back. The next day, 24 August, a patrol from the 7th Parachute Battalion discovered that the Germans had withdrawn during the night. The whole brigade crossed the river and advanced unopposed to Bourg, which was secured after a brief fight. The brigade was halted again and the commandos of 1st Special Service Brigade took over the lead. On 26 August, to provide some mobility, the Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade was placed under the brigade's command. Together with the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment, they headed for Pont Audmer, which was the brigade's final objective. The Dutch were ordered to move with all speed, but arrived 20 minutes after the retreating Germans had blown up the bridge across the River Seine, and just before the 7th Parachute Battalion arrived by foot. In nine days of fighting the 6th Airborne Division had advanced , despite, as the divisional commander Major-General Gale put it, his infantry units being "quite inadequately equipped for a rapid pursuit,". They had captured of enemy held territory, and taken over 1,000 prisoners. Since landing on 6 June the division's casualties were 4,457, of which 821 were killed, 2,709 wounded and 927 missing. The 5th Parachute Brigade had 268 killed during the campaign. The division was withdrawn from France, and embarked for England at the beginning of September. Ardennes In England the division went into a period of recruitment and training, concentrating on house-to-house street fighting in the bombed areas of Southampton and Birmingham. The training programme culminated in Exercise Eve, an assault on the River Thames, which was intended to simulate the River Rhine in Germany. By December 1944 the brigade was preparing for Christmas leave, when news of the German offensive in the Ardennes broke. As part of the First Allied Airborne Army, 6th Airborne Division was available as a component of the strategic reserve for the Allied forces in northwest Europe. The other two divisions available in reserve, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne, were already at Rheims in northern France, and the 6th Airborne was sent by sea to Belgium to assist the defence. With 29 German and 33 Allied divisions involved, the Battle of the Bulge was the largest single battle on the Western Front during the war. On Christmas Day the division moved up to take position in front of the spearhead of the German advance; by Boxing Day they had reached