Operation Nordwind 1945 - The 'Other' Battle of the Bulge

[Music] nordvind is the operation that is always laying in the shadow of its bigger brother the arden offensive operation nordvind often appears as a footnote to operation herb's navel better known to english-speaking audiences as the battle of the bulge but nordvind was a separate operation designed by hitler to respect the initiative on the western front as this huge arden offensive failed to live up to expectations it was in many respects a mini battle of the bulge where the germans tried to incorporate the lessons learned in the ardennes to another weakly defended stretch of the allied front and achieve a decisive breakthrough on the 16th of december 1944 hitler had unleashed operation herb's navel or autumn fog an attack by three army groups through the thinly held and hitherto very quiet ardennes sector the us front line in belgium and luxembourg the sixth panzer army in the north with an armored spearhead consisting of four ss panzer divisions was to strike north west towards the mers river and on to seize antwerp the major allied supply port on the western front below the sixth was the fifth panzer army led by four army panzer divisions also aiming for antwerp and below the fifth the seventh army an infantry-only force with more limited flank protection targets in total eight panzer divisions ten folks grenadier divisions and two parachute divisions would make the initial thrust equating to 410 000 men over 1400 tanks and assault guns and 2 600 artillery pieces against an 80 front held by just four american infantry divisions though the germans achieved surprise the preliminary artillery bombardment failed to smash the us infantry regiments holding the front line and though confused and with their communications disrupted many u.s units held their ground inflicting heavy losses on the advancing german infantry hitler knew that his panzers had to reach the mers river in less than four days or face massive allied counter attacks on the flanks of the german advance but things went from bad to worse though the sixth and fifth panzer armies managed to overcome u.s defenses it took longer than planned and a failure to capture the important road junction at bastogne really slowed things down the americans moved quickly to get reinforcements into the region and though a spearhead force from the fifth panzer army almost made it to the mers river it was stopped cold by a british attack while elsewhere u.s forces stopped any further german advances and began hammering the great bulge in their lines by christmas 1944 the german attack in the ardennes had stalled although fighting would continue until mid-january 1945 before the german bulge was eliminated hitler decided to launch a fresh offensive further south to try and take advantage of the disruption caused by the arden offensive the opportunity had arisen because the u.s third army under general patton had sent two of its court north to assist with containing and eliminating the german penetration in the ardennes to cover the hole left in the line the u.s seventh army had been forced to take over the third army's positions stretching its divisions very thinly in an area of france facing germany called alzas general dwight d eisenhower and the allied high command actually had little interest in the alzas region and wanted to withdraw the seventh army to more defensible positions but that would have meant abandoning the recently captured city of strasbourg something the french leader general charles de gaulle was not prepared to countenance inside strasbourg principal french city of the upper rhine valley while on a mission to assess bomb damage at a junkers engine plant air force's cameraman make a general survey of the liberated city germans have always regarded strasbourg as a german town to control the city's estimated 25 000 male germans and their families strict measures are taken by brigadier general leclair's french troops and other units of the us 15th army corps allied air attack caused only slight damage to the 11th century cathedral the 16th century clock will run after minor repairs past the cathedral on their way to a prisoner of war stockade go non-combatant germans because of the large numbers of nazis settled here since 1940 only the most notorious could be interned operating to the south of the u.s seventh army was the u.s and british equipped french first army consisting of excellent algerian and moroccan mountain troops and two french armored divisions alienating the french was not politically possible so the seventh army remained in its thinly held positions on the german border in alzas the province of al-zasas was of great symbolic importance to the germans and along with neighbouring lorraine the two provinces had been german on and off down the centuries and to hitler recapturing part of france would be an enormous propaganda victory echoing his victories of 1940 the u.s seventh and french first armies jointly formed the sixth army group a rather overlooked and sidelined allied force commanded by general jacob divers they had advanced from southern france after landing as part of operation dragoon the forgotten d-day in august 1944 and linked up with the u.s forces advancing from normandy german defenses in alsace were the responsibility of army group g and the colonel general johannes blaskowitz with 17 badly depleted and exhausted divisions equating to half a million troops of varying quality the us seventh and french first armies battered the germans through the voge mountains difficult battles in bad weather conditions on the 19th of november 1944 french spearheads reached the rhine river the very first allied troops to reach this symbolic geographic feature in the meantime the seventh armies us sixth corps got over the high voge mountains and fanned out towards savan the french second armored division captured strasbourg capital city of alsace on the 23rd of november 1944. german attempts to counter-attack were defeated with assistance from patton's third army to the north the only area of alzas now in german hands in december 1944 was a large pocket around the town of kolmar west of the rhine river higher command wanted the komar pocket abandoned and the divisions withdrawn across the river to defend the black forest in germany but predictably hitler ordered