The German 15th Army was a field army of the German Wehrmacht that existed from 15 January 1941 to 18 April 1945 during World War II. The army was activated in France with the goal of protecting the English Channel from an Allied invasion, and the Allied Powers deceived the 15th Army into believing that the Allied invasion of France would come at the Pas de Calais instead of Normandy in June 1944. The German army was therefore not involved in Operation Overlord, and it was forced to withdraw into Belgium and the Netherlands. The army repulsed the Operation Market Garden assault on Arnhem in September 1944, but it was forced to retreat from Belgium after the Battle of the Scheldt. The army withdrew to the Roermond triangle in northern Germany and suffered heavy losses in Operation Blackcock, and the army was involved in the Battle of the Bulge before surrendering in the Ruhr Pocket on 18 April 1945.