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 reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form field armies (Seventh Army) and arabic numerals for army groups (12th or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, Army Group). photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission 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 THE WOODLAND TRUST Editorial by llios Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK (www.iliospublishing.com) Page layout by Mark Holt Osprey Publishing are supporting the Woodland Trust, the UK's leading Index by Sandra Shotter woodland conservation charity, by funding the dedication of trees. Typeset in Sabon and Myriad Pro Maps by Bounford.com 3D bird's-eye views by The Black Spot Battlescene illustrations by Jim Laurier Originated by PDQ Digital Media Solutions Ltd Printed in China through Worldprint 10 11 12 13 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FOR A CATALOGUE OF ALL BOOKS PUBLISHED BY OSPREY MILITARY AND AVIATION PLEASE CONTACT: NORTH AMERICA Osprey Direct, c/o Random House Distribution Center, 400 Hahn Road, Westminster, MD 21157 E-mail: [email protected] ALL OTHER REGIONS Osprey Direct, The Book Service Ltd, Distribution Centre, Colchester Road, Frating Green, Colchester, Essex, C07 7DW E-mail: [email protected] www.ospreypublishing.com 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