Battle

Operation Nordwind

31 Dec 1944 – 25 Jan 1945 · Alsace–Lorraine, near Haguenau

Operation Nordwind, Germany's last major offensive on the Western Front, was launched on 31 December 1944 in Rhineland-Palatinate, Alsace and Lorraine to support the Battle of the Bulge, and ended on 25 January 1945. German Army Group G under Johannes Blaskowitz and Army Group Upper Rhine under Heinrich Himmler attacked the thinly stretched US Seventh Army, aiming to destroy it and the French First Army and seize Strasbourg. The offensive was halted near Haguenau and the Allies held Strasbourg, although the Colmar Pocket stayed in German hands. Its failure cleared the way for the Allied invasion of Germany.