Operations Swansea and Cardiff: 30 November 1944

At 9 a.m. an artillery barrage starts: thousands of shells are fired on both the manor house and the village. Meanwhile soldiers of A, B and C company and flail tanks move towards the gathering point; a spot not far from a gap in the woods. D company is kept in reserve.

What the British do not know is that - from the roofs of a monastery and a brewery on the east bank - the Germans have an excellent view of the battlefield.

A flail tank used in Broekhuizen on 30 November 1944. Now in the War Museum at Overloon.

At 10 a.m. sharp three flail tanks appear in the gap between the woods and slowly start beating a path across open ground towards the 'Kasteel' with soldiers strung out behind.

As soon as these A company men reach the open field, German artillery and mortar shells fired from the other side of the river hail down on them. At about 70 to 80 metres distance from the 'Kasteel' the tanks turn: it is now the task of the soldiers to storm the building. The Germans hold fire till there are fewer than 30 metres between the approaching soldiers and the house. When finally the defenders start shooting, nothing but death and destruction is the result. Major Nodwell, the commander of A company is among the first to be killed, soon to be followed by many others. Those who manage to find some cover are showered with earth and stones from close explosions.

Tank support is called in to give fire cover to the infantry men in the field. The number of casualties increases by the minute. Radio contact with headquarters is lost: the signallers are either killed or their equipment damaged.

And in the open field in front of the 'Kasteel' the battle rages on. By 10:30 Major Payne, Sergeant-Major Davies and Sergeant Wheeler hide at about 60 metres from the building. Someone shouts that all the officers are either killed or wounded. They then venture to reach a shallow trench somewhat closer to the house. While trying to do so, Davies is killed. Payne and Wheeler discuss the situation and try to find a way to inform headquarters.

There Lieutenant-Colonel Stockley wonders what is going on. He sends out Captain Gibbs to size up the situation. He, however, is killed before he can get in touch with the attackers. The same happens to Major Allen, the second in command of the Battalion.

So Lieutenant-Colonel Stockley waits in vain for news from the battlefield. It is nearly eleven by then: the planned attack on the village of Broekhuizen commences. A smoke screen is laid to protect C company, which is following the flail tanks and the 4th Squadron Westminster Dragoons under the command of Lieutenant Sam Hall. Soon several tanks are bogged down in the mud and the others run out of ammunition. Return to the cover of the woods is the only measure that can save them from the deadly German anti-tank guns. The infantry soldiers plod through mud and heavy fire towards the outskirts of the village. They run into a hail of bullets and desperately try to find cover in the shallow tracks left by the flail tanks. Sam Hall continues to give fire cover but his tank is knocked out by a German 'panzerfaust'. He and four members of the crew manage to bail out and run back towards the place from which they started.

For those in the field, seconds become hours and minutes become days. One of these soldiers, John Gaunt, wrote many years later: "We were given the final order to attack and clear the village, my comrade and friend - Terrence Warrey - alongside me, failed to move. In turning his body, it seemed he had taken the full force of the explosion - that had lifted me - and was sliced open from his neck to his stomach. Everything was now beginning to seem unreal. I hadn't any idea what time it was or what day it was. It felt I had descended into hell."

In the early afternoon C company manages to conquer the first couple of houses of the village and make slow progress through the trenches. However, the toll is heavy: only a few soldiers reach the village unharmed. Thus the attack from the south literally bleeds to death.

The Kasteel - after the battle.

Back to the 'Kasteel'. Major Wallace, who returns from the 'Kasteel', briefs Lieutenant-Colonel Stockley on the present situation. The latter mounts his carrier, hurries to the 'Kasteel' and drives as far as the trench where Major Payne and a number of soldiers are hiding. They shout at him to take cover. He shouts back: "They haven't got me yet, have they?" He then jumps across the trench, draws his revolver and shouts: "Come on, attack once more..." Some fifteen soldiers scramble out of the trench and follow him to storm the 'Kasteel'. Suddenly there are heavy bursts of gunfire. Lieutenant-Colonel Stockley and Major Payne are killed while running across the bridge leading towards the house. After this has happened - at about a quarter past twelve - the remaining soldiers, fearing a German counter attack, withdraw towards the starting point.

Next a squadron of tanks of 15/19 Hussars comes forward and bombards the building with their guns. The German defenders retreat from the upper floors towards the cellars, meanwhile trying to knock out tanks with their panzerfausts. More tanks are ordered towards the building and the bombardment intensifies: the holes in the walls become bigger and bigger and in the cellars breathing becomes increasingly difficult for the German paratroopers. An 18-year old defender panics and starts shouting that he wants to stay alive. He ties a white cloth to his gun and creeps out of the partly destroyed cellars: none of his comrades try to stop him. They too realise that becoming a POW is to be preferred to committing suicide. One after the other - a total of some 16 men - surrenders to the British.

Brigadier-General Churcher who has taken over command now orders D company and two squadrons of tanks to attack the village of Broekhuizen. A smoke screen is laid to prevent the German observation posts on the east bank from seeing what is going on. Soon the first houses are reached. What follows then is hand-to-hand combat and one house after the other falls in British hands. The intricate system of trenches makes the cleaning-up operation a far from easy task. At about 4 p.m., Major How reports that the last house has been conquered and a total of some 80 Germans taken prisoner. However, later that evening - under the cover of darkness - an unknown number of Germans manages to escape by crossing the river in rubber dinghies. At least two of these boats are sunk by the British and an unknown number of Germans are drowned.

The liberation of Broekhuizen was a black and particularly sad day for the 3rd Battalion if the Monmouthshire Regiment: a total of 31 men were killed, among them 10 officers and 3 NCO's. Add to this the soldiers who were killed prior to the attack, and the balance is 43 killed and over 140 wounded.

The exact figure of the losses on German side is unknown: estimates range from 17 to 60.

Broekhuizen did not forget its liberators. On 26th October 1994 - nearly fifty years later - a monument was dedicated in the village centre to honour those who gave their lives so that others might live in peace. They were: