On May 5, 1945, at Bad Zwischenahn in Northern Germany, Simonds accepted the surrender of German forces facing II Canadian Corps at the end of the war.

II Canadian Corps engaged in combat operations in North-West Europe from the beginning of July 1944 to just before VE Day in early May 1945.

Antwerp had been captured by the British Second Army on September 4, but the city's large port facilities were useless to the Allies as long as German forces continued to occupy the banks of the Scheldt Estuary.

II Canadian Corps was involved in the battles to expel German forces from the eastern provinces of the Netherlands, back across the western border of Germany, and then to drive them out from the west bank of the Rhine River.

In the final phases of the war, II Canadian Corps advanced into the northern provinces of the Netherlands and across the border into Germany towards the North Sea coast.