Gersunken by Lake Superior Regiment – Canadian Army
Canada’s soldiers have been credited with many bizarre accomplishments in their scrapping throughout France, Belgium and Holland but one of the most unique operations to date happened very recently when men of the Lake Superior Regiment and the 28th CAR (British Columbia Regiment) engaged four German naval vessels in the little harbor of Zijpe on Duiveland, east of Steenbergen and sank them with tank and infantry weapons.
They licked the Jerry patrol ships on their own home waters in one of the most lustrous actions of the Canuck fight along the uncomfortable Dutch front. All this happened amid the wild acclaim of a liberated and cooperative Flemish population at St. Philipsland, where an old world atmosphere of costume and custom made the incident seem like a nebulous tale from Henty, the Arabian Nights or Edgar Allan Poe.
A company of the Lake Superiors with some BCR’s had finished their push toBruges. They had been engaged in infantry work, uncommon to their role, and were assigned the task of moving out the St. Philipsland isthmus to take a look-see.
St. Philipsland they found to be a quaint Dutch village, bubbling with hilarity at liberation. Here it was learned that German gunboats were across a 1,300 yard stretch of water opposite the tiny town of Sluisa bit further up the isthmus. So Lieut, Buck Wright, Kenora, was sent ahead by Capt. Roy Styffe, company commander, Port Arthur.
Wright found a water tower at Sluis and clambered up to do a bit of O-pipping. To his amazement he saw men in German naval uniform walking about blandly, Nazi ensigns flapping and leisurely activity in progress. He couldn’t see all the scene for the little harbour was in two parts, divided in the centre.
He reported back with the dope but his comrades thought the story a little tall. Finally they checked again and moved up a scout platoon, a troop of tanks, two six pounders and two three inch mortars. There weren’t many man involved but the fire power was potent. The balance remained in St. Philipsland.
Sgt. Curley McLean, Fort Williamand Sgt. Reg Bullough handled the six pounders and mortars and Lieut. Dusty Gopele of the BCR’s growled his tanks into position. They estimated ranges and let go:
Plenty of stuff crossed the water to the Jerry navy for five minutes, then reprisal began. They poured it back in a hurry , for each of the four boats there, one like a small corvette and the other three converted landing craft, carried two 88’s, two 20 centimeter guns, plenty of machine guns and were manned by 50 to 60 men apiece.
The Canadians regrouped their tanks behind dykes; used indirect fire on corrected ranging and kept the barrels hot for 10 minutes. Then the enemy fire stopped suddenly. All that night the Canadians kept the sky alight with mortar flares for they didn’t want the pint-sized flotilla to escape. No move to depart was in evidence. The boys thought they had gone, however, for they received a civilian report to that effect.
Capt. Styffe decided it was time to investigate matters so he, Lieut. Bernard Black, Fort Williamand Lieut. Tommy Henderson, Winnipeg, plus 40 men set sail on their own private invasion in three small boats. One was a cutter, one a fishing schooner and the other a police boat. They needed the latter for there weren’t enough Mae Wests to go around.
Capt. Styffe had a radio aboard and he kept contact with Wright and Gopele on the front at Sluis. They landed to the left of Zijpe; slipped around toward the back of the harbour under covering fire by Henderson and his men at the beachhead and kept their fingers crossed.
On entering the town the first place they struck was the naval commander’s billets. Warm food was on the table and there was every evidence of a hurried departure. They ran into four Jerries in the street and relegated them to their forefathers. They thought they saw some masts sticking up at the outer part of the harbour shielded from the view of the force near Sluis.
Black, Cpl. M.M. Shaw, Chatham, Ont. and Cpl. T.E. Mitchell,Toronto, got a rubber dinghy and paddle out. It was cold and wet and a high November wind whipped the water into a choppy surge. It was, true! The three converted landing craft were sunk and the corvette type ship was afire. No one would believe this. They just had to get proof.
ENSIGNS AS EVIDENCE
So the intrepid three sailed the bumpy water and grabbed some Nazi ensigns. Then the assault force returned to St. Philipsland with the tale of their success – and the white hooded Dutch women and their husbands and children were delighted.
Lieut. Black was itchy the next day and he persuaded his OC to let him go back again. This time he took Cpl. Mitcheli, Pte. R.A. Cox, Saskatchewan and Pte. L.M. Seeley, Snowden, Sask. What they didn’t find wasn’t worth finding. Fire had reached the ship’s magazine and shrapnel was flying about.
The corvette type craft yielded full length leather suits, silk underwear and champagne. Twenty Germans had been killed and 80 wounded. The rest had flown to the nethermost part of the island. It had been an “Iron Cross” ship with a kill to its credit. The citizens rounded up five Hun sailors and two collaborators. Another of the patrol vessels had two aircraft· to its credit.
CAPTAIN’S BODY FOUND
At 1,300 yards the Canuck mortars, six pounders and 17 pounders had smacked their targets on the button. The tank fire had sunk the boats. One shell went through four and a half inches of steel and a half inch of concrete on the bridge of the larger vessel to kill the captain. His body was found lying in the wheelhouse with his hands still in his pock~ts. It was the AF 92.
Prisoners told the Canadians that they, too, had seen them early in the show when neither side knew the other was near. They had reported seeing Allied soldiers but were “pooh poohed” and told they were German Paratroopers. They claimed not to like the Nazi regime but were reported to be well trained men. The Canadians didn’t have a single casualty. When Capt. Styffe received the ship’s log, he made the last entry; “Gersunken by Lake Superior Regiment – Canadian Army.”