Battle of Groningen
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The Battle of Groningen took place during the penultimate month of Second World War in Europe, from April 13 to 16, 1945, in the city of
Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
between a mixture of German soldiers, Dutch and Belgian SS troops numbering 7,000 against the entire 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, though the whole division was never in combat at any given time. There were also substantial amounts of ''Luftwaffe'' units manning flak guns in the area. Groningen was also the site of the headquarters for the
Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...
in the North of the Netherlands. The German command structure was poor and the defenders had never exercised together. The Canadian division, consisting of nine infantry battalions, a machine gun battalion, and a reconnaissance battalion, three combat engineer companies (Royal Canadian Engineers), was battle experienced with a proportion of partially trained reinforcements. Armour from the 10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse) and the
9th Armoured Regiment (The British Columbia Dragoons) 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
was used in support.


German objectives

German soldiers fought to keep allied forces forces from liberating the city from Nazi control. Members of the Dutch SS, fighting alongside the German defenders, had reason to fear for their lives if they surrendered. The crimes of the SS were acutely known to the Canadians and Dutch, since the Malmedy massacre which took place only four months prior. The Germans hoped to use the city in order to cover the withdrawal of forces from
Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...
to
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, in addition to defending the Ems entrance into Germany. Defending Ems was especially important for the Germans because the
Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
still used
Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...
as a port for surface vessels and
U-boats U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...
.


Allied objectives

Wary of advancing into the western Netherlands and incurring heavy casualties (as well as losses to the densely packed civilian population) at a late stage of the war (fighting in Langstraat and
Betuwe Batavia (; , ) is a historical and geographical region in the Netherlands, forming large fertile islands in the river delta formed by the waters of the Rhine (Dutch: ''Rijn'') and Meuse (Dutch: ''Maas'') rivers. During the Roman empire, it was an ...
showed that conditions were very favourable to the defence), the First Canadian Army instead moved northeast, supporting the flank of the British 2nd Army as they entered Germany proper.


Battle

German forces were mainly deployed in the ancient city centre shielded in part by an ancient canal. Some troops were deployed in the southern suburbs. A German pocket in the power station surrendered after the fall of the inner city. The inner city was reached on 14 April. Western approaches to the old town were blocked because the bridges over the canal were destroyed. The ''Herebrug'' bridge in the south of the old town was not destroyed, but it took a day before the Germans with machine guns were defeated in the buildings north of a circular 'circus' on the north side of the bridge. The Canadians managed to enter the north of the city centre, ''Nieuwe Stad'', after two hours of fighting in the ''Noorderplantsoen'' park, which was placed where the city walls used to be in the 19th century and before. The fight in the central market square, ''Grote markt'', was the fiercest part of the battle. There were several German machine guns in the buildings north of the square. The buildings had to be destroyed by tanks. The ''Nieuwe Stad'' was conquered, but the Canadians could not reach the ''Oude Stad'' from the north, due to fierce German resistance. The German commander surrendered on 16 April once it was clear further resistance was useless. The Canadians used armour effectively in co-operation with their infantry. Artillery support was forbidden out of fear of harming the civilian population.


Result

The death toll included approximately 130 Germans, 43 Canadians, and 100 Dutch civilians. Some 270 buildings were damaged or destroyed in the fighting. Over 5,200 Germans surrendered (including 95 officers) and the remaining Germans (about 2,000) fled northeast, and the 2nd Division again met them in battles such as the Battle of Grüppenbühren near
Delmenhorst Delmenhorst (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Demost'') is an urban district ('' Kreisfreie Stadt'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of 74,500 and is located west of downtown Bremen with which it forms a contiguous urban area, whereas the ...
.


Significance

Groningen was one of the largest urban battles of the war for the Canadian Army; while
Ortona Ortona (Neapolitan language, Abruzzese: '; grc, Ὄρτων, Órtōn) is a coastal town and municipality of the Province of Chieti in the Italy, Italian region of Abruzzo, with some 23,000 inhabitants. In 1943 Ortona was the site of a Battle o ...
was made famous by news reports referring to it as "Little Stalingrad", Groningen involved five times as many Canadian soldiers in direct combat.


References

* Ashworth, G. J., ''The city as Battlefield. The Liberation of Groningen, April 1945'' (Groningen 1995).


External sources


www.calgaryhighlanders.com


{{DEFAULTSORT:Groningen, Battle of Urban warfare Western European Campaign (1944–1945) Battles of World War II involving Canada Battles of World War II involving Germany Battles and operations of World War II involving the Netherlands Battle of Groningen April 1945 events in Europe
Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
Battle of Groningen