The 25th Army was formed on 10 November 1944 in the Netherlands, from the staffs of the Armed Forces Commander of the Netherlands and Armeeabteilung Kleffel (previously known as "Narva Task Force").

The 25th Army held the northernmost position of the Nazi German front line of the Western Front for less than six months in late 1944 and early 1945, with its western flank anchored on the North Sea and its eastern flank adjoining the 1st Parachute Army.

Defending the western Netherlands along the Meuse (Maas), from the North Sea to Arnhem,[3] its primary opponent was the First Canadian Army.

On 7 April 1945, the 25th Army was converted into the Netherlands High Command (Oberbefehlshaber Niederlande), under command of Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz, to defend Fortress Holland (Festung Holland), the area west of the New Dutch Waterline.

Two days after the surrender of the Northwest High Command to the British 21st Army Group, Generaloberst Blaskowitz surrendered his command to I Canadian Corps' Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes at Wageningen on 5 May 1945 (documents typed and signed the next day, as no typewriter had been available), effectively ending the war in the Netherlands.