Operation Nordwind, 1945: Hitler's Last Offensive in the West

100 Pages·2010·13.78 MB·english

by  Steven J. Zaloga

CAMPAIGN • 223
OPERATION
NORDWIND 1945
Hitler's last offensive in the West
STEVEN J ZALOGA ILLUSTRATED BY JIM LAURIER
Series editor Marcus Cowper
First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Osprey Publishing, AUTHOR'S NOTE
Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford 0X2 OPH, UK
The author would like to thank the staff of the US Army's Military History
443 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, USA
Institute (MHI) at the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, PA and the staff
E-mail: [email protected]
of the US National Archive, College Park for their kind assistance in the
preparation of this book. Thanks also go to Art Loder for his help on
© 2010 Osprey Publishing Ltd Luftwaffe issues.
For brevity, the traditional conventions have been used when referring to
units. In the case of US units, 1 /179th Infantry refers to the 1 st Battalion,
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private
179th Infantry Regiment. The US Army traditionally uses arabic numerals
study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright,
for divisions and smaller independent formations (70th Division, 781 st Tank
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be
Battalion), roman numerals for corps (VI Corps), spelled-out numbers for
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or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical,
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of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers. In the case of German units, 2./Panzer-Regiment 7 refers to the 2nd
Company, Panzer-Regiment 7; ll./Panzer-Regiment 7 indicates 2nd
Battalion, Panzer-Regiment 7. German corps have two accepted forms,
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. the formal version using roman numerals (LXXXIV Armee Korps) or the
shortened 84. AK which is the preferred form used here for clarity. Likewise,
the German field armies are contracted in the usual fashion (e.g. AOK 19
ISBN: 978 1 84603 683 5
for Nineteenth Army).
PDF e-book ISBN: 978 1 84603 898 3
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CONTENTS
ORIGINS OF THE BATTLE 5
CHRONOLOGY 7
THE STRATEGIC SETTING 9
THE OPPOSING COMMANDERS 18
German Commanders . American and French Commanders
OPPOSING PLANS 25
German plans . American Plans
THE OPPOSING ARMIES 30
Wehrmacht . US Army . French Army
THE CAMPAIGN 44
Operation Nordwind . The Strasbourg Controversy . Shifting the Schwerpunkt
Hatten-Rittershoffen . The Gambsheim Cancer . Operation Cheerful: Strangling the Colmar Pocket
AFTERMATH 88
THE BATTLEFIELD TODAY 90
FURTHER READING 91
INDEX 95
6th Army Group advance to the Rhine, November 14 to December 16, 1944
ORIGINS OF THE BATTLE
In the waning hours of New Year's Eve 1944, the Wehrmacht launched
Operation Nordwind, the last German offensive of World War II in the west.
It was an attempt to exploit the disruptions caused by the Ardennes offensive
further north in Belgium. When Patton's Third Army shifted two of its corps
to relieve Bastogne, the neighboring Seventh US Army was forced to extend
its front lines. This presented the Wehrmacht with a rare opportunity to
mass its forces against weakened Allied defenses. At stake was Alsace, a
border region that had been a bone of contention between France and
Germany for the past century. Taken from France by Germany in the wake
of the 1870 Franco-Prussian war, it returned to France after World War I in
1918, only to be retaken by Germany after France's 1940 defeat.
The fate of Alsace was of no particular concern to Eisenhower and the
Anglo-American forces in north-west Europe, and the initial plans were
simply to withdraw the Seventh US Army to more defensible positions in
the Vosges mountains until the more crucial Ardennes contest was settled.
However, the forfeit of the Alsatian capital of Strasbourg was completely
unacceptable to de Gaulle and the Free French forces, resulting in a political
firestorm that forced a reconsideration of Allied plans for dealing with
the German attacks. Hitler saw Alsace as the last tangible reminder of
Germany's great victory in 1940 and Strasbourg was the symbol of German
control on the west bank of the Rhine; he insisted the city be retaken. The
failure of the Ardennes offensive convinced Hitler that some new tactic had
to be employed when dealing with the Allies. Instead of a single large
offensive, Hitler decided to launch a series of smaller, sequential offensives.
As a result, some German commanders called the Alsace campaign the
"Sylwester offensives" after the central-European name for the New Year's
Eve celebrations.
The initial Nordwind offensive emanated out of the fortified border city
of Bitche, but made little progress in the face of stiff American resistance.
The American battle cry became "No Bulge at Bitche!" US units were
pulled off the Rhine near the Strasbourg area to reinforce the Bitche
sector, providing the local German commanders with another temporary
opportunity. A hasty river-crossing operation was staged at Gambsheim and
the bridgehead gradually expanded in the face of weak American opposition.
In view of the failure of the initial Nordwind offensive around Bitche, Hitler
shifted the focus of the Alsace operation farther east towards Hagenau,
