the northern edge of the Falaise pocket. After the break out from Normandy the division crossed the Seine on 29 August and reached the Belgian border on 6 September. After a brief rest in Brussels the brigade was tasked to cross the Albert canal in the wake of the 69th brigade, and take the village of Gheel. After holding a series of counter-attacks the 15th Division entered the village on 12 September without a shot being fired, as the Germans had retreated. In October the division was moved to the 'Island', the low-lying ground between the Wall and the Lower Rhine north of Eindhoven. After a short operation to expand the bridgehead the brigade garrisoned the area in the early winter. In December, due to its heavy losses, the 50th Division was broken up to reinforce other formations, the 6th and 8th battalions were reduced to a training cadres of time expired men and returned to Britain. The 9th battalion was reinforced and transferred to 7th Armoured Division, 131st Infantry Brigade, as a motorised battalion fighting at the Roer Triangle in January 1945 and the town of Ibbenbüren in March. The battalion ended the war near Hamburg. The 18th battalion had been serving as lines of communications troops of 21st Army Group, however one company fought the Germans during an attack from besieged Calais in February 1945, the battalion was disbanded at Calais in August 1945. Home Front 1939–45 Some battalions raised by the regiment were destined not to leave Britain. A Home Defence battalion, the 13th, was formed from the Durham Group (No. 41) National Defence Company in December 1939. It divided in September 1940, producing the 2/13th (Home Defence) battalion which was renamed as the 18th battalion in March 1941. The 1/13th battalion then re-joined the 18th battalion to form the 30th battalion in November 1941 applying the numbering used nationally for 'B' category fitness battalions. In 1942 it was briefly organised as a field force unit (a standard army battalion with 'A' category fitness men), until it was disbanded in November 1942. After the Army's evacuation from Dunkirk, 60 so called 'Dunkirk' infantry battalions were raised in the country that summer, three of which were D.L.I., the 14th, 16th and 17th battalions. All three were brigaded in the 206th Independent Infantry Brigade initially in Scotland, and then on the South coast of England. The 14th and 17th