By the last week of April it was clear that the end of the war was imminent. The last war diary entry that could be considered combat was on 26 April as it described that 3 Troop blew up a tower that was being used as an observation post by the Germans. The troop received shellfire as it moved away from the area.

The war diary entry for 27 April was quite speculative:

All is quiet. Bath parades and shows for nearly everyone. Is it the beginning of the end? Dances have started in EDE. The news of the other fronts has been so spectacular during the last few days that it seems only a matter of days until will be all over. Many rumours of Jerry’s intentions are floating about. Is he going to blow the North Sea dykes? Is he going to destroy Amsterdam and Rotterdam and The Hague? Will he fight in Holland even though the war ends in Germany? Only time will tell. No one seems worried. No one seems to care whether we go on or not. Post war plans take up most of everyone’s conversation.

There was only sporadic machine gun fire from the Germans over the next few days, with the Ontarios suffering no casualties. On 30 April the war diary noted that, “Rumours about capitulation are everywhere.” On 1 May the diary declared that, “Everyone senses that the wars end is only a matter of days and it is hard to feel even partially interested in the war.” Vehicle maintenance, bath parades and shows filled the soldiers’ time.

The good news started rolling on the evening of 4 May with the announcement that the unconditional surrender of all German forces in northeast Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and the Frisian Islands would take effect the following morning. The final surrender of all German forces in all theatres was announced on 7 May. That night the BBC reported that Winston Churchill had declared 8 May as Victory in Europe Day (VE Day). The war diary noted the muted response of the Ontarios:

To the soldier in the line the news didn’t mean much. The Regiment accepted the end with very little enthusiasm. There will be little, if any, celebration. There seems to be a feeling of satisfaction at having finished off a good job, but nothing more. Maybe if we could scrounge a rum issue we might become a bit happier.

The Ontarios were awarded their final battle honour, “Arnhem 1945,” for their work in the month of April. The Regiment also received the theatre battle honour “North-West Europe, 1945.”

With the German surrender, the war diary entries became more light-hearted. On 8 May it noted:

The Padre and the M.O. buzzed off to AMSTERDAM and got there just in time to enter with the leading troops. The Padre was kissed by a beautiful blonde and he’s been telling us about it ever since. Evidently the gals in AMSTERDAM are quite the thing.

The Padre referred to was Honourary Captain Reverend Cornelius Warrander and the Medical Officer, Captain Ross Mellow.

Major Douglas McIndoe obtained a German police dog named Wermacht Hunde 397. Later in the month the dog ate a day’s meat ration from the Officers’ Mess. The war diary noted that the dog was to be, “shot at dawn or traded off to B Sqn for a packet of cigarettes.” Wermacht Hunde 397 was saved because, “He looks up at you with those big brown eyes and no one can get up courage enough to shoot him.”

One of the immediate tasks was to round up the Germans and disarm them. They were allowed to keep their weapons until they reached the collection point. In his book, “3 Troop”, Captain (retired) C. Malcolm Sullivan called the weapons collection building, “the sausage machine”. The building was long, with a door at each end and multiple rooms in between. One room was for pistols, one for rifles, one for grenades, etc. When the Germans emerged at the far end they moved to a holding area.

Not all Germans were disarmed. Some of them were given duties to guard supply depots, under the watch of the Canadians. The Ontarios were assigned the task of guarding 4500 Germans at a camp in Meerkerk. Belgian soldiers were in the area, also performing guard duties, which led to friction with the Germans who complained that the Belgians were shooting at them on at least two occasions. The Ontarios’ war diary noted, “The Belgians must be having fun.”

On 20 May an intelligence officer from Army HQ arrived to interrogate the Germans. Members of the SA, SS and other suspected war criminals were separated to be sent to a different camp. They were held in the guard house for the night, under the watch of the Belgians. Again, the war diary had a unique view on the situation:

A roll call will be necessary to-morrow, not because the Germans might have escaped but because the Belgians might have buried a few of them. The Belgians take this war far too seriously.

The Ontarios provided an escort of these Germans to Rotterdam the following day. Upon arriving in Rotterdam some Dutch civilians recognized one of the Germans as the head of the Rotterdam Gestapo and tried to attack him. The Ontarios’ war diary described the situation:

It took all our guards to keep the crowd away. Who’d have thought a year ago that the Ontario Regiment would to-day use their arms to protect German Gestapo officers from Dutch civilians.

‘Tis a strange world we live in —.

On 24 May the remaining Germans marched out of the camp, destined for a new location near Maarseen. The Ontarios focused on guarding the vehicle and equipment dumps, and working on maintenance and cleaning of the tanks.

The war diary’s entry earlier in the month about there being “little, if any, celebration” proved to be false. In fact, there were numerous parties over the last three weeks of the month. Parties were held by squadrons, by messes, with other units, at the brigade level and more. Based on the events recorded in the war diary, it would appear that the Sergeants’ Mess parties were the most successful. An officer who attended remarked that, “They had more gals, better gals, more liquor and better liquor than the officers ever had.” Some things never change!

On 31 May the Regiment began the move to Leersum. The war diary closed out the month with the following observation: “Morale remains amazingly high. Must be the good life we are leading.”

Rod Henderson

Rod Henderson is the Regimental Historian of the Ontario Regiment. He served as a Sergeant in the Regiment and is the author of “Fidelis Et Paratus: A History of The Ontario Regiment (RCAC), 1866-2016”.