Battle of Groningen The Battle of Groningen took place during the final month of the Second World War , from April 13 to 16 , 1945 , in the city of Groningen 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 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 , 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 ) was used in support . German objectives . German soldiers in the city were determined to keep enemy forces from German soil while their Dutch SS colleagues had reason to fear for their lives if forced to surrender . German troops also needed to control the city to cover the withdrawal of forces from Friesland to Germany and defending the Ems entrance into Germany , important because German surface vessels and U - Boats still used Emden as a port . 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 showed the polders 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 ( " Oude Stad " ) 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 300 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 Gruppenbuhren near Delmenhorst . Significance . Groningen was one of the largest urban battles of the war for the Canadian Army ; while Ortona was made famous by news reports referring to it as " Little Stalingrad " , Groningen involved five times as many Canadian soldiers in direct combat . External sources . city