8th Recce Grouping

8th Recce Grouping – Medals, Capbadge, ribbons, dogtags

This is a complete medal grouping to trooper C. Canning. He was with the 8th RECCE- 14th Hussars within the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. The grouping consists of his medals, Canadian War Service badge, dogtags, ribbons, starchback shoulder title and its original RARE capbadge.
Unique grouping! All items are in good condition. The 8th RECCE capbadge is extremely hard to find.

The 8th RECCE regiment landed with its 2nd Canadian Infantry Division in Normandy on July 6, 1944, one month after D-Day, and first entered combat as infantry in the ongoing Battle of Normandy. The regiment’s first two combat deaths occurred on July 13. Following the near-destruction of the German Seventh Army and Fifth Panzer Army in the Falaise Pocket in August 1944, the remaining German forces were compelled into a rapid fighting retreat out of Northern France and much of Belgium. 8 Recce provided the reconnaissance function for its division during the advance of the First Canadian Army eastward out of Normandy, up to and across the Seine River, and then along the coastal regions of northern France and Belgium. The regiment was involved in spearheading the liberation of the port cities of Dieppe and Antwerp; it was also involved in the investment of Dunkirk, which was then left under German occupation until the end of war. 8 Recce saw heavy action through to the end of the war including the costly Battle of the Scheldt, the liberation of the Netherlands and the invasion of Germany.

The reconnaissance role of 8 Recce often put its members well ahead of the main body of the division, especially during the pursuit of the retreating German army across northern France and Belgium in late August and September 1944. For example, elements of 8 Recce entered Dieppe on the morning of September 1, 1944, scene of the disastrous Dieppe Raid of 1942, a full 12 hours before the arrival of truck-borne Canadian infantry. The liberation of Dieppe was facilitated by the withdrawal of the German occupying forces on the previous day. The unexpectedly early liberation allowed a planned and likely devastating Allied bombing raid on the city to be called off. 8 Recce was responsible for liberating many other towns in the campaign across Northwest Europe.

During the Battle of the Scheldt, 8 Recce advanced westwards and cleared the southern bank of the West Scheldt river. In one notable action, armoured cars of ‘A’ Squadron were ferried across the river; on the other side the cars then proceeded to liberate the island of North Beveland by November 2, 1944. Bluff played an important role in this operation. The German defenders had been warned that they would be attacked by ground support aircraft on their second low-level pass if they did not surrender immediately. Shortly thereafter 450 Germans surrendered after their positions were buzzed by 18 Typhoons. Unbeknownst to the Germans, the Typhoons would not have been able to fire on their positions since the aircraft’s munitions were already committed to another operation.

Shortly after midnight on the night 6–7 February 1945 (Haps, Holland), when 11 and 12 troops of C Sqn. patrolled and contacted each other and started back – 11 troop patrol was challenged with halt from, the ditch. L/Cpl. Bjarne Tangen fired a sten magazine into the area from which the challenge came and then he and the others quickly took-up positions in the ditch, while the 3rd member of their patrol ran back and collected the 12 troop patrol, together with reinforcements from 12 troop and returned to the scene of firing. The evening ended with the patrol taking one German prisoner and one deceased. The German prisoner, Lt. Gunte Finke, was interrogated and he disclosed that he gave himself up after seeing the response of an estimated 30 men from the skirmish. The German intention was to verify information that armoured cars were in the area; not to bother with foot patrol or prisoners, but to attempt to “Bazooka one of our vehicles with the 2 Panzerfaust that their patrols carried”. L/Cpl.Tangen was awarded the Dutch Bronze Cross, and Mentioned in dispatches, for this event.

On April 12, 1945, they liberated Camp Westerbork, a transit camp built to accommodate Jews, Romani people and other people arrested by the Nazi authorities prior to their being sent into the concentration camp system. Bedum, entered on April 17, 1945, was just one of many Dutch towns liberated by elements of 8 Recce in the final month of the war.

8 Recce’s last two major engagements were the Battle of Groningen over April 13–16 and the Battle of Oldenburg, in Germany, over April 27 to May 4. Three members of 8 Recce were killed on May 4, just four days before VE Day, when their armoured car was struck by a shell.

During the war 79 men were killed outright in action while serving in 8 Recce, and a further 27 men died of wounds.

Battle-Honours:

Caen (July 6–18, 1944)
Falaise (August 7–22, 1944)
Falaise Road (August 7–9, 1944)
Clair Tizon (August 11 and 13, 1944)
The Laison (August 14–17, 1944)
The Seine, 1944 (August 25–28, 1944)
Antwerp–Turnhout Canal (September 24–29, 1944)
The Scheldt (October 1 – November 8, 1944)
Woensdrecht (October 1–27, 1944)
South Beveland (October 24–31, 1944)
The Rhineland (February 8 – March 10, 1945)
Twente Canal (April 2–4, 1945)
Groningen (April 13–16, 1945)
Oldenburg (April 27 – May 4, 1945)
North-West Europe, 1944–1945