VIII Corps, which did not see much action from the time of Barker's assumption of command, later saw extensive action during the final push into Germany between March and May 1945. The corps, with the 15th Infantry, 11th Armoured and 6th Airborne Divisions under command (along with the 5th Infantry Division from 17 April), captured Osnabrück, Minden, Celle and Lüneburg and later crossed the Elbe. On 15 April, elements of the 11th Armoured Division liberated the remaining survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After the German capitulation and the end of World War II in Europe, Field Marshal Montgomery appointed Barker to head the Schleswig-Holstein Corps District of the British occupation zone, and he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) on 5 July 1945. During the entire campaign, Barker was twice mentioned in despatches, on 22 March 1945, and again on 10 May.