the pocket held as it was the last german foothold in alsace the sixth army group expected to be given permission to cross the rhine but eisenhower decided to emphasize operations further north why because the allied chiefs did not think that crossing the rhine in alsace would lead to a decisive breakthrough into germany as the sixth army group would have to battle through the black forest rather than the north german plane more suitable for armored exploitation general eisenhower also wanted to support an offensive by patton's third army into the tsar industrial region of germany all of this rather left general deva's sixth army group sitting on the fence audible more precise conducting missions to support other armies the us seventh army told to push north into the low voge mountains to assist patton's run to the rhine and the french first army ordered to crush the kolmar pocket in elsas both missions led to brutal winter fighting in heavy snow the seventh army had to fight through a section of the old maginot line around the fortress city of beach while another corps struck at the hagenau forest and the siegfried line beyond french operations to snuff out the colmar pocket made little headway against stout german defenses when the arden offensive broke in the north general patton shifted forces to support the thinly spread us forces around bastogne which meant that the us seventh army had to take over patton's vacated front leaving just four infantry divisions to hold a sector 126 miles long a ludicrous proposition when the germans realized how overstretched the us seventh army was in alsace the idea of a strike west to have helped support the stalled arden assault became attractive unlike in the ardennes operation nordvind was to be a local offensive in alsace hitler having realized that launching massive offensives in the west was no longer feasible after some discussion hitler approved a plan in late december 1944 the problems faced by army group g and alzas were similar to those faced in the ardennes poor winter weather that would cloak the germans from allied air power but also hamper movement by mobile forces due to the region's variable road system quality and terrain the us army also had captured some maginot line forts that would be difficult to retake german forces were to advance on two routes once again against usual doctrine but affording hitler two chances of success the date set for nordvind was the 31st of december 1944 new year's eve when the americans would hopefully be celebrating and fairly relaxed in their positions the german divisions of army group g earmarked to make the attack were typical late war formations the infantry units were nearly all vox grenadier divisions rebuilt formations with a core of combat experienced survivors leading large numbers of former luftwaffe and navy personnel and other men combed out of industry many were partly trained in infantry tactics and all the divisions were under strength and short of equipment the best units were the under strength 25th panzer grenadier division and 21st panzer division and the excellent sixth ss mountain division nord which was in the process of transferring from finland fort northwind the strongest unit in the attack was the 17th ss panzer grenadier division at nearly full strength and fully equipped in total 17 german divisions would make the attack against just four u.s divisions tank strength for the germans was very low compared with the massive armored forces used to attack in the ardennes with assault guns making up for the shortfall in actual tanks though some heavy tank destroyer units were used to stiffen the frontline attacking forces including shveha panzayega aptailung 653 with huge jugtiga tank destroyers the overall objective of nordvind was simply the destruction of as many enemy units as possible 30 minutes before midnight on the 31st of december 1944 nordvind opened the main assault was made by the 13th ss army corps using the 17th ss panzer grenadier division and the 36th fox grenadier division in the tsar valley the u.s 44th and 100th infantry divisions stopped this attack inflicting heavy casualties on the germans who couldn't get armour's support to help their infantry due to heavy snow conditions the battle rumbled on without achieving a breakthrough until the 3rd of january 1945 when the attacks in this sector were halted however the second prong of the nordvind attack consisting of the german 90th and 89th army corps struck out of the beach sector through low mountains and forests against minimal opposition over four days the four german divisions managed to push for 10 miles into the american lines the americans scrambled to try and block all the exits out of the mountain passes in the face of the german advance fresh german units pushed south from beach the forward elements of the 6th ss mountain division nord captured the village of vingen zamorda in the early hours of the 3rd of january but became surrounded what remained of this german force retreated on the night of the 6th to 7th of january this battle ended the first stage of operation nordvind the germans had largely failed to make inroads into the u.s defenses and had suffered significant casualties a partial pullback by u.s forces in the strasbourg region encouraged a fresh german attack the german 19th army corps in the colmar pocket would now be used to support the stalled nordvind operation incredibly some time previously hanoi shimla reishvura have been given command of army group upper rhine an assortment of burned out and battered infantry divisions and other units defending both the kolmar pocket and elsewhere on the german rhine border himmler had no military experience but hitler trusted him implicitly since the army's july bomb plot against hitler himmler ordered the 19th army corps to launch an attack towards the south of strasbourg codenamed operation zononvender or winter solstice simultaneously another army group upper rhine force the 14th ss corps would attack north of strasbourg himmler was determined to hand hitler strasbourg by the end of january 1945 to coincide with the 12th anniversary of hitler's coming to power in 1933. however instead of waiting for the 19th army corps in the colmar pocket to initiate operation sonnenvender on the 4th of january 1945 the 14th ss corps started crossing the rhine north