Eric Bols - World War II

World War II

When the Second World War began in September 1939, Bols was still in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The rank of Major was made substantive from 25 February 1940 (though he did not immediately receive the pay and allowances for the rank). He went on to act as an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, a General Staff Officer (GSO) with the 51st (Highland) Division, then commanded the 3rd Reconnaissance Regiment and acted as the colonel in charge of training for the 21st Army Group. Bols was also involved in planning for Operation Overlord as well as helping to train the soldiers who would participate in the Invasion of Normandy. When the invasion began on 6 June 1944 Bols did not participate directly, being retained at the War Office as a staff officer, but was given command of 185th Infantry Brigade in the 3rd Division during the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine. He was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his command of the brigade during the Battle of Overloon and the subsequent liberation of Overloon and Venray in the Netherlands; the recommendation for the award of the DSO makes particular mention of the achievement of the brigade in forcing the River Breek despite heavy resistance, poor weather and shortage of assault equipment. The award was gazetted on 1 March 1945.

When Bols was finally offered the command of the 6th Airborne Division in 1944, he had not previously commanded a military formation as large as a division. Bols took command shortly before Christmas of 1944, superseding General Gale, who had previously commanded it during Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy. He was granted the acting rank of major-general from 6 December 1944. When he took command the division was back in the United Kingdom, expecting a quiet Christmas training and reorganising. However, with the situation in the Ardennes deteriorating it was thrown into the Battle of the Bulge to support American forces in repelling the German counter-offensive between December 1944 and January 1945, one of only a small number of British formations to do so. The division conducted a counter-attack beginning 3 January alongside other British units, advancing against fierce German resistance until the division linked up with elements of the United States Third Army. Bols then commanded the division as it participated in Operation Varsity, the airborne assault over the Rhine, alongside the US 17th Airborne Division in March 1945. He landed with the divisional glider troops in the initial phases of the operation, commanding from the front, and received both a Bar to his DSO and the American Silver Star (on the recommendation of Matthew Ridgway) as a result. After the division had crossed the Rhine, it then advanced through the North German Plain until it linked up with Russian forces at Wismar on 2 May, the first British unit to do so. On 5 July 1945 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).