Operation Nordwind

Operation North Wind
Part of the Western Front of World War II
Operation Nordwind
Date 31 December 1944 – 25 January 1945 Location Alsace and Lorraine, France Result Tactical Allied retreat
Belligerents
United States France	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Jacob L. Devers Alexander Patch Jean de Lattre de Tassigny	Johannes Blaskowitz Hans von Obstfelder Heinrich Himmler Siegfried Rasp
Units involved
Seventh Army XV Corps 103rd Infantry Division 44th Infantry Division 100th Infantry Division 63rd Infantry Division VI Corps 42nd Infantry Division 45th Infantry Division 70th Infantry Division 79th Infantry Division French 1st Army I Corps 1st Infantry Division 2nd Armored Division 3rd Algerian Division II Corps 1st Armored Division 1st Colonial Division 3rd Moroccan Division 4th Moroccan Division 5th Armored Division 10th Infantry Division XXI Corps 36th Infantry Division 12th Armored Division 14th Armored Division	1st Army 25th Panzergrenadier Division 21st Panzer Division 6th SS Mountain Division XIII SS Corps 19th Volksgrenadier Division 36th Volksgrenadier Division 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division XC Corps 559th Volksgrenadier Division 257th Volksgrenadier Division LXXXIX Corps 361st Volksgrenadier Division 245th Infantry Division 256th Volksgrenadier Division German 19th Army 10th SS Panzer Division LXIV Corps 189th Infantry Division 198th Infantry Division 708th Volksgrenadier Division 16th Infantry Division LXIII Corps 338th Infantry Division 159th Infantry Division 716th Infantry Division 269th Infantry Division
Strength
295,000 men 125,000 men	?
Casualties and losses
United States 29,000  France 2,000	Nazi Germany 23,000

Seventh Army

Operation North Wind (Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. It began on 31 December 1944 in Alsace and Lorraine in northeastern France, and ended on 25 January.

In a briefing at his military command complex at Adlerhorst, Adolf Hitler declared in his speech to his division commanders on 28 December 1944 (three days prior to the launch of Operation Nordwind): "This attack has a very clear objective, namely the destruction of the enemy forces. There is not a matter of prestige involved here. It is a matter of destroying and exterminating the enemy forces wherever we find them."

The goal of the offensive was to break through the lines of the U.S. Seventh Army and French 1st Army in the Upper Vosges mountains and the Alsatian Plain, and destroy them. This would leave the way open for Operation Dentist (Unternehmen Zahnarzt), a planned major thrust into the rear of the U.S. Third Army which would lead to the destruction of that army.

On 31 December 1944, German Army Group G—commanded by Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz—and Army Group Oberrhein ("Upper Rhein")—commanded by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler—launched a major offensive against the thinly stretched, 110 kilometres (68 mi)-long front line held by the U.S. 7th Army. Operation Nordwind soon had the understrength U.S. 7th Army in dire straits. The 7th Army —at the orders of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower— had sent troops, equipment, and supplies north to reinforce the American armies in the Ardennes involved in the Battle of the Bulge.

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