10 The Highland Light Infantry moved off to a concentration area at NIJMEGEN

On Sunday, 4th February, the Corps Commander, General Horrocks, addressed all officers in the Division and revealed the whole vast operation. It was to be bigger than anything we had ever attempted before, and once again it was our Division that had been allotted the most difficult and vital part of the operation-the capture of CLEVE and the opening of the roads to the River RHINE and its bridges. Our task, too, as a Battalion was no easy one for though we were to avoid the actual breaching of the SIEGFRIED LINE, we were to advance with our left flank completely open for twentyfour hours. All the rest of Sunday and Monday there were conferences, and late on Monday evening we moved off to our concentration area at NIJMEGEN. The roads were full of other traffic and badly cut up by the sudden thaw and the immense amount of transport that had already passed by. It was a long, wearisome journey and it was after 4 a.m. on Tuesday, 6th February, before the bulk of the Battalion reached its billets.