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. During the Battle of Normandy, the corps was used to spearhead the British-Canadian advance from Caen to Falaise. With the final closure of the Falaise Gap on August 21, 1944, the remaining German forces in northern France were forced into a rapid retreat back towards defensive positions in port cities along the coast, and in the regions just south of the Netherlands and outside the western borders of Germany, in Belgium and eastern France. The First Canadian Army formed the left flank of the advancing Allied armies, and was charged with capturing or sealing off German-occupied ports in Northern France and in Belgium. Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais, Cap-Gris-Nez and Ostend were captured in September by troops of II Canadian Corps. However, the defences of Dunkirk proved to be so strong that it was decided to leave the German-occupied port city under siege until the end of the European war. 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. As the spearhead of the First Canadian Army, II Canadian Corps was heavily involved in the Battle of the Scheldt to clear out those German positions. 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. On May 5, 1945 Lt.-Gen. Simonds received the unconditional surrender of those German forces facing the corps in northern Germany.

• Operation Atlantic, crossing the Orne River and unsuccessful attempt to capture Verrières Ridge, area south of Caen, July 18–21, 1944
• Operation Spring, assault against Verrières Ridge, July 25–28, 1944
• Operation Totalize, capture of Verrières Ridge and advance towards Falaise, Normandy, August 8–13, 1944
• Operation Tractable, capture of Falaise, Normandy, August 14–21, 1944
• Advance up to and then across the River Seine at Elbeuf and Rouen, Aug. 23–28, 1944
• Liberation of Dieppe, abandoned by the retreating German Army, Sept. 1, 1944
• Investment of Dunkirk as the initial part of the 8-month-long siege of that port city, Sept. 7-18, 1944
• Liberation of Ostend, Sept. 9, 1944
• Liberation of Bruges, Sept. 12, 1944
• Operation Wellhit, capture of Boulogne, September 17–22, 1944
• Operation Undergo, capture of Calais and the heavy batteries at Cap Gris Nez, September 25–30, 1944
• Operation Switchback, clearing area north of the Albert Canal, Belgium, October 6 to November 3, 1944
• Operation Vitality, South Beveland peninsula and Walcheren Island, the Netherlands, October 24 to November 3, 1944
• Operation Infatuate I, South Beveland, October 26, 1944
• Operation Veritable, Reichwald Forest, Germany, February 8 to March 11, 1945
• Operation Blockbuster, Hochwald gap [de] and the capture of Xanten on the Rhine River, Germany, February 23 to March 3, 1945
• Battle of Friesoythe, April 13-14 1945
• Battle of Groningen, northern Netherlands, April 14–18, 1945
• Operation Duck, crossing of the Ems River and the capture of Leer, April 28 to May 4, 1945
• Capture of Oldenburg, April 25 to May 4, 1945

• Lieutenant-General Ernest William Sansom (January 15, 1943 to January 29, 1944)
• Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds (January 29, 1944 to June 25, 1945)

• 2nd Canadian Infantry Division
• 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
• 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division
• 1st Polish Armoured Division, August 1944 to May 1945
• 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, January to March, 1945
• 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, August 1944
• 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade
• 33rd Armoured Brigade, August 1944, Operation Totalize
• 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade, April 1945
• Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade, August 1944
• 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade, October–November 1944, Siege of Dunkirk
• Corps troops
  • 2nd Corps Defence Company (The Prince Edward Island Light Horse)
  • 18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons)
  • 6th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA)
  • 6th Anti-Tank Regiment, RCA
  • 2nd Survey Regiment, RCA
  • 8th Field Park Company, Royal Canadian Engineers (RCE)
  • 29th, 30th and 31st Field Companies, RCE
  • 2nd Drilling Company, RCE
  • II Canadian Corps Headquarters Signals, Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
  • No. 2 Corps Troops Company, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC)
  • II Canadian Corps Transport Company, RCASC
  • No. 33 and 34 Transport Companies, RCASC
  • No. 2 Motor Ambulance Company, RCASC
  • No. 2 Headquarters Corps Car Company, RCASC
  • No. 2 and 3 Casualty Clearing Stations, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC)
  • No. 6 Field Dressing Section, RCAMC
  • No. 8 Field Hygiene Section, RCAMC
  • unknown Dental Companies, Canadian Dental Corps (CDC)
  • No. 12 Base Dental Company, CDC
  • No. 2 Corps and Army Troops Sub-Park, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC)
  • II Corps Troops Workshop, Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RCEME)
  • Recovery Compani(es), RCEME
  • No. 13 Provost Company, Canadian Provost Corps (C Pro C)
• Attached First Canadian Army Troops
  • No. 2 Army Group Royal Canadian Artillery
    • 19th Army Field Regiment, RCA
    • 3rd Medium Regiment, RCA
    • 4th Medium Regiment, RCA
    • 7th Medium Regiment, RCA
  • "E" Squadron, 25th Armoured Delivery Regiment (The Elgin Regiment), Canadian Armoured Corps

• Byers, A. R. (ed.), The Canadians at War 1939/45, 2nd ed., The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) Ltd., Montreal, Canada, 1986, ISBN 0-88850-145-5.
• Brown, Angus and Gimblett, Richard, In the Footsteps of First Canadian Army: Northwest Europe 1942-1945, Magic Light Publishing, Ottawa, 2009, ISBN 1-894673-33-6.
• Copp, Terry, Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8020-3780-0.
• Copp, Terry, Cindarella Army: The Canadians in Northwest Europe 1944-1945, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8020-9522-0.
• Stacey, C.P. (1960). Official history of the Canadian Army in the Second World War, Vol III The Victory Campaign, The Operations in Northwest Europe 1944-1945. Ottawa: Queen's Printer.
• Zuehlke, Mark, Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign: September 13 – November 6, 1944, Douglas & McIntyre, 2009, ISBN 1-55365-404-8.
• "History of the 6th Canadian anti-tank regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, 1st April, 1942-24th June, 1945" (Toronto, Regiment, 1946)

• www.canadiansoldiers.com