World War II Database

1. John Dale says:
24 Jan 2020 03:41:20 AM

Do you know where this was taken. I have little to no information on the role of the 15th Division during Market Garden. I know they were part of XII Corps and therefore guarding the left flank of XXX Corps but they seem to have started off late and did not press forward as fast as was expected. I also have so far failed to indentify the place they started from and the bridge they crossed over the Meuse-Escaut Canal.

2. Brian Stobo says:
14 Mar 2021 04:37:12 PM

Hello:
This photo was taken in Gheel (now spelled Geel) in Belgium on September 16, 1944 while General Montgomery was visiting the officers and men of the 15th Scottish Division to boost their morale by awarding medals for gallantry in battle and throwing a dinner party afterwards.

3. Brian Stobo says:
14 Mar 2021 05:15:14 PM

Hello:

The fighting started at the town of Geel/Gheel, Belgium on
8 Sept 1944 and continued at the small village of Ten Aard, Belgium, just a short distance of 4 km away, immediately north of Geel from 8-23 Sept 1944. My father as a 2 LT and platoon commander of 12 Platoon of “B” Company, 44 Lowland Infantry Brigade was fighting at Ten Aard, Belgium from 14-17 Sept 1944 with the 8th Royal Scots Battalion of the
44 Lowland Infantry Brigade of the 15th Scottish Division

4. Mike Elcock says:
24 Aug 2021 11:39:28 AM

Your Dad would have been Jack Stobo, Brian. I just came across a remarkable, unpublished account of the fighting at Gheel written by your father's Company Commander, Maurice Cooke - my old Latin teacher at school in Edinburgh. It's entitled "War Memoirs of 1944" by Maurice Herbert Cooke, M.C., Major, Officer Commanding B Company, 8th Battalion the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) 1940-1944, Imperial War Museum, (Documents. 11635).

The IWM charged me £94.50 for the Memoir, but that included the cost of digitizing it. Now that they’ve digitized it I’d expect them to charge anyone who wants to buy it a more market-oriented price – say £10 or so.

5. Brian Stobo says:
19 Aug 2022 04:07:35 PM

Small world, Mike. Yes, that was my Dad, 2 Lt. Jack Stobo of the 8 Royal Scots fighting at Ten Aard just 3km north of Geel. We’re Scottish too and I took Latin in school too. Cheers !!!
Brian

6. Brian Stobo says:
21 Aug 2022 06:07:24 AM

Hello Mike,
I read your comments about Major Maurice Herbert Cooke and am very interested in learning much more about him.
Fascinating history on this subject of the fighting at the Battle of the Gheel Bridgehead in Sept 1944.