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2 unusual facts about Operation Nordwind


Operation Nordwind

By 15 January at least seventeen German divisions (including units in the Colmar Pocket)from Army Group G and Army Group Upper Rhine, including the 6th SS Mountain, 17th SS Panzergrenadier, 21st Panzer, and 25th Panzergrenadier Divisions were engaged in the fighting.

In February, with the assistance of the U.S. XXI Corps, the French 1st Army collapsed the Colmar Pocket and completely cleared the west bank of the Rhine River of German forces in the area south of Strasbourg.


Henning Linden

At the end of January, 1945 the rest of the division arrived in France, and as part of the Seventh Army the 42nd penetrated German defenses in the Haardt Mountains, crossed the Siegfried Line, bridged the Rhine River, and captured the cities of Wurzburg, Schweinfurt, Fürth and Donauworth.


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