501236 Geoffrey Francis Young Army 16th Medium Regiment, 107bty. Royal Artillery from:Wrexham (d.8th Feb 1945) Geoffery Francis Young was in a reserved occupation as a driver for a local delivery firm in Wrexham and did not have to join, but as many of his mates where already in the forces and being early 1945 the war seemed in its final stages he decided to see out the last stages of the war in uniform. Enlisting in early 1945 he soon found himself as a gunner in 107 Battery, 16th Med Regt (The South Notts. Hussars), Royal Artillery.
By this stage of the war UK forces were seriously depleted with little reserve left to replace 5 years worth of casualties and so within weeks of joining (and according to his letters only receiving only brief on the job training) Geoff was in Holland preparing for "operation veritable" the big push over the Rhine.
Operation Veritable lasted from Feb 8th to March 10th 1945 and was the northern part of the Second World War pincer movement by Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group with the objective to clear the land between the Rhine and Roer rivers. General Eisenhower, the Allied Commander, had decided that the best route into Germany would be across the relatively flat lands of northern Europe. This required that Allied forces should close up to the Rhine along its whole length.
Operation Veritable began at 05:00 with an artillery support of over 1000 artillery pieces (not including bofors and anti-tank guns). The initial barrage lasted for over 5 hours with a mixture of destructive firepower on enemy defences interspersed with a build up of smoke to assist the infantry advance.
107 were in constant action throughout the operation but sometime during the 8th of Feb 1945, Geoff as one of a crew of 10 manning a 5.5" gun was positioned somewhere near Kerzenheim on the German border when a USAAF plane mistook them for an enemy position and dropped bombs on their position. Two 5.5 guns were destroyed, 10 men including Geoff were killed and 8 wounded.
Geoffery Francis Young was buried at Uden war cemetery aged 19.
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