History
After his appointment as commander-in-chief of Army Group Upper Rhine, reichsführer Heinrich Himmler formed the headquarters of the XIV SS Army Corps in November 1944. Because there were not enough combat units available, the corps consisted of only one division, the 553rd Volksgrenadier Division. The force acted as a reserve for the army group.
The Corps was given the task of attacking and pinning the American units at Gambsheim at the start of Operation Nordwind, so that they could not be used as reinforcements against the main attack, which would be deployed more to the north.
In the night of 4 to 5 January 1945, the 553rd People's Grenadier Division crossed the Rhine near Gambsheim, where the Moder and Zorn rivers merge. Because most US units of the 6th Army Corps fought in the north and thanks to the help of the pro-German population, the Germans were able to quickly extend their bridgehead to Kilstett, Herrlisheim and Offendorf.
General Alexander Patch, commander of the 7th US Army, ordered the newly arrived 12th Armored Division to destroy the bridgehead on January 8. This attack and a second attack on January 13 failed with heavy losses.
On January 14, 1945, the XIV SS Army Corps received the 3rd SS Panzer Battalion of the 10th SS Armored Division, led by SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel. The experienced Harmel ignored the orders of his corps commander and lauched an attack on 16 January 1945. His heavy German tanks destroyed an American tank battalion and overran the accompanying armored infantry. Despite this victory, the German attack stalled. Canals and drainage canals cut through the landscape and many German tanks got stuck or had mechanical problems.
On the southern edge, the 3rd French Infantry Division expelled the 553rd Volksgrenadiers Division from Kilstett and by January 21, the German offensive came to an end.
In the East, the Soviet Vistula–Oder Offensive had broken out and several German units were sent from the West to the endangered Eastern front. The headquarters of the XIV SS Army Corps were dissolved and the staff formed the X SS Corps that was sent to Pommern.
The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944, between American and German forces on the Western Front during World War II, in the Hürtgen Forest, a 140 km2 (54 sq mi) area about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the Belgian–German border. It was the longest battle on German ground during World War II and is the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought.
The 6th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army during World War II. It was formed with a cadre from the 2nd Armored Division. 6th AD was formed under the 1942 Table of Organization and Equipment.
The 9th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army during World War II. In honor of their World War II service, the 9th was officially nicknamed the "Phantom Division."
The 12th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. It fought in the European Theater of Operations in France, Germany and Austria, between November 1944 and May 1945.
The 14th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army assigned to the Seventh Army of the Sixth Army Group during World War II. It remains on the permanent roll of the Regular Army as an inactive division, and is eligible for reactivation. The division is officially nicknamed the "Liberators".
The 16th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. In its one and only combat operation, the 16th Armored Division liberated the city of Pilsen in western Czechoslovakia, an operation that influenced the landscape of post-war Europe.
The Siege of Bastogne was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German mechanized forces had to seize the roadways through eastern Belgium. Because all seven main roads in the densely wooded Ardennes highlands converged on Bastogne, just a few miles away from the border with neighboring Luxembourg, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack. The siege was from 20 to 27 December, until the besieged American forces were relieved by elements of General George Patton's Third Army.
The 9th Panzer Division was a panzer division of the Wehrmacht Army during World War II. It came into existence after 4th Light Division was reorganized in January 1940. The division was headquartered in Vienna, in the German military district Wehrkreis XVII.
This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva (1944).
The Colmar Pocket was the area held in central Alsace, France, by the German Nineteenth Army from November 1944 to February 1945, against the U.S. 6th Army Group during World War II. It was formed when 6th AG liberated southern and northern Alsace and adjacent eastern Lorraine, but could not clear central Alsace. During Operation Nordwind in December 1944, the 19th Army attacked north out of the Pocket in support of other German forces attacking south from the Saar into northern Alsace. In late January and early February 1945, the French First Army cleared the Pocket of German forces.
The 183rd Volksgrenadier Division was a German unit during World War II.
The Battle of Elsenborn Ridge refers to the Northernmost German attacks during the Battle of the Bulge, the area from Elsenborn Ridge itself to Monschau, the only sector of the American front line attacked during the Battle of the Bulge where the Germans failed to advance. The battle centered on the boomerang-shaped Elsenborn Ridge east of Elsenborn, Belgium. In this region, Elsenborn Ridge marks the westernmost ridge of the Ardennes, rising more than 2,000 feet (600 m) above sea level; unlike the uplands further north, east and south, it has been extensively logged. West of Elsenborn Ridge, where the land descends in gentle hills to the cities of Liège and Spa, was a network of Allied supply bases and the a well-developed road network. The Germans planned on using two key routes through the area to seize Antwerp and force a separate peace with the United States and Britain. Capturing Monschau, the nearby village of Höfen, and the twin villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt just east of Elsenborn Ridge, were key to the success of the German plans, and Hitler committed his best armored units to the area.
The Upper Rhine High Command, also incorrectly referred to as Army Group Upper Rhine, was a short-lived headquarters unit of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) created on the Western Front during World War II. The Upper Rhine High Command was formed on 26 November 1944 and deactivated on 25 January 1945. The sole commander of this headquarters unit was Heinrich Himmler.
Herrlisheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The town dates from the 8th century. Herrlisheim was the scene of very heavy fighting during Operation Nordwind, an offensive launched by the German Army during World War II that inflicted considerable damage to the town.
The Battle of St. Vith was an engagement in Belgium fought during the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine in World War II. It was one of several battles on December 16, 1944 constituting the opening of Germany's Ardennes counteroffensive.
Operation Undertone was a large assault by the U.S. Seventh and French 1st Armies of the U.S. Sixth Army Group as part of the Allied invasion of Germany in March 1945 during World War II.
Major General Roderick Random Allen was a senior United States Army officer, who commanded the 20th and 12th Armored Divisions during World War II. Under his command of the 12th AD, the division defended Strasbourg from recapture against overwhelming odds; it provided the armored contingent in the closure of the Colmar Pocket and the liberation of Colmar; it spearheaded General George Patton's drive to the Rhine; captured intact the remaining bridge over the Danube River and broke the German defense line, making it the first time in recorded history that the Danube had failed to stop an invading army; and played a major part in blocking the Brenner Pass, thereby trapping over a million German soldiers in Italy as the war ended. En route to the Brenner Pass it overran eleven concentration camps at Landsberg, Germany.
The 824th Tank Destroyer Battalion was a tank destroyer battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War. It saw service during 1944–45 in the European Theater of Operations, primarily attached to the 100th Infantry Division in an infantry support role. After fighting through France and southern Germany, the battalion ended the war in Austria.
The 61st Rifle Corps was a Red Army infantry corps during World War II, formed twice. The 61st Rifle Corps was formed firmed in Tula during September 1939. After Operation Barbarossa, it was transferred to the front in Belarus and fought in the Battle of Smolensk. After suffering heavy losses at Smolensk, it was disbanded in early August 1941. Reformed in spring 1943, the corps fought in Operation Kutuzov, the Lublin–Brest Offensive and the Berlin Offensive. The corps was disbanded after the end of the war in summer 1945.
Operation Southwind was a German offensive operation on the Eastern Front in Hungary, from 17–24 February 1945. The Germans succeeded to eliminate the Soviet bridgehead on the west bank of the river Garam in preparation for Operation Spring Awakening. This was one of the last successful German offensives in the Second World War.
