Mr. Jim Scanland
WWII Veteran
“B” squadron of the Fort Garry Horse Regiment
(10th Canadian Armoured Regiment)

Liberator of the Netherlands
 

A Christmas Story in Holland – 1944 
As near as I can remember 60 years ago, I was with “B” squadron of the Fort Garry Horse Regiment (10th Canadian Armoured Regiment). The tanks of the regiment were fighting Echelon’s and there was “A” Echeleon, which were the mechanics with an armoured half track, then “A” Echelon that I was in. Then there was “B” Echelon. I’ll try to explain what this all meant. “B” Echelon would pick up supplies such as ammunition, diesel fuel, and rations from army service corps. They then would wait for a radio call to rendezvous with the tank. There were two other fighting squadrons plus headquarters squadron which did the reconnaissance for the other squadrons. This is a little background to show how we operated. I will continue with the Christmas story. Just before Christmas the weather was wet and miserable which made tank movement very difficult. Actually almost impossible except on the hard paved or graveled roads. We were camped at a little village called Balgoey (I think that’s how it’s spelled). There were a number of small farms around the village and the smaller groups were all scattered around these farms.
It had been the custom in past years for the officers of each squadron to serve the meals to the other ranks or private soldiers. I am not sure whether it was just “B” squadron at Balgoey or if the whole regiment was there. However, the quartermaster had obtained permission to use the town hall for Christmas dinner and we were all looking forward to being served a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, a real change from our own cooking.
About 21:00 hrs. on Christmas Eve there was word that we could expect a paratroop attack at anytime. We had to move a.s.a.p. across the river to the town of Grave and into German barracks there! There was no heat as the German troops had wrecked the heating system before they left so it was mighty cold. However, we had our Christmas dinner on Christmas day and the German attack never came.

Jim Scanland, Cranbrook