moving through Rheine to Haldem, the 92nd started advancing with 3rd Division directly on Bremen.
An FW 190 and an ME 109 were shot down as they machine-gunned the regimental area at
Schwarforden on the 12th. On April 15, with the 92nd at Apelstadt, 1,000 rounds were fired in
`Pepperpot' support of 8 Brigade's attack on Brinkum.
Two days later, advance parties moved on to Bassum, Stuhren and Melchiorshausen and
ammunition dumping started for an artillery bombardment to support 3rd Division's drive to capture
the sector of Bremen south of the Weser.
Just before midnight on the 24th, the barrage opened - with the 92nd targeting two stretches of
road in the Kattenturm area and the city's airfield. Like the Rhine bombardment, the rate of fire was
staggering. Through the early hours of the 25th, the regiment's batteries used up 36,000 rounds -
equivalent to 37 and a half lorryloads of ammunition.
The guns of 319 needed seven new barrels. By that evening, organised resistance in Bremen was
collapsing and `prisoners testified in no uncertain terms as to the effect of sustained Bofors fire in an
area shoot.'
Four days later, the 92nd moved to Delmenhorst, west of Bremen, where 62 captured enemy AA
guns and 33 panzerfaust anti-tank weapons were destroyed. A sentry of 317 shot a German air
force unteroffizier who acted suspiciously after being challenged.
On Thursday May 3, the Bofors were fired in anger for the last time, when D Troop sank two
enemy boats on the Weser and blasted a signal station on the far bank. Next day, the Germans in
North West Europe surrendered and the order went out to 3rd Division: `Cancel all offensive
operations forthwith and cease fire 0800 hours May 5.'
It was the signal so many had waited so long for - not least, the crew of F Troop's Gun F3. Eleven
months after secreting away their rum ration during their D-Day crossing on the LCT carrying them
to Sword Beach, they were able to break open the flask and - as they had promised themselves -
toast victory. The following day, the 92nd moved to Gesmold, south-east of Osnabruck, where it
took control of the district around Melle. On May 8, VE Day was marked with a service of
thanksgiving and a day's holiday. Since D-Day, the regiment had fired 95,627 rounds of 40mm
ammunition at air and ground targets. In the air, there were 117 separate engagements, expending
18,878 rounds of 40mm and 8,687 of 20mm.
The 92nd's final tally was 48 enemy aircraft destroyed and probably 21 others. During the
campaign, two officers and 18 men were killed and four officers and 42 men wounded.
OCCUPATION ARMY AND THE FINAL DAYS
May 1945 to February 1946
'You are proud to be Loyals, and the division is proud of you. You can feel happy
and proud to have fought through from D-Day and to have earned, by your behaviour
and your skill and courage, the affection and admiration of 3rd British Infantry Division'
FROM VE Day onwards, the regiment remained with the army of occupation, but was employed
virtually as infantry, concentrating on supervising displaced persons, arresting SS men and other
Nazis, destroying enemy equipment and policing troublesome freed Russian PoWs.
command. May 18 saw the regiment move from Gesmold to the neighbouring town of Melle.
Towards the end of May, 3rd Division moved 100 miles south-east to the neighbourhood of
Kassel, and the 92nd became responsible for the district around Warburg. It guarded signals bases,
hospitals, warehouses and a camp for Polish, Russian, Rumanian and Serbian displaced persons.
After a week here, the regiment moved on June 5 to Sennelager Camp - where the men learned that
the regiment was to leave 3rd Division and come under the command of 51st Highland Division.
On June 11, the 92nd paraded at Sennelager before the 3rd Division commander, Major-General
Whistler, to say farewell. In a special Order of the Day, he paid an elegant and emotional tribute to
the regiment.
He told them: 'You are proud to be Loyals, and the division is proud of you. There is no doubt that
the work you did before D-Day has shown its results in battle, and nothing could be finer than that.
You looked after the division, protecting it from air attacks almost constantly from the moment you
landed on D-Day until VE Day, and I personally have never been seriously worried about the air.
'Once or twice we had a party, but the raids were more enjoyable than dangerous. Whenever there
was an attack, you never failed to get your men. I am quite satisfied that you got more German
planes than any other regiment of your kind in 21st Army Group.
'You have been called upon to do some queer tasks. You have fought for me as infantry. You have
backed up the infantry of this and other divisions by your barrages, particularly at the crossing of the Rhine and again at Bremen, which was the division's last real battle of the war. You can feel happy
and proud to have fought through from D-Day and to have earned, by your behaviour and your skill
and courage, the affection and admiration of 3rd British Infantry Division. On its behalf I wish
goodbye to you and Godspeed and good luck in our future, whatever it may be. I want you to
remember whom you have fought with, and whom you belong to. In the days to come, there may be
a reunion of the 3rd British and I shall expect all of you to be there to join again your brothers-in-
arms in battle.'
General Whistler had declared that June 6 should henceforth be kept as a holiday because of 3rd
Division's historic role in the Normandy landing. Because the 92nd had been on operational duties
that day, it instead observed the holiday on June 12. Four days later, the regiment moved to the
north-east of Bremen, guarding 3,000 prisoners at the Milag detainee compound in Westertimke.
Towards the end of the month, three new troops were formed and the batteries were reorganised,
each with three troops. On July 14 the regiment moved to Harpstedt. Here, the 92nd finally said
farewell to the guns which had served it so well for so long.
On July 17 in the gun and vehicle park at Weezendorf, the oiled and cleaned Bofors were handed
over to ordnance troops for shipment out via Hamburg. On August 13, Lieutenant Colonel Adderley
was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel R McLay.
Although occupation duties still kept the bulk of the 92nd in Germany, some personnel were being
transferred to the Far East, where Japan was stubbornly refusing to surrender - Major Crane and
Jack Prior were sent to India.