10 The Highland Light Infantry tackling the next village Kroppelshagen-Fahrendorf

By two o'clock we were through the wood and tackling the next village-with the high-sounding name of Kroppelshagen-Fahrendorf. At the exit to this, "A" and " D " Companies and the tanks were held up for a while by two A.A. guns sited on the road. Some good shooting by the tanks and supporting artillery put paid to these, scoring a direct hit on one. "B" Company, meanwhile, moved along a parallel side road to give left flank protection. At 18.00 hours, it was apparent that we were still not to have things all our own way. An epidemic of sniping broke out from houses just short of the cross-roads in Neu-Bornsen-our final objective: the result was that all three leading Companies were temporarily pinned to the roads down which they were advancing, while determined bazooka teams held back the tanks. For a moment it looked as though nightfall would find us in a nasty position, after our previous successes of the day. It seemed to be the enemy's last fling, though, for the opposition thinned out and disappeared unexpectedly, just in time to enable us to concentrate in a tight perimeter defence around Neu-Bornsen cross-roads.