The 'Battle of Nürnberg' was fought between US and German forces for the city of Nürnberg in Bavaria during the closing stage of World War II in Europe (16/20 April 1945).

The battle was characterised by some of the fiercest urban combat during the war, and it took five days for Lieutenant General Alexander M. Patch’s US 7^th Army to capture the city. The battle was a major psychological and physical blow to the rump of Nazi Germany as the city had been one of the primary propaganda centres of the Nazi régime: the pre-war Nürnberg rallies had taken place in this city, whose loss to the Americans further shattered German morale, which was already in a state of tatters. Even though US forces were far superior to the German forces in terms of military capability if not total numbers, it was not until 20 April that the 7^th Army took the city centre in a battle which further decimated an urban centre already hard-hit by Allied strategic bombing.

The Western Allies invaded Germany from the west on 8 February 1945, and the German army suffered very heavy losses as the Allied armies crossed the Rhine river and surrounded the Ruhr industrial area even as the Soviet armies were driving ever deeper into Germany from the east. By April the Western Allied and Soviet armies were closing on each other, constricting an already narrow gap of German-controlled territory running from Berlin to Munich and including Nürnberg. As General Omar N. Bradley’s US 12^th Army Group continued to push eastward toward Berlin, General Jacob L. Devers’s US and French 6^th Army Group received orders to push into southern Germany and thence into Austria. Despite the heavier resistance by the German army in the south than the north, Patch’s 7^th Army broke out of its bridgehead on the Rhine river in the area to the south of Frankfurt-am-Main on 28 March. After fierce fighting, the 7^th Army captured Aschaffenburg in Bavaria on 3 April and Heilbronn in Württemberg on 12 April, which left Nürnberg wholly exposed to US attack.

On 12 April the German high command ordered the unconditional defence of all cities, and Adolf Hitler placed Karl Holz, the Reichsverteidigungskommissar (Reich defence commissioner) and Gauleiter of Franconia in charge of the German forces in the Nürnberg area.

On 15 April, the 7^th Army advanced toward Nürnberg, rapidly capturing Bamberg in the process. As the 7^th Army neared Nürnberg, Holz ordered the creation of anti-tank barriers as well as anti-aircraft guns around the old city. Holz’s forces were heavily outnumbered, but he still believed that 'the Americans will break sooner or later'.

Under Holz’s command was a very mixed force of defenders including two infantry divisions (estimated at anything between 20,000 and 50,000 men), two infantry regiments (estimated at between 2,000 and 11,000 men), Russkaya Osvoboditel’naya Armiya (Russian Liberation Army) collaborationist elements (estimated at 18,000 men) and extemporised Luftwaffe and Volkssturm units (estimated at more than 2,000 men).

By 16 April, the 7^th Army had begun its assault on Nürnberg, not from the west as Holz had expected, but from the east and north-east. By the end of the day, the US forces had captured the outskirts of Erlenstegen and Buch. Hitler had ordered that the city’s electricity, gas and water plants be destroyed, but this order was not implemented.

By 17 April, the 7^th Army captured the railway marshalling yard and the area surrounding it, as well as the Veilhofstrasse and Woehrd neighbourhoods. By the evening, the airport to the north had been taken, and US artillery began to shell the old city. US troops met fierce resistance in this latter area on 18 April, and many building were destroyed or severely damaged, these including the historic Nürnberger Burg castle. On 18 April, as artillery continued to shell the old city, US troops were able to reach the old city via the Burgschmietstrasse.

On 20 April, the US 3^rd Division under the command of Major General John W. O’Daniel and the US 45^th Division under the command of Major General Robert T. Frederick laid siege to the old city. German resistance was so great that US heavy artillery and air support were deployed. Holz ordered his men continue their resistance: Holz himself was trapped in the police station of the old city, but continued to resist. After US troops had given him four opportunities for a peaceful surrender, Holz was killed as US troops overran the building. After Holz’s death, the defending forces' second-in-command, Oberst Wolf, realised that the city could no longer be held and at 11.00 ordered all German troops in the area to surrender. On the evening of 20 April, the US flag was raised in the Adolf Hitler Platz, formally ending the battle.