Event created by Quicksilver
CMP FH2 Campaign #15: The Last Winter
Battle #9: Operation Nordwind
History
"Late in the day of December 31, the left side of the American line near Sarreguemines suddenly trembled as the Germans opened fire with a well-placed barrage of artillery rounds, followed by a charge of 2,000 men of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division heading straight for the 397th Regiment of the 100th Infantry Division.
The next day, the four infantry divisions of XC and LXXXIX Corps (the 256th, 257th, 361st, and 559th Volksgrenadier Divisions), advancing quietly through the Low Vosges without a preliminary artillery preparation, and with their movements masked by fog and thick forests, infiltrated near Bitche the only unit standing in their way—Task Force Hudelson (94th and 117th Cavalry Squadrons, 62nd Armored Infantry Battalion, and a company of tank destroyers)—and managed to penetrate 10 miles into the seam between the 44th and 100th Divisions. That move shoved TF Hudelson aside, hit Maj. Gen. Robert T. Frederick’s 45th Infantry Division, and drove a wedge between Patch’s two corps, the XV and VI.
This assault was followed the next day by the experienced and well-equipped 6th SS Mountain Division, which thrust farther south and captured the town of Wingen-sur-Moder in the west of the low Vosges Mountains.
In an effort to contain the penetration, Patch released the 12th Armored Division’s Combat Command B to VI Corps. But the 12th Armored was relatively green and no one knew if they could do much to stop the enemy avalanche barreling through the mountains.
With bullets flying and shells screaming overhead, the stunned American troops reeled from the blow and began falling back until some order could be restored to their lines. This was the opening gambit for a series of moves that, over the next three weeks, would severely test the mettle of Seventh Army throughout Alsace-Lorraine.
As the Germans began their Alsace offensive, Eisenhower again gave serious thought to moving 6th Army Group back (thus losing all the ground that had been gained during the fall) and abandoning Strasbourg."
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Map edited by @Pr0z4c
