Netherlands

Canadian Forces played an important role in liberating the Netherlands. Canadians who landed on D-Day, fought battles through France, Belgium, the Scheldt and in Germany before being dispatched back to the Netherlands with the Canadians who had fought in Italy. Canadian orders were to push the German troops occupying the northeast back to the sea and to drive German troops in the west back into Germany. The advance was halted on April 12, because of concern for the well-being of citizens in the western Netherlands, who, having been starved for months, ran the risk of having their country flooded if the Germans panicked and opened the dykes

On April 28, the Canadians negotiated a truce which permitted relief supplies to enter the western Netherlands and end the "Hunger Winter". No part of western Europe was liberated at a more vital moment than the Netherlands and the Dutch people cheered Canadian troops as one town after another was freed.

To show their appreciation to the pilots who dropped food from the air, many Dutch people painted, "Thank you, Canadians!" on their rooftops. In honour of their gift of freedom Dutch people have donated 10,000 tulip bulbs to Canada for the National Capital Region, annually since the war's end. For 1995, the Netherlands donated an additional 5,000 bulbs for Parliament Hill, 1,000 for each provincial and territorial capital and 1,000 for Ste. Anne's hospital in Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que. (the only remaining federal hospital in Canada, administered by Veterans Affairs Canada)

The Canadian Army's role in these final days of the war was to open up the supply route to the north through Arnhem, and then to clear the northeastern Netherlands, the coastal belt of Germany eastwards to the Elbe River, and western Holland.

This time the First Canadian Army was far more completely Canadian than ever before as the 1st Canadian Corps which had fought so long in Italy had been transferred to Northwest Europe. Two Canadian Army corps would fight side by side for the first time in history. The 2nd Canadian Corps would clear the northeastern Netherlands and the German coast, and the 1st Canadian Corps would deal with the Germans remaining in the western Netherlands north of the Maas.

Northeastern Holland

The 2nd Canadian Corps' northern drive rapidly gained momentum and as the troops crossed into the Netherlands they were greeted by the enthusiastic demonstrations of the liberated Dutch people.

On the right Major General Vokes' 4th Canadian Armoured Division crossed the Twente Canal and pushed forward to capture Almelo on April 5, before curving eastward to re-enter Germany. In the centre, the 2nd Division crossed the Schipbeck Canal and advanced in a virtually straight line to Groningen in northern Holland which they reached on April 16. The 3rd Division, on the Corps' left flank, was charged with clearing the area adjoining the Ijssel and after several days of stiff fighting occupied the historic Zutphen on April 6. Then, pushing forward they captured Deventer, Zwolle and Leeuwarden and reached the sea on April 18.

The operations of the 2nd Corps were then extended from eastern Holland into western Germany. The 4th Division crossed the Ems River at Meppen and combined with the 1st Polish Armoured Division in thrusts on Emden, Wilhelmshaven and Oldenburg. The 3rd Division also moved on Emden; while the 2nd Division advanced from Groningen to the area of Oldenburg.

Western Holland

the western Netherlands the 1st Canadian Corps comprising the 1st Canadian Infantry division and the 5th Canadian Armoured Divisions, under the command of Lieut.-General Charles Foulkes, was responsible for the liberation of the area north of the Maas River. In this region with its large cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, the people had almost reached the end of their endurance from the misery and starvation which had accompanied the "Hunger Winter". Food supplies in the cities were exhausted, fuel had run out almost entirely and transport was virtually non-existent. Thousands of men, women and children had perished.

The assault on Arnhem began on April 12, and after much house-to-house fighting the town was cleared two days later. The 5th Division then dashed northwards to the Ijsselmeer some thirty miles away to cut off the enemy defending against the 1st Division at Apeldoorn. Apeldoorn was occupied by April 17.

By April 28 the Germans in West Holland had been driven back to a line running roughly between Wageningen through Amersfoort to the sea, known as the Grebbe Line. On that day a truce was arranged, fighting ceased in western Holland, and several days later food supplies began to move through for the starving people. No part of western Europe was liberated at a more vital moment than the west of the Netherlands, and the Canadian soldiers who contributed so immensely to that liberation were cheered and greeted with great joy.

On April 25 the American and Russian troops met on the Elbe. A few days later in Berlin, encircled by the Russians, Hitler committed suicide. The war ended a week later. On May 5, in the village of Wageningen, General Foulkes accepted the surrender of the German troops in Holland. General Simonds of the 2nd Corps, in Bad Zwischenahn, did the same on his front. The formal German surrender was signed on May 7 at Rheims in France.

On May 5, 1945, Col.-Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz formally surrendered the remaining 117,000 German troops in the Netherlands to Canadian Lt.-Gen. Charles Foulkes of the First Canadian Corps, ending nearly eight months of bitter and difficult fighting.