position to near Gennep on 15 February. 'Veritable' ground on until 10 March, but succeeded in clearing the ground west of the Rhine. The Rhine crossing (Operation Plunder), involved an even greater concentration of artillery. 4 AGRA was once again supporting XXX Corps. The artillery opened fire at 17.00 on 23 March with CB fire to neutralise the 150 enemy guns that had been identified on the corps front, and that night the infantry crossings began. By 28 March, Second Army had broken out of its Rhine bridgehead and was pursuing the enemy across North Germany. In early April, 51st (L) Hvy Rgt returned to the Netherlands to come under the command of 1st Canadian AGRA near Bemmel. From 12 to 17 April the regiment supported 49th (West Riding) Division's assault crossing of the River Ijssel and clearance of the enemy pocket at Arnhem. On the last day of this action 1 Bty supported the Independent Belgian Brigade by firing on an enemy-held factory. The battery commander personally established the OP and after 10 ranging shots the battery fired 20 rounds 'for effect', of which 12 were direct hits. The regiment moved to the Otterloo area, where there was little firing apart from night HF tasks, though 4 Bty sent a fighting patrol on foot to comb nearby woods for Germans. On 23 April, the regiment fired on two hostile batteries, but the fighting was coming to an end. Victory in Europe Day was declared on 8 May. The regiment was placed in suspended animation on 10 April 1946. 66th (Lowland) Medium Regiment Home Defence 66th Medium Regiment was not deployed to France with the BEF, and thus avoided the evacuation from Dunkirk. During the 'invasion summer' of 1940 and up to the end of 1941 it formed the medium artillery component of V Corps in southern England. At the beginning of the war, medium batteries were equipped with eight World War I 60-pounders or 6-inch howitzers. From 1941, however, these were progressively replaced by 4.5-inch and 5.5-inch medium guns. 66th Medium Rgt moved to Eastern Command in December 1941 and gained a signal section and LAD. During this period, it trained alongside 3rd Division. On 17 February 1942, 66th Medium Rgt was authorised to use its parent regiment's 'Lowland' subtitle. The regiment left Eastern Command in December 1942 and came under direct WO control preparatory to embarking for overseas