Friesoythe

While the Algonquins were occupied at Wierden, the remainder of the division was on the move north again. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's), fighting with the 4th Canadian Armoured Brigade, made an assault crossing of the Ems at Meppen and captured the town with the loss of only one casualty. German prisoners included a number of 17-year old youths with only six to eight weeks of total military experience.²

Twenty-five kilometres beyond Meppen lay Sögel, and the Lake Superior Regiment had to fight off several German counter-attacks before declaring the town cleared.

The Town of Friesoythe

In April 1945, town of Friesoythe was home to about 4,000 German civilians, though most of these had moved to the surrounding countryside. Some 200 Luftwaffe troops of Battalion Raabe of the 7th Parachute Division held the town.³ The Lake Superior Regiment (Motor) launched an attack on the town on 13 April 1945 that was repulsed with the loss of two dead and 19 wounded.

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's), commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick E. Wigle, was then ordered to resume the attack the next day. A night march was necessary to position the battalion to the south in order to attack at first light on 14 April. A full battalion attack commenced without delay and German paratroops surrendered, or withdrew north towards the Küsten Canal.

A small group of Germans made contact with the Argylls' Tactical Headquarters, to the south of the town. Lieutenant-Colonel Wigle was killed by fire from a machine pistol. Privates John Brown and Cecil "Cec" French were killed by a grenade in an upstairs bedroom of the farmhouse that was being utilized for Tac H.Q. Lieutenant Alan Earp was shot through the head, but survived his injuries.⁴ A signaller immediately sent a coded message to the effect that the C.O. had been killed and immediate reinforcements were requested. Assistance arrived and the Germans were pushed back from the Tac H.Q.

 Infantrymen of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada riding on a Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier, Wertle, Germany, 11 April 1945. LAC Photo

At 23:00hrs on 13 April, The Lincoln and Welland Regiment received word that the Argylls were going to mount their attack at midnight on 13-14 April. The L&W were ordered to move from Cloppenburg down the main road to the southern outskirts of the town and be prepared to carry on to Altenoythe, north of Friesoythe in the direction of the Küsten Canal. "C" Company made a stealthy march through darkness and a strongly-held German position and consolidated on their objective at 03:00hrs on the 14th while "A" Company moved into Mittelsten Thüle by 03:00hrs.

The move up the road towards Friesoythe provided a fine example of co-operation between infantry and armour; about thirty prisoners were taken, and the Wasp flamethrowers proved very effective. By 2:30 p.m., flushing the woods in this way as they went, the leading elements of the (Lincoln and Welland) Regiment arrived within a mile of Friesoythe, which had already been taken by the Argylls. By mid-afternoon the Argylls and the Lake Superiors were reported pushing out toward Altenoythe.

Personal participation in the battle on 13th and 14th April by the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Coleman, had at times been decisive. He moved with the leading company on the road to Mittlesten Thüle, and on one occasion himself directed the fire and movement of the forward troops. In the fighting from Mittelsten Thüle to Friesoythe, he remained well forward in order to maintain the momentum of the advance. He was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.

With the object of taking the high ground east of Altenoythe, the Regiment tried to proceed across-country, using minor roads. The rifle companies succeeded in getting into the area about Altenoythe and the height of land to the east of it between 5:15 p.m., 14th April, and first light on the 15th. Several attempts were made to find passable roads to carry the vehicles, but the main highway between Cloppenburg and Friesoythe was seriously cratered near the latter town, and the small roads would not stand up to the traffic.⁵

Canadian War Crime

The biographer of Major-General Harry Foster recounted the reaction to the news that the Argyll's C.O. had been killed:

Friesoythe, the next major town along the route (of 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division), fell on 14 April to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Jefferson's 10th Infantry Brigade. Its CO, the popular Lieut.-Col. Freddy Wigle, died at his Tac HQ during the action. Wigle had been Harry's GSO1 when he commanded the division. Later, (Major-General Chris) Vokes had given Wigle command of the Argyll and Sutherlands when the vacancy occurred. Like Harry, he had been very fond of Wigle. The first report of his death was that he had been shot in the back by a civilian sniper. Vokes summoned his GSO1, Lieut.-Col. Mackenzie Robinson.

"Mac!" he roared. "I'm going to raze that goddamn town. Get out some proclamations. Tell 'em we're going to level the fucking place. Get the people t'hell out of their houses first."

Robinson hesitated. "All right, sir. But you can't put that in writing!'

The populace cleared out. "The Sod of Sögel" and his engineers went in and levelled then burned what remained of the town. They used the resulting rubble to reinforce district roads for the division's tanks. Later, Vokes discovered that Wigle had in fact been shot in the back with a Schmeisser by a German soldier, one of a group the Argyll and Sutherlands had bypassed earlier in the day. Vokes admitted to "No feeling of remorse over the elimination of Friesoythe."⁶

Colonel C.P. Stacey, an historian for the Canadian Army during the Second World War and later the author of several of the official histories, was in the Friesoythe area at the time these events occurred and later wrote in his autobiography his impressions.

...at Friesoythe, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada of this division lost their popular commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Freddie Wigle. Apparently a rumour was going round that Colonel Wigle had been killed by a civilian sniper; as a result a great part of the town of Friesoythe was set on fire in a mistaken reprisal. This unfortunate episode only came to my notice and thus got into the pages of history because I was in Friesoythe at the time and saw people being turned out of their houses and the houses burned. How painfully easy it is for the business of ‘reprisals’ to get out of hand! I am glad to say that I never heard of another such case.⁷

German estimates place the level of destruction in Friesoythe at between 85% and 90% of the 350+ dwellings destroyed.⁸

Battle Honours

The following Canadian units were awarded the Battle Honour "Friesoythe" for participation in these actions:

4th Canadian Division

• The Lake Superior Regiment (Motor)

10th Canadian Infantry Brigade

• The Lincoln and Welland Regiment

• The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's)

Notes

1. Stacey, C.P. Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War: Volume III: The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-west Europe 1944-45 (Queen's Printer, Ottawa, ON, 1960), p.557
2. Stacey, Ibid
3. War Diary, General Staff, 4th Canadian Armoured Division, 1 April 1945-30 April 1945. Appendix 38; dated April 14th, 1945. Library and Archives  Canada, RG 24, vol. no. 13794. Intelligence report signed: E. Sirluck, Capt.
4. War Diary, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, April 14, 1945, pp. 10-11. Ottawa, ON, Canada. National Archives of Canada, RG 24, v. 15,005. The same entry for April 14th, 1945, is also reprinted in Robert L. Fraser’s Black Yesterdays; the Argylls’s War, p. 431. Interview with Alan Earp.
5. Rogers, R.L. History of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment (2nd printing, October 1979) p.259
6. Foster, Tony Meeting of Generals (Robin Brass, Toronto, ON, 1986) p.437
7. Stacey, C.P. A Date With History, pp.163-164
8. Ferdinand Cloppenburg,Die Stadt Friesoythe im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert, p, 189 and Brockhaus. Die Enzyklopädie. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1996. 20. Aufl. V. 7, p. 730.