... some six hundred yards due south of ' D ' Company's new position. The position was quickly reached and consolidated. When a patrol was sent to investigate a house in front of the forward position, a German machine gun opened fire from the edge of a large wood, which extended a great distance behind the house. The patrol suffered casualties, but managed to withdraw. The reserve platoon was now brought up with two Sherman tanks, and while these gave covering fire, an assault was made and the enemy's position captured. Patrolling further into the wood, the platoon was fired upon again by two more enemy machine guns. Tanks were then moved up to begin the attack on the two enemy positions, but the enemy withdrew.

The battle for Lingen had been a bitter and lethal fight. Hand to hand fighting took place and the bodies of the Germans lying within a few yards of wounded and dead Riflemen grimly testified to the fireceness and severity of the fighting.

The Battalion was then moved on a hundred miles to Diepholz, where the accommodation was excellent and the town itself was clean and cheerful. On April the 12th the Battalion moved 40 miles to Harpstedt, where a patrol driving northwards along the main Harpstedt-Delmenhorst road were ambushed and lost.

On April 17th, the Battalion moved to a concentration area just north of Barrien, where preperations for the attack on Bremen were being made. The attack began at 0700 hrs on the morning of the 19th. By 1300 hrs the Battalion was firmly on all its objectives. It remained while the rest of the Brigade passed through to complete the capture of Huchting. On the 21st, the Rifles were relieved by a Battalion of 51 ( Highland ) Division, and came back to Barrien to prepare for the direct assault upon Bremen in 4 R.T.R's Buffaloes ( tracked amphibian troop carriers )

Bremen, south of the Weser, was protected from attack by the line of the Ochtum canal and artificial flooding of its banks had submerged the land on either side, thus presenting a formidable obstacle.
The axis for the Brigade attack was the main road running north from Brinkum, crossing the Ochtum by the bridge at Kattenturm, and so on into Bremen. The village of Kattenturm lay astride the main road and its southern side was marked by an embankment, which was the northern most part of the floods. The Buffaloe tracked vehicles had to drive to the embankment and then back up against it in order that men and vehicles could both land dry.

There was little reliable information available about the enemy, but the vital thing was that the Germans had not yet blown the Kattenturm bridge, though it was supposed to be prepared for demolition with a charge consisting of two heavy bombs. The night of 24th-25th April was fixed for the attack and so the Battalion made preperation during the day before, practicing getting on and off the squadron of 47 Buffaloes that had been assigned to take them to Kattenturm. Similar to previous nights, an artillery barrage had been arranged to begin at about 2200 hrs in order to hide the sound of the Buffaloes making their way across the floods. When ' C ' Company were still fifty yards from the embankment, which they were to consolidate as a bridgehead, two red Very lights went up from behind it and immediately small arms and anti - tank fire began to come at the Buffaloes. On landing the three platoons, fighting ensued but the platoon objectives were quickly taken.

Quite a lot of resistance remained to be mopped up even after ' A ' and ' D ' Companies had come in to land. As the first troops of ' A ' Company ran ashore, they were greeted by a fusillade of panzerfausts, which burst round them, wounding several of them. ' A ' Company's advance along the embankment was difficult. The enemy was dug in and was defending his positions stubbornly, with unsparing use of Panzerfausts and small arms. The opposition was particularly stiff round a large house set back about 20 yards from the embankment. It was defended by machine guns and many Panzerfausts and a fierce fight waged between this knot of opposition and a platoon of ' A ' Company. Several NCO's and men were hit, including the platoon commander. In the garden of the house was a well-concealed 88mm gun in perfect working order. Fortunately it had been unable to travers sufficiently far to the left to attack the Buffaloes. A rush by a section from the platoon successfully took the position and broke the back of resistance at Kattenturm.

