Before the Canadian infantry could launch their attack on the city of Harlingen, the artillery, including many light Flak (aircraft fire) guns first had to be eliminated. To achieve this, artillery bombardments began on the evening of Monday 16 April 1945. 

The shelling was carried out with relative accuracy thanks to the resistance having created maps indicating all German positions and occupied buildings. 

Nevertheless, several civilian homes were hitt, including a house on Dokstraat rpad which was completely destroyed, though fortunately there were no injuries. However, there were civilian casualties due to the shelling. In total, five civilians lost their lives. One of them was 7-year-old Jacob Christiaan (Japie) Kuijper, who lived with his parents on Weeshuisstraat road. 

The printing house at Lanen number 21, with its upstairs residence inhabited by the Van Vliet family, was also hit. Wieger Pieter van Vliet, officially recorded as 22 years old and a printer, and his brother Pieter Wieger van Vliet, recorded as 24 years old and a medical student, were killed. Also present in the house was 20-year-old G. Zijlstra, who was injured and later had to have a foot amputated. 

24-year-old Petronella (Nelly) Nota, who lived on Trekweg road outside Harlingen, was seriously injured during the fighting between Canadian and German forces and later succumbed to her wounds. 

A day earlier on 15 April, after sabotage actions in the village of Herbaijum, the German forces fired shells toward Kiesterzijl hamlet. Some of these shells also landed in Midlum village, where 31-year-old carpenter, Lodewijk Tichelaar, was injured and died a few days later. 

During the liberation of Harlingen, at least nine German soldiers were killed, whilst on the Canadian side there were only a few (lightly) wounded.