Battle of Groningen
The Battle of Groningen took place during the penultimate month of World War II in Europe, on 13 to 16 April 1945, in the city of Groningen. The 2nd Canadian Division attacked Groningen (though the whole division was never in combat at any given time), defended by 7,000 German soldiers and Dutch and Belgian SS troops. There were also many Luftwaffe troops manning flak guns in the area. Groningen also held the headquarters for the Sicherheitsdienst in the northern Netherlands. The German command structure was poor and the defenders had never exercised together.
| Battle of Groningen | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the North-West Europe campaign in the Western Front of the European theatre of World War II | |||||||
Canadian troops in action at Groningen. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Canada Netherlands | Germany | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Bruce Matthews | Karl Böttcher | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
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2nd Infantry Division Dutch Resistance |
Elements of: 408th Infantry Division 34th Panzergrenadier Division Sicherheitsdienst, and scattered Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Hitler Youth, Legione SS Italiana troops | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ~14,000 | ~7,500 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
43 dead 166 wounded |
130 dead 5,212 captured | ||||||
2nd Canadian Division consisted of nine infantry battalions, a machine gun battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, and three combat engineer companies (Royal Canadian Engineers). It was battle experienced with a proportion of partially trained reinforcements. Armour from the 10th Armoured Regiment (Fort Garry Horse) and the 9th Armoured Regiment (British Columbia Dragoons) was used in support.