of strasbourg the german forces were very threadbare most being badly under strength and undertrained vox grenadier divisions not actually ss with weak armored support however a bridgehead at the town of gamsheim was established by the 5th of january the small panzer force immediately probed out to the towns of hairless heim and oftendorf fox grenadiers and military police secured these towns american opposition being minimal on the 8th of january the actual operation zononvender began when the 198th infantry division attacked out of the colmar pocket pushing back french forces at airstein himmler increasingly interfered with army group g's nordvin planning army group g wanted to strike from rotback east of hagernau but himmler wanted a fresh attack to cut off the entire u.s sixth corps in the hagenau area and link up with the gamsheim bridgehead himmler was not to be refused and hitler backed this new offensive on the 6th of january 1945 the 21st panzer and 25th panzer grenadier divisions attacked from the beanvilled forest and seized some ground but in heavy snow the assault was halted near the town of oberhorden on the 8th of january after very stiff fighting the 21st panzer division got through the u.s defenses at oberodium then the 25th panzer grenadier division aimed to penetrate u.s defenses at the towns of hatton and rittershofen although chewed up by u.s artillery and minefields the panzer grenadiers and supporting stug3 assault guns managed to reach the outskirts of hattam u.s sherman tanks were defending the eritas hoffen and the leading german tank column was ambushed in a snowstorm losing six panzers u.s infantry and tanks tried to counter-attack at hatton for a week the two towns witnessed intense combat changing hands many times on the 11th of january the germans tried to get around hatton using two battle groups of the 21st panzer division engendering another massive battle in the flat surrounding countryside as with bastogne in the ardennes the germans had to push the americans out of hatton and rittershofen and committed more troops including luftwaffe paratroopers but all efforts ended in a bloody stalemate what changed for hitler was the red army's order offensive launched on the 14th of january 1945 with the aim of moving on berlin hitler ordered all armoured and mechanized forces progressively shifted from the ardennes and alsace to the eastern front seriously weakening the chances of both western offensives the battles of hatton and rittershofen were tank graveyards the us lost over 40 shermans and stewarts and the germans around 57 tanks and assault guns while all this was going on the americans ordered that the gamsheim bridgehead be eliminated weak and inexperienced u.s armored and infantry forces were sent to destroy the three and a half thousand german folk grenadiers holding hairlessheim and its surrounding fields the u.s assault went badly losing several tanks to german 88 millimeter flat guns while u.s armoured infantry fought into the town the weak u.s force was sent the 12th armored division to assist further assaults were made on herleshheim the u.s 43rd tank battalion losing 12 shermans to anti-tank guns in offendorf but armored infantry managed to occupy part of the town but were pushed out by a counter-attack by volks grenadiers however the germans had a nasty surprise in store for the 12th armored division a planned breakout from gamsheim by the 10th ss panzer division arriving at offendorf on the 16th of january the panzer regiment had 50 panzer 4s and 40 plus panthers they ran into a two-prong u.s attack on herlessheim and offenddorf the entire us-23rd tank battalion was destroyed or captured in hairlessheim 28 shermans being knocked out and 10 captured and reused by the 10th ss panzer division see my video about this battle link in the end screen the germans couldn't advance and the u.s couldn't retake the territory leading again to a stalemate but on the 20th of january 1945 the us seventh army was reinforced by now the german gains in the ardennes had been pinched out releasing troops to deal with the threat in alsace the decision was taken to withdraw to more defensible positions to break the stalemate north of the hagenau forest the u.s sixth corps withdrew to the murder river south of the hagenau forest on the 21st of january the germans due to bad weather failed to notice the u.s withdrawal on the 22nd of january now realizing what had happened the germans at rittershofen moved south and linked up with the gamsheim bridgehead joyous at their apparent victory they next move on bishtvilla and hagenau but were hit hard by the u.s defenses there on the 26th of january 1945 operations nordvind and zonan vender were halted for good the germans had managed to gain a few small footholds across the moda river line but these were soon pushed back by u.s forces on the 27th of january the panzer and panzer grenadier divisions left for the eastern front the germans had managed to recapture some territory around hagenau but importantly had failed to recapture strasbourg or any other operational objectives set by hitler though the germans managed to inflict 14 000 casualties on the u.s seventh army german army group g suffered 23 000 killed wounded and missing to add to the 70 to 100 000 casualties in the ardennes precipitating a serious manpower and equipment shortage when the allies crossed the rhine in spring 1945. in the end the ardennes and alsace offensives actually shortened the war for when spring came the allies faced much less formidable german defenses since so much infantry and armor had been thrown away in the winter of 1944-45 on hitler's hopeless last offensives in the west for those of you interested in the ardennes campaign my latest book operation swallow is set against the background of the battle of the bulge it is available in the us and uk in most bookshops and also online at amazon thanks for watching please do subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark feltham you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,826,117

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, Operation Nordwind, Ardennes Offensive, Himmler, Battle of the Bulge, Sherman tank, WW2

Id: HQwjXm9xpqE

Length: 23min 19sec (1399 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 29 2020

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