Meanwhile ' C ' Company's bridgehead was now the scene of furious activity. Vehicles, anti-tanks guns, and men poured out of Buffaloes. ' D ' Company had pressed on, simultaneously with ' A ' Company, but the German defences were without depth and apart from a few snipers, who were cleared without much trouble, ' D ' Company's advance was unopposed. Tactical Battalion Headquarters moved up close behind ' D ' Company and established itself at the eastern end of the village for the duration of the attack.
' B ' Company had landed without incident, and as soon as ' D ' Company reported their objectives gained, ' B ' Company made for the Kattenturm Bridge. Almost at once they came under fire from the road and a large house on the left. The leading section rushed the position and eliminated it, whilst another section dealt swiftly with the house and soon the advance was resumed. At the crossroads near the bridge the leading platoon encountered opposition and were able to bypass it in order to swiftly seize the bridge before it could be blown. The sapper reconnaissance party, following close up behind, quickly deactivated the two bombs which were found sunk into the side of the road as a demolition charge; and soon a bulldozer arrived to assist in the clearance of a formidable road block which the retreating Germans had left behind the bridge.

' B ' Company had begun their advance soon after 0300 hrs, and it was just after first light when the great news passed through that the bridge had been won intact. Now ' C ' Company left the bridgehead area, as the attack on Arsten which 2nd Warwicks were launching, had now eliminated any threat to it. They moved up to the main road and completed the consolidation of the area and rounded off the Battalion's part of the attack.

The great events of early may 1945, found the Battalion resting quietly in Delmenhorst after the exertions of the final battles. The main direction of Second Army was now across the Elbe, towards Wismar and Lubeck on the one hand, and Hamburg, Kiel and Copenhagen on the other. Then came the great news of the surrender of the German Armies in the North to 21st Army Group, and three days later the signature of general surrender at Rheims. The 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles slightly dazed to the announcement of theegreat events, for they happened too swiftly for the significance to be fully realised or undersood.

Now began the duties of an Army of Occupation. First at Delmenhorst, then at Mettingen, near Osnabruck and finally at Gelsenkirchen in the hear of the Ruhr, they wrestled with a few of the vast problems with which the Allies were called upon to deal. These were new problems, which could be faced against a background of triumph for the war was over, and the Battalion felt satisfied with the part it had played in winning it. With victory also comes a price, and the price of Victory for the men of the 2nd Battalion was costly. The Battalion which landed at Normandy practically no longer existed. Many friends had been killed along the way. Before i bring this chapter to an end let us also remember the many men from southern Ireland who also fought in the Battalion and are often forgotten. Men like Lieutenant- Colonel Ian Harris, the Commading officer of the Battalion, and later the Brigade, from Golden in Tipperary. Father Joe O' Brien, the Catholic Chaplain from County Mayo, and the ordinary soldier like Rifleman Ryan, also from Tipperary. There is a wonderful story about Father O' Brien. Joe O' Brien was five feet eleven inches in height, weighing about fifteen stone. He was built like a ' barn door ' and had no discernible neck. He had also boxed for Maynooth College. John Cooper had taken bullets or shrapnel in each leg during the attack on Cambes and was being treated by the Battalion physician. Father O' Brien strolled up to inquire about his well being saying " Johnny, whatever happened to you? " Cooper drew the priest's attention to his legs and received the consoling response, " You know that's the trouble. If someone doesn't tell them Jerries to put their sights up, sure they won't kill anybody. "

It is not possible to put a figure on Irish casualties in the Normandy Campaign. They fought in too many different units in three seperate national armies. The Royal Ulster Rifles lost nearly 200 killed in action between June and July 1944. Many of these men are buried in the airborne cemetary at Ranville. However in the case of those who came from the Irish Free State, there seems to exist a strange reluctance to acknowledge their sacrifice. Irish times journalist and war historian Kevin Myers has wondered around the cemetary and seen many Irish Cathoic names on grave markers. But in most cases when these names were looked up in the cemetary register there is no information available. The War Graves Commission would have asked the next of kin what details they wanted in the register about their dead son, husband or father. As Myers surmises: ' It's as if the family didn't want it known that their son had died in the service of the British Army. '
And what of the 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles? It did not matter what nationality or religion they were. They had suffered greatly, many had made the ultimate sacrifice. Total casualties, killed, wounded or missing were 49 officers, 755 Other Ranks. Virtually the complete turnover of a single Battalion. It can be said that in spite of all, the Battalion maintained an unimpaired fighting spirit which was never broken. May we truly remember each and every one of them wherever they rest.