Operation Nordwind order of battle

Operation Nordwind was launched by German ground forces on 31 December 1944 against U.S. and French ground forces in the Rhineland-Palatinate and the Alsace and Lorraine regions of southwestern Germany and northeastern France as part of the European Theatre in World War II. It ended on 25 January 1945.

North of Strasbourg

Allied Forces Sixth Army Group[1] Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers Forces deployed North to South: US Seventh Army[2] Lieutenant General Alexander McC. Patch[a] XV Corps Major General Wade H. Haislip 103rd Infantry Division (Maj. Gen. Charles Haffner) 44th Infantry Division (Brig. Gen. William F. Dean) 100th Infantry Division (Maj. Gen. Withers A. Burress) 63rd Infantry Division (Brig. Gen. Frederick Harris) VI Corps Major General Edward H. Brooks 45th Infantry Division (Maj. Gen. Robert Frederick) 70th Infantry Division (Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Herren) 42nd Infantry Division (Maj. Gen. Harry J. Collins) 79th Infantry Division (Maj. Gen. Ira Wyche) French 2nd Armored Division (Gen. Div. Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque)[b]

Axis Forces Army Group G[3] Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz First Army Generalleutnant Hans von Obstfelder 25th Panzergrenadier Division (Oberst Arnold Burmeister) 21st Panzer Division (Generalleutnant Edgar Feuchtinger) 6th SS Mountain Division Nord (SS-Gruppenführer Karl-Heinrich Brenner) XIII SS Corps SS-Obergruppenführer Max Simon[c] 19th Volksgrenadier Division (Generalleutnant Walter Wißmath) 36th Volksgrenadier Division (Generalmajor Helmut Kleikamp) 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen (SS-Standartenführer Hans Lingner) XC Corps General der Flieger Erich Petersen 559th Volksgrenadier Division (Generalleutnant Kurt Freiherr von Mühlen) 257th Volksgrenadier Division (Generalmajor Erich Seidel) LXXXIX Corps General der Infanterie Gustav Höhne 361st Volksgrenadier Division (Generalmajor Alfred Philippi) 245th Infantry Division (Generalleutnant Edwin Sander) 256th Volksgrenadier Division (Generalmajor Gerhard Franz)

South of Strasbourg (Colmar Pocket)

Allied Forces Sixth Army Group (cont.) Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers Forces deployed North to South: French First Army[4] Lieutenant General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny[d] II Corps Géneral Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert 1st Armored Division (Gén. Aimé Sudré) 9th Colonial Infantry Division (Gén. Joseph Magnan) 2nd Moroccan Infantry Division (Gén. Marcel Carpentier) 4th Moroccan Mountain Division (Gén. Réne de Hesdin) 5th Armored Division (Gén. Henri de Vernejoul) 10th Infantry Division (Gén. Pierre Billotte) US XXI Corps Major General Frank W. Milburn 12th Armored Division (Maj. Gen. Roderick R. Allen) 14th Armored Division (Maj. Gen. Albert Smith) 36th Infantry Division (Maj. Gen. John Dahlquist) I Corps Géneral Antoine Béthouart 1st Infantry March Division (Gén. Diego Brosset) 3rd Algerian Infantry Division (Gén. Augustin Guillaume)

Axis Forces Army Group Upper Rhine[5] Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler Nineteenth Army General der Infanterie Siegfried Rasp 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg (SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel) LXIV Corps General der Infanterie Helmut Thumm 189th Infantry Division (Generalmajor Eduard Zorn)[e] 198th Infantry Division (Generalmajor Otto Schiel) 708th Volksgrenadier Division (Generalmajor Wilhelm Bleckwenn) 16th Infantry Division LXIII Corps General der Infanterie Erich Abraham 338th Infantry Division (Generalmajor Konrad Barde)[f] 159th Infantry Division (Generalmajor Heinrich Bürky) 716th Infantry Division (Generalmajor Wolf Ewert) 269th Infantry Division (Generalleutnant Hans Wagner) XIV SS Corps SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski[g] 553rd Volksgrenadier-Division (Generalmajor Gerhard Hüther) 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg (from 15 January) (SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel)

Notes

1. Died of pneumonia approx. 5-1/2 months after the end of the war in Europe.
2. Leclerc, the 2nd Armored's commander, refused to serve under de Lattre owing to the latter's having served under Pétain, whom Leclerc considered to be a collaborationist. [Beevor, p. 326]
3. Served approx. 8 years for war crimes
4. Later successfully led French forces against the Việt Minh in the First Indochina War.
5. Killed in action 4 February.
6. Committed suicide 4 May.
7. Brutally suppressed the Warsaw uprising; died in prison 1972.