The battle was a costly defeat for the 1st Airborne Division from which it never recovered. Three-quarters of the division were missing when it returned to England, including two of the three brigade commanders, eight of the nine battalion commanders and 26 of the 30 infantry company commanders. About 500 men were in hiding north of the Rhine and many of these were able to escape during the winter, initially in Operation Pegasus. New recruits, escapees and repatriated POWs joined the division over the coming months but the division was still so understrength that the 4th Parachute Brigade had to be merged into the 1st Parachute Brigade and the division could barely produce two brigades of infantry. Between May and August 1945, many of the men were sent to Denmark and Norway to oversee the Operation Doomsday the German surrenders but on their return the division was disbanded.