Battle of Dortmund
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(2 weeks and 6 days)
Allied victory
- Capitulation of the German Army Group B
| Battle of Dortmund, part of the Ruhr pocket | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Western Allied invasion of Germany in the Western Front of the European theatre of World War II | |||||||
 An American soldier at Rheinwiesenlager guards a massive crowd of German prisoners captured in the Ruhr pocket | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States United Kingdom(German resistance) |
 Germany | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Omar Bradley Bernard Montgomery Courtney H. Hodges William H. Simpson Leonard T. Gerow |
 Albert Kesselring Walter Model †Albert Hoffmann Gustav-Adolf von Zangen  Josef Harpe | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
21st Army Group | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
1,500 killed 8,000 wounded 500 missing Total: 10,000[1] |
317,000 soldiers captured[2] About 10,000 people killed (including prisoners of war in German captivity, foreign forced laborers, Volkssturm militia and unarmed civilians)[3] Total: 327,000 | ||||||
Battle of Dortmund was major battle of World War II in the Western Front European theatre between the Allied forces and Nazi Germany. The part of the larger Ruhr Pocket encirclement. It started with a major bombing of the City of Dortmund on 12 March 1945 and ground troops taking the city on 18 April 1945.[4][5] In 1945, the city had many forced laborers living in concentration camps in Nazi Germany's coal and steel industries. The forced laborers were from Poland, Soviet Union, Belgium, France, and other occupied territories. At the end of the battle, 4.070 prisoners of war from 13 nations were liberated.[6][7]
The battles start with the bombing of Dortmund, in North Rhine-Westphalia of Germany on 12 March 1945. The Royal Air Force (RAF) dropped 4,851 tonnes of bombs using 1108 aircraft. The bombing raid used 748 Lancasters, 292 Halifaxes, and 68 Mosquitos. The raid destred 98% of the downtown of the city. The bombing started at 4.30 pm, and lasted 29 minutes. The city was bombed repeatedly, including bombing of the Dortmund-Ems canal and coking plants, which limited Germany's fuel production.[8][9]
Ground Assault
The US 95th Infantry Division took the Dortmund on 13 April 1945. The battle was part of the encirclement of German Army Group B under Field Marshal Walter Model. Model put up strong resistance along the Dortmund–Ems Canal. The capture of the City of Dortmund and the Ruhr region was completed 18 April 1945. The Ruhr Pocket encirclement led to over 300,000 German soldiers being taken prisoner. [5][10][11][12]