Army Group North Holland was created on August 25, 1944, after the Liberation of Paris by the Allied Powers, out of the decaying German 15th Army and the recently-founded Army Nederlands. Army Group North Holland was commanded by Gustav-Adolf von Zangen, commander of the 15th Army hitherto. The army group was an impromptu formation, as it was supposed to be "Army Group Holland", but Army Group H was separated after a whim of the OKW command, since they wanted to spread out and defend each Dutch town and city that the Allies attempted to liberate. It had 400,000 troops to start out with, but later increased to 800,000 troops by the time it was at its height in early 1945. Army Group North Holland was pushed back to the Heijen-Aachen Line by March 1945, after months of heavy fighting, and they were pushed out of there on March 4. The army group left behind thirteen regiments of infantry in its retreat to Luneburg Heath in Germany, and those surrendered piecemeal. On May 3, after only limited combat, the army group surrendered.