The 49th Division was then temporarily grounded, due to a shortage of supplies such as fuel and transport, with priority being given to XII and XXX Corps, now commanded by Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, in their pursuit of the retreating German armies into Belgium and for Operation Market Garden. On 21 September the division concentrated in Belgium and liberated Turnhout after crossing the Antwerp-Turnhout Canal. It was during this period that Corporal John Harper of the Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, of the 146th Brigade, was posthumously awarded the division's first and only VC of the war. The division then spent the next three weeks on the defensive, before capturing the Dutch town of Roosendaal on 30 October, after ten days of hard fighting. By the month's end the division was at Willemstad.