The thaw
The offensive had been timed for frozen ground that would carry armour. A thaw set in as it began, and the forest tracks turned into mud deep enough to bog a Churchill to its hull. Tanks had to be dug out or towed; some sectors were supplied by tracked carrier only. The conditions in the Reichswald are described in the Canadian official history and in every unit diary in terms usually reserved for the previous war. Men fought in continuous rain in a forest with no roads for three weeks.
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