The following diary was supplied by Russell Braley, Jr., in October, 2003. In order to avoid damaging the spine of the diary during scanning, the diary was transcribed by Russell Braley, Jr., who commented:

"Meanwhile, I have transcribed the diary, and am sending it as an attachment in Word.

A few notes regarding this: I have maintained the original formatting, spelling, abbreviations, underscores, etc. In a couple of instances a word or phrase was undeciferable. This has been indicated by [...]. Where we are reasonably sure (but not certain) of the word it is followed by [?]. A couple of entries near the end had wrong dates; I inserted the correction in [ ]. There are words and terms used that are apparently military jargon, and while legible, are confusing to read.

The diary was written beginning in Sept. 1944; however, only the portions from Feb. 1945- have survived. Several pages were torn out; as we only discoved the book after Dad's death, we have no explanation for this. Hopefully what is left will be of some interest. It certainly was to us."

Attack from Nijmegen to the Rhine

Fri. 7-Feb-45. Preparations: Dugouts reinforced. Extra roof. Signal office sand bagged. Ammo brought up with big guns. (7.2 & 9.2 to be used).

Sat. 8-Feb-45: One thousand big guns open up. Firing from 0500 hrs. till 1600 hrs. tremendous roar.

Sun. 9-Feb-45: Attack doing very well. Reichwald forest reached. P of W 2000. Not much resistance. S.S. troops taken all bomb happy.

Mon. 10-Feb-45: Advance moving fast. Seigfreid defences hit. P o W now over 2500.

Feb 10-Feb 16 Jerry found to be weak. Morale low. P of W. still coming in.

17-Feb-45 SSR move into Germany. Everything quiet. A little shelling. Seen first Jerry civies.

18-Feb-45: Plenty to eat in Germany. Pigs Beef and chickens. All the gang happy. New pickings at last.

19-Feb-45 Today we moved deeper into Germany. P of W in drive on this front over 1000. Jerry trying to be hard to get along with.

20-Feb-45: Last night Jerry counter-attacked RHLI. Tanks used by him. Our lines held all along. Gach [?] now in our hands. We go into it to-night.

21-Feb-45: Push postponed 24 hrs. Items of interest. 20 Jerry p of w. passed today doubling behind DR. Heinie jet planes over us for 20 mins. at supper time. Bombs dropped. All O.K. Boys discussing future.

22-Feb-45: Nothing new lately. Jerry still being pushed back but fighting hard. Our push put off again.

23-Feb-45: N.T.R.

24-Feb-45: Nothing as yet on push. Few Jerry p of w came in (very young) Jerry shelled a little heavy stuff.

Allied aircraft passed over us today. Sky thick with planes. Jerry must have taken a beating.

25-Feb-45: Arty ready. Over 500 guns for sht. attack to start early of 26th.

26-Feb-45: Arty opened up at 0400 hrs. Terrific barrage. 4th to pass thru us at 0800 hrs. latest all our coys have reached theirs and still fighting. (0900) 4th not seen us yet. (2300 hrs): The advance has covered 3 miles. Over 1000 P of W. 1/2 mile from Calcar. Having trouble with Jerry heavy guns. No report on our casualties as yet.

27-Feb-45: Our P of W is now approximately 3000. Advance of 5 miles. Captured 5 Jerry 88 mm guns with ammo. Sunray[?] going to use them. Casualties 3 out [?] and 6 blighty. Calcar believed cleared. Approx 35 miles till a link with Yanks thus forming a pocket. All in all push going as planned. Couldn't be better. Jerry dead all over the place.

28-Feb-45: Nothing much new. Attack going as planned. Our tour to take us further into Germany.

1-Mar-45: Moving after dinner. Shells landed too close on move. New pos. on top of hill. Under Jerry observation. Heavy shelling. At 2000 hrs. Jerry plane dropped flares and bombs. Also shells.

2-Mar-45: Attack moving ahead. Jerry doing heavy shelling on most fronts. We got a taste of it before dinner. One of i.o.'s trucks damaged yesterday. Armour pouring up to front en mass. All roads are crowded with tanks & supplies. Roads in very poor cond. Due to much traff.

3-Mar-45 Boys claim this is heaviest shelling since Caen. Huge amt. of blast and big craters caused. Today our army and Yanks made contact. (Old boys Mike [...], McMillan) {made lovely slitty}

Mar. 4-Mar. 7: - S.S.R. through two pushes. Very luckey. Casualties light. Objectives taken. Rhine bank cleared from Cologne to Wesel. Gerry pulling back under our pressure. Attack couldn't be going better. Old Boys: 1. T. Butch: 2. Cpl. Cook : 3. Scout Red: 1 or 2 shell landed near kitchen up on the [...]. 3. Red ran into machine gun nest. Reported missing.

Mar 8/45: Arty started 0500 hrs. Terrific barrage. Jim & Mac had to come downstairs part of ceiling fell on them. SSR firm base for drive to clear town. "'Ere mate, are we all prisoners?" Blast from guns still shaking the house.

Mar 9/45: SSR on attack town cleared. Jerry moving out on the double. P of W near 700. All according to plan. Shelling from across the Rhine.

Mar 10/45: Today lost contact with Jerry. Rhine clear from Arnheim to Cologne 150 miles. Yanks have two bridge heads across it. Not so much shelling today things quieter.

Mar 11/45: Tally on recent business: CO at brigade. 2 i/c wounded. Only coy O C acting CO. no. coy. com. left. Nothing serious. (Recce party for a move out.) Casualties very light considering conditions and all.

Mar 12/45: - Mar /45:- Bn. moved to Cleves for 14 days rest. Area being heavily shelled from across the Rhine. Casualties. Brig to move area Reichwald due to shelling. Mar-18/45. Moved to new area. No shelling. These are Jerries winter positions when we were in Mook area. Our first barrage effective. This entire area all rubble. Only basements are usuable. Can't even hear any guns firing from here. War: Rhine clear on Western side. Yank bridge head 14 1/2 miles wide by 7 1/2 miles deep. Can 1st and 5th divisions are in Nijmegen. Progress on all fronts good.

24-Mar-45: Last night our armies crossed the Rhine. Four bridge heads established. Paratroops to land behind Jerries lines. Weather excellent. Bombers going over continually. My opinion Jerry has had it.

27-Mar-45: Crossed Rhine near Emerick about 2200 hrs. Huge convoys of armour and heavy guns moving up with us.

29-Mar-45: Assault towards Emmerick went good. Casualties light.

2-Apr.-45: Back into Holland. Troops move ahead at terrific speed. "Advance to contact."

3-Mar [i.e. Apr]-45 S.S.R. ran into heavy shelling during night. Moved ahead again today. Now acting storeman with ‘A' Coy.

5-Mar [i.e. Apr]-45: Business between us and civies reaching all out high. Cigs, linen soap chocolates and any foods bringing in untold guilders. Trade stuff for eggs. Doing ok my self.

On or about April 1st I left signal platoon and am now in C. Coy. as rifleman. Shall close my war stories due to lack of time.

"That's all folks"

Russ

S.S.R. Sept. 44 - May 45.