15th Army (Wehrmacht)


The 15th Army was a German World War II field army.

History

The 15th Army was activated on 15 January 1941, with General Curt Haase in command. First seeing service in France, the army was involved in the protection of the Channel coast from a possible Allied invasion.
It defended against Allied forces with success 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.
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:.

Sept. 1944 Order of Battle