The Polar Bears: Monty's Left Flank: From Normandy to the Relief of Holland with the 49th Division

The 49th Infantry Division was christened the 'Polar Bear Butchers' by Lord Haw-Haw after its involvement in the ferocious battles following D-Day at Cristot, Fontenay, Tessel Wood and Rauray. The Polar Bears were composed of units drawn from all over Britain, including formations from Durham, Essex, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Yorkshire, as well as the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the South Wales Borderers and the Tyneside Scottish. In eleven months of combat during 1944 and 1945, the Polar Bears suffered 11,000 casualties and earned a Victoria Cross. Formed in 1907 in the West Riding of Yorkshire as a Territorial unit, the 49th Infantry Division fought with honor throughout the First World War, earning three VCs. With the onset of the Second World War the Division saw action in the ill-fated Norwegian campaign of 1940, before spending two years as the Iceland garrison. From August 1944, under Canadian command, the Polar Bears acted as Monty's left flank, playing a key role in the capture of Le Havre, campaigning vigorously in Belgium and garrisoning the 'island' between Arnhem and Nijmegen during the winter of 1944. They went on to liberate Arnhem, Utrecht and Hilversum. The Division's reconnaissance armored cars were the first Allied troops to arrive in Amsterdam on 7 May 1945. In the final weeks of the war the Polar Bears played a humanitarian role, bringing desperately needed food supplies to the starving people of Holland.