German prisoners are marched away after heavy fighting in the Noorderplantsoen, in the northwest corner of Groningen, Netherlands. [Beeldbank Groningen/Liberation Route Europe]

An urban warfare historian on Canada’s forgotten Battle of Groningen, Part 2

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

Street by street, house by house, canal by canal, the Canadians clawed a foothold into the Dutch city of Groningen. It was April 15, 1945, and despite the German defenders having ceded sizable swaths of urban terrain, the struggle within persisted.

Major-General Bruce Matthews, commander of the attacking 2nd Canadian Infantry Division (along with additional support elements), had finally recognized the stakes. There could be no bypassing Groningen lest its enemy garrison snatch at his heels from the rear. Nor could it be left behind when its 200,000 civilians yearned for liberation. There was only one answer: a full-scale divisional assault lunging into the city from multiple angles. And so, roughly two days into the battle, progress was being made—if not without sacrifice.

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More from The Briefing

• An urban warfare historian on Canada’s forgotten Battle of Groningen, Part 1
• Defence Chief General Jennie Carignan on the state of Canada’s military
• Historian Kelsey M. Lonie on WW II’s Prairie Farmerettes in B.C.

HMCS Guysborough was a Bangor-class minesweeper. [Wikipedia]

Adrift in the Bay of Biscay

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

Just after 7:30 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day in 1945, survivors of the minesweeper HMCS Guysborough were in frigid Atlantic waters awaiting rescue. About half of them wouldn’t make it.

Guysborough was about 300 kilometres off the coast of France in the Bay of Biscay en route from Lunenburg, N.S., to England when it was hit in the stern by an acoustic torpedo from U-868 just before 7 p.m. on March 17.

The ship was disabled but did not sink. The crew gathered on the main deck, waiting for a tow. The Germans fired again. The explosion killed two crew, and the ship listed to port.

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