Frank Edgeley and Operation Nutcracker

After the liberation of Overloon the British wanted to advance towards Venray, but got stuck in the direction of the Loobeek. On 16 October Frank’s company manages to build a bridge across the Loobeek, over which the British can still cross the Loobeek.
Also, destroyed houses are razed to the ground by the British to use the stones to fill holes in the roads or paths.

At the same time minefields are laid in Mullem and Vierlingsbeek to counter a possible German attack from the east.
Venray is liberated, but then the British offensive stops temporarily as a prelude to the next phase.

This is the time when Frank, like others in his company, is allowed to go on leave, back to England for a while, back to the family. He takes the photographs he has taken in France, Belgium and Holland with him to England and leaves them with his brother Bernard when he has to leave for the front again. Frank is never scared, but he is now slowly becoming more nervous as the day of departure draws nearer and does not really want to go back to the Netherlands at all. Does he have a frightening premonition about the things that are about to happen? But he has no choice and after saying goodbye, he leaves for the Netherlands again, back to the Overloon area, back to the front.

Read this extraordinary story by Frank in our report series “Faces from the past” Frank Edgeley.