WAR DIARY of 52nd (Lowland) Recce Regt RAC March 1945
– Lt Col J.B.A. Hankey OBE
Date 30th Place WOOD: 1 casualty Weather – Dull
Strength - 904 men, 188 tanks/armoured cars/guns
‘Regiment moved over RHINE to concentrate area at MEHR 1348 and at 5 hours’ notice to move less ‘C’ Squadron who are earmarked for Prisoner of War duties. One subaltern of ‘C’ Squadron killed in traffic accident.’
(From the War Diary of the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)
Sandy Handley tells the story:
“Now over the Rhine into German countryside. We didn’t know then but it wasn’t ‘til the beginning of May that it would be over.
Soon after the Rhine crossing, towards the end of March, we halted at a farmstead (we were in reserve that day). Our Troop Officer learned his brother, also an Officer, was in the vicinity so he set out to visit him. We had made ourselves as comfortable in a barn as we could under the circumstances, brewing up and heating tins of stew etc (I did smoke then), generally lounging about, being in reserve that day. Sometime in the afternoon Mr Williams’ brother came towards us and introduced himself and said “Mr Williams, your Troop Officer, is dead”. Naturally we were stunned.
Apparently Mr Williams and his brother were in a small Daimler (Dingo) and had gone over a pot hole or small crater made by a shell or bomb.”
Sergeant J.F.Rose’s diary entry for the end of March:
‘There was a tragic accident last night. One of the officers from ‘C’ Squadron (Lt. Williams), who had not been with the regiment long, had met his brother in the neighbourhood quite by chance. He was taking him back along the road in a scout car and apparently lost control of it, the car overturning. He was killed instantly… His brother was fortunate in escaping with cuts and bruises.’
(From ‘Shankey’s Ponies’, the wartime diary of Sergeant J.F.Rose held by the Archive and Reference Library, the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.)
Tony Rampling remembers that Dick took an armoured car to go and meet Brin. Since Dick was never an armoured car driver this probably wasn’t a good idea and could have contributed to the accident. The Germans had deliberately blown up the roads as they retreated and any travel was hazardous.
Sandy continues:
“Later we (the No. 15 Troop) attended a small burial ceremony conducted by the 52nd Division Padre for the burial. I think we all wanted to pass our condolences on to Mr Williams’ brother, who sat in another staff car with his fellow officers, but sadly never got round to it.
We would miss Mr Williams. He had been with us from Normandy June ’44 to March ’45. From a trooper’s point of view this Officer had looked after his eleven men and never asked us to do or risk anything that he couldn’t do himself. We liked Mr Williams and we were going to miss his coolness. He thought his troop were a good team too.
Back in Normandy when we’d taken over those slit trenches from the American Airborne he used to always come along and ask if everything was alright and just used to stand there, not too much in the open, but just smoking his pipe as calm as anything.”
‘It seemed ironic that a man could live through the many hazards and horrors of war, from the beaches of Normandy (where the 61st had become the first Reconnaissance Regiment to come ashore) and through the terrible fighting on the Rhine, only to be killed in a traffic accident. Perhaps most tragic of all though was that the young officer had just returned from some leave and had been married for only three weeks.’
(From and Ex Trooper S Handley’s ‘61 Recce - Memories of Normandy etc 1944 – 1945’, unpublished and ‘The Fighting Fifty-Second Recce’ by Carl Shilleto, Eskdale Publishing 2001)
Chotie was at Spurn Point in Yorkshire:“in the large mess hall, full of people, the Sergeant Major handed me the telegram to say Dicker had been killed. The saddest moment of my life.
We had been married in Chichester Registry Office just three weeks before. After two days together he had to return to his unit and me to 462 battery.
He seems to stay with me in many ways and I hope more than anything to meet him again in the ‘hereafter’.”
52nd Recce Roll of Honour for 30th March 1945 includes:
Lieutenant Richard Kelner Williams (age 23)
who is laid to rest in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, south-west of Kleve in Germany – Plot 54, Row A, Grave 18.
We have remembered him.
Dick's grave (photo courtesy of Anthony Rampling)
‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.’
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