The effects of the winter thaw of 1945 were varied for the men of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry. The roads of Noord Brabant suffered considerable damage and according to the War Diary of 7 February…”All available men from the Regiment were sent on road repairing….road to be repaired was the Deurne to Venray Road.”

10 February ‘C’ Troop of 249 Battery were moved to the Boxmeer area to protect a bridge across the Maas Canal. There was a perceived risk of frogmen or mini submarines attacking the canal crossing. They were given 6 pounder anti-tank guns for the task as they were easier to handle in the wet conditions underfoot.

Further flooding required another move and led to the battery camping out in the Gennep Railway Station.

From the War Diary “…two railway trucks which were standing unused and slightly damaged… were appropriated and towed up a siding by a quad…and put to good use as cookhouse/dining room and tp(troop) office and recreation room respectively.”

Photo of Gennep Railway Station today. Now a small industrial complex.

Road bridge at Gennep. NB: foundations of railway line on the left. C Battery gun positions would have been nearby.

C Battery returned to the regiment on 8 March, joining them in the town of Mierloo.