bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Germany > The ETO > Alsace-Lorraine, 1945 > Colmar Pocket, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 9 Jan 2024.
The Colmar Pocket was a German salient that remained in southern Alsace after the November 1944 liberation of the remainder of souther and central Alsace.
The Colmar Pocket was a German salient that remained in southern Alsace after the November 1944 liberation of the remainder of souther and central Alsace.
Eliminating the Colmar Pocket, January-February 1945
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Allied planners hoped to eliminate the Colmar Pocket while the ground remained frozen. Thus, on 20 January 1945 while Operation Nordwind continued in northern Alsace-Lorraine, combat began to eliminate the pocket. Eventually three Allied corps were involved:
On 5 February the Colmar Pocket was surrounded by French and US troops and on 9 February the pocket was cleared. Surviving German soldiers retreated across the Rhine River, destroying the remaining bridges. The entire left bank of the upper Rhine, from Strasbourg upstream to the Swiss border, was now in Allied hands. ETO divisions tied up minding the pocket could now be used elsewhere. |
The Colmar Pocket - 20 Jan - 5 Feb 1945
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The US XXI Corps
The Seventh Army's XXI Corps became operational on 13 January 1945 and was assigned to the French First Army and inserted between the First and Second French Corps on 28 January. Here is what I know of its divisional composition during the elimination of the Colmar Pocket:
During Operation Undertone, the Seventh Army's advance on the Siegfried Line in mid-March 1945, XXI Corps, with a different complement of divisions, was on the Seventh Army's left flank.
The Seventh Army's XXI Corps became operational on 13 January 1945 and was assigned to the French First Army and inserted between the First and Second French Corps on 28 January. Here is what I know of its divisional composition during the elimination of the Colmar Pocket:
- 3rd Infantry Division, VI Corps --> French II Corps 15 Dec --> XXI Corps 28 Jan --> French II Corps 15 Feb --> XV Corps 12 Mar.
- 28th Infantry Division, VIII Corps, First Army --> French II Corps 20 Jan --> XXI Corps 28 Jan --> V Corps, First Army 21 Feb.
- 75th Infantry Division, First Army reserve --> XXI Corps 30 Jan --> Seventh Army reserve 11 Feb; ended up in Ninth Army.
- 12th Armored Division, VI Corps --> XXI Corps 3 Feb --> XV Corps 11 Feb; remained in Seventh Army.
During Operation Undertone, the Seventh Army's advance on the Siegfried Line in mid-March 1945, XXI Corps, with a different complement of divisions, was on the Seventh Army's left flank.
Sources for Big Pigeon's The ETO > Alsace-Lorraine, 1945 > Colmar Pocket webpage:
Major Sources:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The ETO > Alsace-Lorraine, 1945 > Colmar Pocket:
† Bates, Stuart McCain, SN 37-475-399, US Army, Pott. Co.
Major Sources:
- Chapter XXIX, The Colmar Pocket, of Riviera to the Rhine (The United States Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations series, by Jeffrey J. Clarke and Robert Ross Smith, 1993) - http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Riviera/USA-E-Riviera-29.html.
- Audie Murphy, webpage header photo, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy - Audie Murphy won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in the Colmar Pocket. At the time he was a company commander, although still a teenager. Later he had a career in Hollywood. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
- Southern ETO Front, 1 Jan & 21 Jan 1945, map, https://www.alamy.com/allies-advance-on-the-southern-front-january-1945-alsace-lorraine-ww2-1968-map-image242587220.html - C/O Antiqua Print Gallery of London, England, https://www.antiquemapsandprints.com. Taken from Victory in the West, Volume 2, The Defeat of Germany, by Major L. F. Ellis.
- The Colmar Pocket - 20 Jan - 5 Feb 1945, map, http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Riviera/maps/USA-E-Riviera-35.jpg - Map #35 in Riviera to the Rhine.
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The ETO > Alsace-Lorraine, 1945 > Colmar Pocket:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Dead module.
† Bates, Stuart McCain, SN 37-475-399, US Army, Pott. Co.
- Co. C, 756th Tank Bn., (attached to 3rd Inf. Div.), (attached to French II Corps), Seventh Army; KIA 24 Jan 1945 north of Colmar, Alsace, France; The ETO > Alsace-Lorraine, 1945 > Colmar Pocket.
- 28th Inf. Div., XXI Corps, Seventh Army; KIA 1 Feb 1945 near Colmar, Alsace, France; The ETO > Alsace-Lorraine, 1945 > Colmar Pocket.