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So far as the men in the 4th Lincolns were concerned, the job was over now that the war against Germany had been won. It was easy to forget that the war against Japan was still going on and it came as a shock when they heard that some of them were being sorted out to go to the Far East. This mainly affected those who'd been called-up fairly recently and who'd joined the battalion as replacements. Towards the end of June, 78 men and 2 subalterns were transferred to the 2nd Lincolns who were getting ready to go to Baltimore on the first stage of their journey to the Far East. (The war against Japan ended in August and the 2nd Lincolns were sent to Palestine instead).
Throughout the summer of 1945 the displaced persons left the camps. Demobilisation had also started. Group numbers had been worked out according to the age and length of service and men were placed in the appropriate group. Men in Group 24 were being demobbed at Christmas 1945, but although the Territorials in the 4th Lincolns certainly had the length of service most of them were in later groups because they were too young.
In spring 1946 the 4th Lincolns moved to Gevelsburg, about 15 miles south of Dortmund. Suddenly the battalion started to lose a lot of men all at once as the Group numbers of many of them were the same and they were now being demobbed at last. Private Clarke from "B" Company was the last of the original Territorials to be demobbed when he left in April 1946. Three months later, at Gevelsburg, the 4th Lincolns were disbanded altogether.
And so the part-time Territorial Army soldiers from Lincolnshire returned home. They had been away for almost seven long years. There were some who would speak freely afterwards about their experiences and there were those who would never say anything. There were be some who would wake up in the night.
They were the lucky ones, for 228 of them never came home at all.
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