Battle of Groningen

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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.
Date 13–16 April 1945 Location Groningen, Netherlands Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Canada  Netherlands	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Bruce Matthews	Karl Böttcher
Units involved
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 [1] 5,212 captured [2]

The Battle of Groningen took place during the penultimate month of World War II in Europe, on 13 to 16 April 1945,^[2] 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.

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.