Ardennes/The Bulge: Before the Bulge The Bulge Begins, 16–20 Dec The Bulge Grows, 21-25 Dec
The Bulge Contained, 26 Dec–2 Jan The Bulge Eliminated, 3 Jan–
Order of Battle, 15 Dec '44 Order of Battle, 25 Dec '44 Northwind in Alsace
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The Bulge Contained, 26 Dec–2 Jan The Bulge Eliminated, 3 Jan–
Order of Battle, 15 Dec '44 Order of Battle, 25 Dec '44 Northwind in Alsace
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bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Germany > The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > Nordwind, © 2025 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 23 Jun 2025
Operation Northwind, in German Unternehmen Nordwind, was a January 1945 German army counteroffensive into northern Alsace and portions of northern Lorraine launched in support of the main German counteroffensive in the Ardennes.
Operation Northwind, in German Unternehmen Nordwind, was a January 1945 German army counteroffensive into northern Alsace and portions of northern Lorraine launched in support of the main German counteroffensive in the Ardennes.
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With much of General Patton's Third Army diverted north to the Ardennes to counter the German advance in the Battle of the Bulge, General Patch's Seventh Army became responsible for most of the Allied line that faced the German Saarland and eastern Palatinate. On 1 January 1945, the Wehrmacht attacked from the north into the thinned American line.
Thus began the little-known Operation Nordwind, the last major German counteroffensive in the ETO. Operation Nordwind was on a much smaller scale than the German Ardennes counteroffensive, and unlike the Battle of the Bulge, US lines yielded rather than being penetrated. However, unlike the Bulge, German forces kept most of their Nordwind gains until mid-March when the US Seventh Army attacked north during Operation Undertone. |
Operation Nordwind, Northern Alsace, January 1945
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The above map shows the limit of the German advance, around 25 January when Operation Nordwind officially ended. By this date, the French and US operation to eliminate the Colmar Pocket to the south had already begun.
Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII Germany > The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > Nordwind webpage:
Major sources:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - WWII Germany > The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > Nordwind:
Major sources:
- Riviera to the Rhine (from 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/.
- Operation Northwind, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwind_(1944).
- Operation Nordwind, Northern Alsace, January 1945, map - http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Riviera/maps/USA-E-Riviera-34.jpg
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - WWII Germany > The ETO > Ardennes/The Bulge > Nordwind:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Dead module.