On Thursday evening 12 April 1945, Winschoten residents witnessed the fleeing of a large number of 'Landwachters' (Dutch paramilitary organisation founded by the German occupation forces). The 'Landwachters' tried to get to safety across the border but were soon turned back in Germany. There was renewed excitement in Winschoten on Friday morning when shells were placed near the pillars of the bridges.

The German soldiers, who had set up light artillery at the Winschoter Hoogebrug early in the morning, were forming a front here that held back the Allies for two days. They had also set up artillery on Beertsterweg and made machine-gun nests near Zuiderveen. Winschoten would not fall into Allied hands without a fight. On Friday afternoon the first artillery duel took place: shells flew over Winschoten and there were casualties.

On Saturday 14 April, the violence of war continued. The German soldiers had placed artillery in the countryside between Winschoten and Hoogebrug and shots were heard almost continuously all day. Meanwhile, the Dutch national tricolour flag had been seen hoisted in nearby Oude Pekela and Polish troops had reportedly advanced to the Zuiderveen bridge and to the 'Hoogebrug'.

Yet the expected storm attack by the Polish 1st Armored Division and Belgian commandos on Winschoten failed to materialise. The advancing Allies thought that Winschoten was still strongly occupied by German troops. On Saturday afternoon, about a dozen Allied planes with Polish crews appeared, attacking the German positions near the Winschoter Hoogebrug with bombs and machine gun fire. Not only was the German artillery silenced, but the German troops soon fled in disorder: many on stolen bicycles, others with horses and wagons.

In the evening of 14 April, the last German soldiers pulled out of Winschoten having first set fire to the city's grand houses and the Shell office building along the Nieuwe Haven (New Harbour). That night the residents of Winschoten could not sleep because of the screams of the departing German soldiers and the whistling of the Polish shells. The news quickly spread that the German troops had fled, and many inhabitants marched in the pouring rain in the direction of Zuiderveen and Hoogebrug to welcome the Polish liberators with cheers.

Very soon after the departure of the occupying forces, the OrdeDienst (Order Service, military resistance group) of Winschoten came into action. Led by the local commander of the Internal Armed Forces, the resistance ensured that order was maintained and that Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (Dutch National Socialist Movement) members and other country traitors were rounded up and locked up. In cooperation with the newly appointed "Military Authority," measures were taken to keep public life running smoothly to allow all services to function and to keep the joy of liberation from erupting too violently.