On to Victory

"March 23, 1945. Tens of thousands of Allied troops, following on the heels of a massive artillery barrage, lunge across the Rhine River aboard amphibious craft, while even more land from the skies. Operations Plunder and Varsity aim to smash the German forces determined to stop this crossing, which will unleash a breakout into the heartland of Germany and the Netherlands and likely bring a rapid end to the war." "On the left flank of Plunder, First Canadian Army thrusts into the westernmost corner of Germany and advances into the Netherlands to free the Dutch people from a tyrannical Nazi occupation. In much of the Netherlands, the population is on the brink of starvation, a disastrous humanitarian crisis imminenet." "During the next forty-eight days, Canadian troops face some of their toughest fighting. Repeatedly, in such towns as Bienan, Speldrop, Zutphen, and Deventer, and in the major Dutch city of Groningen, they are embroiled in costly large-scale street fighting.^ And on the other side of each canal or river