It was not until the Regimental units reached Ailly on 28 August that the French citizens came on to the streets and gave the troops a triumphal welcome, and the children, with admirable altruism, were forever asking for ‘cigarettes for papa’. Once again the Regiment was grounded, this time for 4 days, the respite enabling the troops to go into nearby Louviers to enjoy the fun of an ENSA show, but to temper this with a lament for the destruction of its fine cathedral by the German offensive in 1940. Some gunners were seen to pay greater attention to the buxom figure of Betty Bucknell, the main attraction in the show - after all, that is why she was there.

"When we crossed the Seine on the pontoon bridge near Louviers we camped out in the stables of a convent girls’ school. We gave the nuns a drum of boiled sweets for the children and they lined up in front of us and sang The Marseilles’. After the horror of the beachhead it was a moving experience. Afterwards the nuns led the children in the evening round the convent grounds carrying lanterns and singing folk songs."

"Deurne, on the eastern outskirts of Antwerp - more like a picnic than a military exercise. In combination with AP1 our post was dose to a catering establishment known as ‘Cafe Fort 1". We spent the greater part of our off-duty time in this place, and received morning coffee at the post, by courtesy of the proprietor."

"somehow we never felt quite at home (at Gheel) - there seemed to be something ‘phony’ about the front.. When German patrols leave little notes on your wires - well, one begins to wonder." The same letter explains in stark terms the hazards of repairing the lines. It includes the following:

"Here my most uncomfortable experience was looking for a break in the line in no-man’s-land at night (the party comprised Capt. Small, Sam Kemp and myself). We got to the forward infantry and told them of our intention. Then we went ahead of them between the exchange of spasmodic bursts of small arms fire - very quietly tip-toeing along the grass verge of the road between ominous looking thick woods on each side. We found the line and fixed the telephone on. Now came the awkward moment. I’d got to give a buzz on that telephone when even breathing seemed to create too much noise. I waited for a burst of machine gun fire... It came - and I buzzed, Another wait for a burst of fire before I could speak. No answer! 1 breathed  sigh of relief, for that meant the break in the line must be further back nearer home..."

"12 Corp’s role in Operation ‘Market Garden’ was that of left flank guard to 30 Corp’s drive HASSELT - EINDHOVEN - NIJMEGEN -ARNHEM. 8 Corps (incidentally with 53 Battery under its command) was right flank guard".

Accordingly 12 Corps deployed behind the MEUSE - ESCAUT canal between GHEEL and HASSELT east of DIEST, and secured an unpleasant little bridgehead, I think near DEERINGEN. 54 Battery’s task was to cover this front and the bridgehead in particular.

C Troop (in support of 8 Corps) moved on to Baaricht on 26 September, and, after a comparatively lengthy deployment, collected 135 enemy gun locations. The deployment was noteworthy for the placing of its AP’s without infantry protection, but they survived. D Troop (in support of 12 Corps) deployed along a railway line near Acht and located 51 HBs, all guns, mostly 88 mm. - thence to a base SE of St Oedenrode, a town on the main axis to Nijmegen that had been more than once cut

During this period when the flanks of the corridor were being protected and widened, the 4-Pen Section laid a 4-microphone base at Middelbeers with the object of locating mortars. For some reason the HB Report records that the CMO provided the AP personnel - perhaps it was to show the Counter Mortar staff the hazards of bringing in the material they worked with! The base was ‘developed’ - presumably this means it was widened - and eventually over the course of 8 days ending 3 October, 40 HBs were recorded, a fifth of which were mortars.

"On 3 October 1944 C Post was taken to the village of Winkel in Holland and set up an OP in the church. We were stopped from going into the village as it was not yet in our hands. After some delay we went in only to be told that the infantry were not occupying the village overnight and some patrol activity may take place. Our officer told the infantry that we would still use the church tower, so they left 3 Bren Gun carriers (12 men) for our protection. We parked the vehicles in the yard and 3 of us went into a small barn with a hay-loft: we stayed on the ground. We set up the instrument and telephone in the tower but unfortunately we never could get through to HQ so we came down

A German patrol decided to come about 0200 hrs. Some came down the road through the village, others came round the farmyard from a field. We shot a couple from our barn and were then showered with rifle fire and grenades. They fired our two trucks and threw phosphorus grenades into the hay-loft. The infantry Bren Gun carriers had gone early, leaving trip wires across the road, and left us there!

The only thing we could do was run, and this we did. We had to run past the church just as the tower was blown up - which was the purpose of the Germans’ visit."

There is a corollary to this episode, Soon after the occupation of this post the artificer, Denis Osborne, was sent out there to repair the rear-link set. Having completed his task, he refused the reward of a cup of tea to get back quickly. He writes (in the style of a Pickwickian Mr. Jingle) "I get along the road - hell of a racket Jerry patrol - Flash spotter up tower smashes the set I’ve just repaired by chucking it over the tower - quite a bit of a battle." And so thought C Post.

After the withdrawal of the remnants of the 1st Airborne from Arnhem, there was an understandable air of "What do we do next?" One certainty was that we would not yield the bridgehead beyond Nijmegen, and this was D Troop’s next location for a base, which was designed to cover Arnhem. The journey up the corridor was an experience. There was ample evidence of the road having been cut in places, and there was desultory shelling. Signs were posted along the route at appropriate places. - ‘Keep Moving’ - ‘Don’t Stop’ - and, especially for the RASC ration trucks - ‘Are You Hungry: the Boys at the Front Are’. Nijmegen bridge was under constant shellfire. A notice at the eastern end read ‘You are over the bridge - now step on it!’ - advice that was always followed. One 54 Battery motor-cyclist had the misfortune to break down on the bridge while it was being shelled, which is one way in which Murphy’s law expresses itself. Perhaps it was a fit punishment for running out of petrol; anyway he survived without hurt.

The D Troop bases on the ‘island’, the first at Oosterhoot and then at Andelst -both taken over from the 4th Survey - produced 148 HB.s altogether, mostly of 88 mm, but also a few mortars. These bases were occupied from 6th to 18th October. The APs were overlooked from enemy high ground, and there were some torn nerves trying to distinguish between enemy patrol movement and innocent wild life in the scrubby surroundings at night! C Troop took over the Oosterhout base from D Troop and stayed until 17 October, locating 89 HBs of various sizes. The 4-Pen Section also laid a base on the southern side of ‘the island’ at Bemmel, and occupied it from 9 to 19 October, claiming 30 HBs of varying calibre.