Eisenhower's Thorn on the Rhine: The Battles for the Colmar Pocket, 1944–45

By: Nathan N. Prefer

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Synopsis: &“The difficult fighting in the Colmar Pocket is brought to vivid life&” in this WWII chronicle of the Allied 6th Army Group (WWII History). By the fall of 1944, the Western Allied forces appeared to be unstoppable. The summer&’s Normandy invasion had driven the Germans out of northern France and most of the Low Countries. In September, they liberated France&’s southern coast with little opposition. Then, Allied divisions began lining up along the Rhine. While the Americans met a nasty surprise in the Ardennes, the Germans also held on to the province of Alsace, maintaining a hard pocket around the city of Colmar. On New Year&’s Eve, they launched Operation Northwind, a counteroffensive that nearly put Allied forces back on their heels. On January 12, 1945, Eisenhower could only tell George Marshall that Colmar was &“a very bad thorn in our side today.&” This is the story of the Sixth Army Group, a unit that combined US and French forces, and its unexpectedly bloody and protracted battle for the Colmar Pocket. Amidst a horrific winter and rough terrain, interspersed by demolished towns, the Allied Army Group traded blows with the German 19th in a ferocious campaign. This book informs us fully of the tremendous and costly struggle waged in an often-neglected sector of World War II&’s European Theater.