The 15th Army was activated in
occupied France on 15 January 1941 with General
Curt Haase in command. It was tasked with occupation and defensive duties in the
Pas de Calais area. The
Allies landed further west, in
Operation Overlord, during June 1944. Afterwards, the 15th Army was withdrawn to the Netherlands, where it fought the Allies during
Operation Market Garden in September 1944. It suffered defeat against the
First Canadian Army in the
Battle of the Scheldt during which the Army Headquarters at
Dordrecht was subject to a mass attack by
Hawker Typhoons of the
Second Tactical Air Force on 24 October 1944. Two generals and 70 other staff officers were killed in the attack. According to a Dutch documentary there were 69 civilian casualties and some German casualties, but not any of the staff officers. During October 1944 the 15th Army continued to resist against the Canadian First Army and British
Second Army as they pushed west from the
Nijmegen/
Eindhoven salient in
Operation Pheasant. The British Second Army cleared the 15th Army from the
Roer Triangle during
Operation Blackcock, pushing it back over the
Rur and
Wurm rivers. It was involved in the
Battle of Hurtgen Forest before finally surrendering along the
Ruhr river in 1945. Today, the former HQ of the 15th Army, in
Tourcoing, which is just north of Lille in France, is a museum:
Museum of 5 June 1944. ==Sept. 1944 Order of Battle==