period XXX Corps had nine divisions under its command. Before the operation, Horrocks accepted an offer to use Bomber Command to attack the town of Cleves, assisting the advance of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division. The bombers released of high explosive that devastated the town. Horrocks later said that this had been "the most terrible decision I had ever taken in my life" and that he felt "physically sick" when he saw the bombers overhead. Operation Veritable was successful; by the evening of 9 February (D+1) XXX Corps had broken through the Siegfried Line and into Germany with only light casualties. Aided by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie's XII Corps to its right, XXX Corps began crossing the Rhine on 23 March, and, although there was a foothold which had been established, the enemy put up strong resistance, notably at the town of Lingen on the Dortmund–Ems Canal. Thereafter progress was rapid, however, with Bremen being captured on 26 April, exposing the Sandbostel concentration camp, Stalag X-B. XXX Corps had reached Cuxhaven by the time hostilities ceased in May. Horrocks received two further mentions in despatches for his service in north-west Europe on 22 March and 9 August 1945, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 5 July. He was honoured by the governments of Belgium (the Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm and Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown with Palm), France (Croix de Guerre and Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur), the Netherlands (Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau), Greece (Commander of the Order of King George I), and the United States (Legion of Merit). On 12 April 1945, Horrocks met with two German officers just outside the town of Winsen during a ceasefire. A document setting out the terms of a no-fire zone around the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was typed out and signed by both parties. On the day the camp was liberated by the British Army (15 April 1945), Horrocks organised the rescue of the thousands of inmates by rounding up all the food stores, water trucks and army medical services he could get hold of quickly. Post-war career Horrocks continued to serve in the armed forces after the war, initially as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command, receiving substantive promotion to lieutenant-general in 1946, with seniority backdated to 29 December 1944. He briefly commanded the British Army of