted XXX Corps for resupply short of the wide Albert Canal to the north of the city, which consequently remained in enemy hands. Horrocks regretted this after
8536-575: Was captured by the Red Army on 7 January 1920, in the town of Krasnoyarsk , and spent 10 months as a prisoner, narrowly surviving severe typhus . The British government negotiated a prisoner release, and Horrocks left Russia on 29 October, returning home on the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Delhi . Horrocks rejoined the 1st Battalion of his regiment, based in Germany with the British Army of
8633-550: Was followed by a short period in Silesia to deal with tensions between the Polish and German populations. On his return to Britain, Horrocks took up the modern pentathlon . He competed successfully in army tournaments, and was picked for the British Olympic team for the 1924 Paris Olympics , where he finished 19th out of 38. Horrocks spent the remainder of the inter-war years in postings that included adjutant for
8730-426: Was given command of 9th Brigade and assigned to defend against a possible German invasion. A short stint as Brigadier General Staff of Western Command followed, before promotion to acting major-general and command of the 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division on 25 June 1941. He was promoted to substantive colonel on 28 May 1941 (with seniority backdated to 1 July 1940). The 44th Division, composed of
8827-441: Was given command of the newly formed 9th Armoured Division and gained the temporary rank of major-general on 27 June. Horrocks, an infantry soldier with no experience in dealing with cavalry, was an unusual choice for commander of an armoured division. He trained the division hard, organising exercises to improve the effectiveness of his troops, and to familiarise himself with armoured warfare . Despite never having commanded
8924-650: Was held in Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp . His resistance in captivity would earn him the Military Cross (MC), awarded in 1920 and backdated to 5 May 1919. Repatriated at the end of the war, Horrocks had difficulty adapting to a peacetime routine. He went on sprees in London , spending four years of accumulated back-pay in six weeks. In 1919 Horrocks was posted to Russia as part of the Allied intervention in
9021-410: Was idle, careless about my turnout—in army parlance, scruffy—and, due to the fact that I am inclined to roll when I walk, very unsmart on parade". His score was sixth-lowest of the 167 successful applicants for cadetships—even after the addition of 200 bonus points for an Officer Training Corps (OTC) certificate, which not all the other candidates had. An unpromising student, he might not have received
9118-500: Was killed in 1918) as his company commander . The battalion was part of the 19th Independent Brigade , which was not assigned to a division. Horrocks wrote that his "chief memory of those days, and the memory retained by all platoon commanders, was of marching—endless and exhausting marches. I had never realised before that it was possible to go to sleep while the legs continued automatically to function." He found comfort in "that priceless Cockney sense of humour. A small private soldier in
9215-408: Was offered the command of X Corps , an armoured corps, in the planned Alamein battle. He refused it, believing that Major-General Herbert Lumsden , a cavalry officer, would be more suited to the role. Instead he retained command of XIII Corps, and was given the task of making a feint to the south to deceive Axis forces , while the main thrust was made by XXX Corps and X Corps to
9312-411: Was over and my active military career had stopped for four years." Incarcerated in a military hospital, he was repeatedly interrogated by his German captors, who believed that the British were using expanding bullets in contravention of the 1899 Hague Convention . Horrocks' captors refused to change his clothes or sheets, and denied him and a fellow officer basic amenities. Both had temporarily lost
9409-602: Was temporarily relieved of his command of XXX Corps by Field Marshal Montgomery and sent back to Britain to rest. Montgomery had taken this move because Horrocks had become "nervy and difficult with his staff" and had "attempted to act foolishly" with XXX Corps. The corps was temporarily commanded by Major-General Ivor Thomas of the 43rd Division. In early 1945, XXX Corps, now transferred from Dempsey's British Second Army to Harry Crerar 's First Canadian Army , took part in Operation Veritable , during which
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