At 07.30 on Monday 23 October, the advance of the 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders starts from the Schijndelse Heide along the German line towards Boxtel. In the woods of the Hermalen near the café Het Groene Woud (then the Slophoos), the Seaforths encounter German opposition and have to take out several German positions. But the advance proceeds well and one company reaches the bridge over the Afwateringskanaal near Boxtel near the Schijndelsedijk at 10.30 am. They are warned by civilians that the bridge will be blown up by the Germans if they cross. As a result the Seaforths take up positions on the Schijndel side of the bridge. However, they do shell the other side, trying to prevent the Germans from blowing up the bridge. Even so, at 11.20 am, it is blown up. As a result, the Seaforths cannot continue the attack towards Boxtel. B Company then moves to the bridge at Munsel, a few hundred metres away, but fails to cross. C Company remains at the blown bridge while A and D spend the whole day clearing Hermalen woods. In the process, several farms catch fire. Nearly all the farms around the café catch fire, too. 

Meanwhile, the sister battalion of the 2nd, the 5th, protects the left flank. From the northern outskirts of Sint-Oedenrode, they set off at dawn on 23 October 1944 along the Ollandseweg towards Olland. Without any losses, they manage to take Olland. Here, too, the enemy has retreated towards Liempde behind the Dommel river. They do, however, suffer from mines and road blocks in the form of trees across the road. At 6pm, they set up their command post at the Slophoos. Throughout the night and the next day, they continue to occupy their positions around Olland. Only by the evening of 24 October do they leave in trucks for the north of Schijndel.

It must have been extremely crowded here; a stream of trucks and tanks passing by the pub. Some units of the 7th Armoured Division, the famous Desert Rats, also pass by. The pub itself is briefly used as a headquarters by the 5th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders.