Infantry Division (Major-General Albert Bruce Matthews) 4th Canadian Armoured Division (Major-General Chris Vokes) 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division (Acting Major-General Colin Muir Barber) 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division (Major General Robert Knox Ross) 51st (Highland) Infantry Division (Temporary Major-General Thomas Rennie) Further divisions were committed as the operation progressed: 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division (Acting Lieutenant-General Ivor Thomas) – Part of XXX Corps' reserve at the start of the operation. Guards Armoured Division (Temporary Major-General Allan Adair) – Part of XXX Corps' reserve at the start of the operation. 4th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom) (Brigadier H. J. B. Cracroft) – Part of XXX Corps' reserve at the start of the operation. 11th Armoured Division (Temporary Major-General George Roberts) – transferred across the Maas from the British Second Army as the operation progressed. German Assessments by the German Army High Command were that an Allied advance through the Reichswald would be too difficult and the expected assault would be by the British Second Army from the Venlo area. Reserves were therefore placed to respond to this. Alfred Schlemm, the local German commander, strongly disagreed, believing, correctly, that the Reichswald was the more likely route. He acted against the assessments of his superiors and therefore ensured that the area was well fortified, strengthened the Siegfried Line defences and quietly moved some of his reserves to be nearer this line of attack which meant that fresh and hardened troops were readily available to him. 84th Infantry Division (Major-General Heinz Fiebig) This was an inexperienced and under-equipped division re-formed after its destruction at Falaise in Normandy. It was augmented by the well-equipped Luftwaffe 2nd Parachute Regiment, which was placed between the western tip of the Reichswald and the Maas. Two regiments, 1062nd Grenadier Regiment and 1051st Grenadier Regiment, covered the edge of the forest facing the Allies and the 1052nd Grenadier Regiment defended the Rhine flood plain on the German right. Two more, ineffective, units were held in the rear area: the Sicherungs Battalion Münster (a small unit of elderly men used to guard static installations) and the 276th Magen ("Stomach") Battalion, whose personnel had chronic digestive ailments that made them unsuited for active roles in the defence. 655th Heavy Anti-Tank Battalion Around 36 self propelled assault guns, the only German armour immediately available in the Reichswald. 180th Infantry Division (Klosterkemper) Guarding the Maas river bank, facing the British 2nd Army. 6th Parachute Division (Plocher) Elements fought