attempting to link up the two attack forces and push the US Army away
from the Rhine. This led to a series of extremely violent tank battles
5
in the middle of January around the towns of Hatten-Rittershoffen and
Herrlisheim, which exhausted both sides. An experienced German Panzer
commander later called these winter battles the fiercest ever fought on the
Western Front.
When the Red Army launched its long-delayed offensive into central
Germany on January 14, the possibilities for further Wehrmacht offensives
in Alsace drew to an end. Panzer units were transferred to the Eastern Front,
and German infantry units began to establish defensive positions. With the
Wehrmacht exhausted and weakened, it was the Allied turn for action.
A large pocket of German troops was trapped on the west bank of the
Rhine around Colmar, and Eisenhower insisted that the Colmar Pocket be
eradicated. The lere Armee did not have the strength to do it quickly, so in
late January, additional American divisions were moved into Alsace from
the Ardennes front. In two weeks of fierce winter fighting, the German
Nineteenth Army was decisively defeated and its survivors retreated over
Alsatian civilians return to
the ruins of the village of the Rhine.
Mittelwihr on the eastern The January 1945 Alsace campaign fatally damaged one German field
slopes of the High Vosges
army and severely weakened a second. This became startlingly clear in
following the elimination
March 1945 when the US Army's lightning campaign crushed Heeresgruppe
of the Colmar Pocket in
February 1945. The wrecked G (Army Group G) in the Saar-Palatinate, later dubbed the "Rhine Rat
PzKpfw IV/70(A) was probably Race." The obliteration of the Wehrmacht's exhausted southern field armies
from Panzer-Brigade 106,
was the root cause of Patton's dramatic advance through southern Germany
which fought in these final
in April and May 1945.
battles. (NARA)
CHRONOLOGY
1944 December 27 Eisenhower warns Devers to be
prepared to pull back off the Alsatian
August 15, US Seventh Army lands in southern plains to the Vosges Mountains if the
France in Operation Dragoon, starting Germans attack.
the campaign to push Heeresgruppe G
out of southern and central France. Night
December 29/30 Heeresgruppe G units begin moving
November 13 6th Army Group begins offensive with into their attack positions.
Seventh US Army
overcoming the High Vosges defenses Midnight
and the French lere Armee December 31 Operation Nordwind is launched
the Belfort Gap. shortly before the start of the
new year.
November 19 lere Armee reaches the Rhine after
pushing across the Belfort Gap. 1945
November 23 Strasbourg is liberated by French January 4 Hitler admits the Ardennes offensive
2e Division Blindee. has failed; Heeresgruppe Oberrhein
is ordered to begin attacks over
November 28 lere Armee captures Mulhouse the Rhine.
and Belfort, opening access to the
Alsatian plains. January 5 Heeresgruppe Oberrhein creates
bridgehead over the Rhine north
December 10 Himmler takes over the new of Strasbourg near Gambsheim.
Heeresgruppe Oberrhein command,
which controls the isolated January 6 Focus of Operation Nordwind shifts
Colmar Pocket. from Bitche sector to Hagenau;
Kampfgruppe Feuchtinger begins
December 16 Wehrmacht begins Ardennes offensive. movement towards Hagenau forest.
December 19 6th Army Group is instructed January 8 Combat Command B, 12th Armored
to take over part of Patton's Division begins initial attack against
Third Army sector and go over Gambsheim bridgehead but is pushed
to a defensive posture. back in a day of fighting.
December 23 General Balck sacked as head January 9 Kampfgruppe Feuchtinger begins
of Heeresgruppe G; Blaskowitz attacks against Hatten, starting a
returns to command. week-long battle with 14th Armored
7
Division over control of Hatten- January 20/21 The 3rd Division, US XXI Corps
Rittershoffen and the gateway begins attacking towards Colmar.
through the Hagenau forest.
January 22 Heeresgruppen G and Oberrhein
January 14 Red Army launches Oder offensive meet on Alsatian plain but are
into central Germany, quickly forcing unable to overcome the Moder
the transfer of prime divisions to the river line; French II corps begins
Eastern Front. attack on the Erstein bulge
on northern shoulder of the
January 16 The 12th Armored Division resumes Colmar Pocket.
attacks on Gambsheim bridgehead
near Herrlisheim but is beaten back. January 25 Hitler calls off offensive operations
around Hagenau.
January 17 The 10. SS-Panzer Division intervenes
in Herrlisheim fighting; two US February 2 Allied forces reach outskirts of
battalions are wiped out. Colmar; 5e Division Blindee captures
center of the city the next day.
January 19 Attempts to push out of the
Gambsheim bridgehead are frustrated February 5 US and French troops link up at
and 10. SS-Panzer Division is shifted Rouffach, cutting off the western
to Hagenau front. portion of Colmar Pocket.
January 20 lere Armee launches opening phase of 1445hrs
Operation Cheerful - the reduction of February 8 Hitler authorizes withdrawal from the
the Colmar Pocket. Colmar Pocket, which is now less than
two miles deep.
January 20 Major-General Patch authorizes
VI Corps' withdrawal from positions 0800hrs
north of Hagenau forest to the Moder February 9 German pioneers blow up Rhine
river line after dark on the night of bridge at Chalampe, marking the
January 20/21. end of the Colmar Pocket.
8