Day Two – 19h00
At the brigade commanders’ briefing and report, the current state of operations around Ede is discussed. Brigadier General Cracroft reports that the 22nd Arm is making very slow progress for now and as yet to form up for the attack. The battle will last for the whole night and might not be concluded successfully. As far as the 5th Iniskillen Rgt is concerned, the current axis of attack is not going anywhere. They are attacking on open ground and are being easily disrupted. On the other hand, Pepper from the 131st reports few activity for now, with only a couple of German coys firing sporadically on them. Considering that, I order that 1/7 Queens Btn and 8th Hussards Rgt will start moving towards Ede to support the offensive on Ede.
The plan is the following (see picture below): 5 IDG Rgt will stop their attack on the highway to move into an assembly area in the woods, just northeast of Ede. 1/7 Queens and 8th Hussards will join them the assembly area later during the night. This will be Task Force Ede, under the command of the 1/7 Queens Btn CO. Task Force Ede will stay put until early in the morning, and then they will attack towards Ede. The 22nd Arm Bde will continue its attack until midnight. If no breakthrough can be achieved by then, they will cease all operations for the night and get some rest. If a breakthrough is achieved, they will press on through the night and Task Force Ede could also intervene by taking the Germans in the back if necessary (in any case, if we see the Germans are massively retreating into Ede, Task Force Ede will intervene to block their path of retreat).
Further north, the 4th Arm Bde operations in Otterlo are going well. They are still forming up and the attack should be underway sometime tonight.
