up via Amiens and Douai while the rest of the battery deployed round Rouen on 10 September. By 14 September the battery was in Brussels and on 21 September it completed a 320-mile advance, with several moonlight and AA deployments along the way, including supporting the canal crossing at Joe's Bridge. A Troop reached Nijmegen to deploy for AA defence of the vital bridges shortly after their capture in Operation Market Garden, the rest of the battery guarding bridges further back. The Nijmegen bridge defences were shelled and mortared as well as attacked by low-level bombers – 16 raids on 26 September and nine more the following day. A Troop was assigned to AA defence north and south of the river, as well as illuminating the river, where German Frogmen succeeded in damaging the bridges. During the winter of 1944–45, while A Troop experimented with using SLC radar to direct LAA guns, the rest of 474 S/L Bty was frequently deployed in detachments to provide movement light to various formations – for example, for laying or lifting minefields, bridgebuilding, or fighting patrols. A major deployment was with VIII Corps for Operation Veritable in the Reichswald. However, unlike some other batteries engaged in the same work, its official designation was not changed from 'Searchlight' to 'Moonlight', and at the Rhine crossing (Operation Plunder) it reverted to the AA role, forming part of 100 AA Bde supporting XII Corps. Germany Once the first Rhine bridge was completed on 25 March 1945, 474 Bty moved up to the west bank of the river to take up its positions. That night there was a series of raids by single Luftwaffe bombers at heights up to 8000 feet, where S/L illumination permitted the AA guns to fire predictor-controlled shoots. After 27 March, with 21st Army Group pushing deep into Germany, air attacks on the Rhine crossings became fewer. By now the crossing points were covered by integrated systems of heavy and light AA guns, radar and S/L positions, which prevented accurate attacks and destroyed a significant number of aircraft. In mid-April the battery handed over its S/L responsibilities at the Rhine crossings and began carrying out rear-area duties such as guarding and clearing ammunition dumps. It continued this battlefield clearance work after the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath on 7 May, and also provided artificial moonlight at prisoner of war and refugee camps. At the