Episode 09 - Across the Rhine: Paras in Germany
Canadian paratroopers tell of the biggest parachute drop in history, how they defeated the Nazis and stopped the Soviets.
In mid-September 1944, the remnants of the battered 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion returned to England from Normandy. After their success on the continent, experiences detailed in Out of the Clouds: Paras in Normandy, the Canadian veterans felt they deserved a chance to rest and reorganize. However, their new commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Jeff Nicklin, was a hard-driving disciplinarian. Worn down by a training regimen they regarded as punishing and unfair, the exhausted soldiers demonstrated their collective unhappiness with a three-day hunger strike. Their well- respected British Brigadier, James Hill, promptly straightened out the situation.
Following an eventful interlude in Belgium and The Netherlands from 2 January to 23 February 1945 - making the battalion the only Canadian unit to fight in the Battle of the Bulge - the paras prepared for the final push into Germany itself. After rebelling against their disciplinarian new commander, they participated in the largest parachute drop in history, fought a successful battle, and then were tasked with confronting a new opponent: the Soviets. On the way, they are shocked to be the first unit into a Holocaust camp. The unit returned to a heroes' welcome.
