November. Lieutenant Michael Sutton won an MC on 2 November when he was supporting 23rd Hussars with two flails. A Hussars tanks was blown up on a mine, but the heavy fire prevented the crew from bailing out or sappers from clearing a path to it. Sutton flailed a path up to and round the disabled tank, then carried on flailing the road until an anti-tank gun disabled two Hussars' tanks and shot off his flail gear. Ordered to withdraw he had to do so slowly in reverse. While doing so he spotted a wounded man in a ditch: calling for smoke he got out of his tank and ran to bring the wounded man back to the tank, where another crew member dismounted to help get him aboard, all under heavy machine gun fire. Lieutenant Brian Pear was killed the following day while supporting 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division in an attack on Meijel: when Sjt Birch's Crab was hit and the crew unable to bale out he placed his tank between them and the enemy. Both Crabs were destroyed by anti-tank fire and only one man survived to be taken prisoner. The volume of fire was so great that 15th (Scottish) postponed all operations for 48 hours. C Squadron then flailed a path for 6th Guards Tank Bde, though 23 Churchills and one Crab were lost in an hour. In a further small action at the end of November 1944, 12 flail tanks of A Squadron assisted units of the 11th Armoured Division in clearing a path through a minefield at the Battle of Broekhuizen. Several of the tanks got bogged down and one - that of Lieutenant Sam Hall of 4 Troop - was knocked out by a Panzerfaust. Today it stands in the Overloon War Museum. Germany The Westminster Dragoons were once more with 15th (Scottish) Division for the assault crossing of the Rhine (Operation Plunder) in March 1945, but were not called forward until bridges had been built. The regiment was surprised to learn from BBC radio reports that they had crossed a day before they actually did so. Once across the river barrier the campaign moved swiftly, with fewer prepared defensive positions to overcome, so there was little call for flail tanks. In early April RHQ and A Sqn were assigned to VIII Corps' Reserve, B Sqn to 1st Assault Bde in 21st Army Group