Kevin Christensen Posted January 17, 2000 Share Posted January 17, 2000 Does anyone know any good accounts of this battle during the Nordwind Offense in January 1945. Besides the stories I heard from my Dad, and Von Luck's comment from the German side that it was the worst fighting he saw anywhere, I haven't seen much. Nordwind is typically treated as an afterthought to the Bulge, if at all. As I recall, Charles Whiting's book on Nordwind doesn't say anything about the action. A reviewer of that book at Amazon makes this intriguing comment: "Hatten and Rittershoffen was an extremely vicious battle. Reviewer: A reader In the battle of Hatten and Rittershoffen over 5000 German and American soldiers were killed wounded or missing. Over 100 destroyed tanks of both sides littered the battlefield within and surrounding the utterly pulverized villages on the Northern Alsatian Plain along the upper Rhine River during the 12 day tank-infantry battle. This battle between the U.S 14th Armored,79th Infantry and 42nd Infantry Divisions and the German 21st Panzer, 25th Panzer Grenadier, 7th Parachute, and 47th Volks Grenadier Divisions should be the subject of exhaustive research because its received little attention from historians." I've seen a little bit in the 79th Divisional history, and some in a book called Winter Storm : War in Northern Alsace, November 1944 - March 1945 by Lise M. Pommois. Plus, I've seen a little bit about some of the 827th TD actions during the fight. All of this makes me very very curious. Anyone know any good sources or accounts? Kevin Christensen Lawrence, KS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted January 18, 2000 Share Posted January 18, 2000 I don't know anything about Nordwind, but it sure sounds like a great candidate for the metacampaign that Fionn and others are developing. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted January 18, 2000 Share Posted January 18, 2000 Nordwind is probably one of the most underdocumented corps level operations the Germans ever launched, at least on the Western Front. It was very quickly overshadowed by the Bulge and hasn't been dusted off very much since. As far as Whiting (the author) goes, he is a good writer but not a very deep historian. If you are looking for detailed accounts of the battles you most likely won't find it in Whiting's book. But if you want to read about the battle from a more superficial standpoint, I am sure it is one of the best out there. I have a half dozen books by Whiting (maybe more!) and they are very good reads and general overviews. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kevi Posted January 18, 2000 Share Posted January 18, 2000 I have Whiting's book too. Thanks for the post. It got me interested to that battle again. I wonder if the US Army histories (the green books) have anything. More if I find anything ... Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark IV Posted January 18, 2000 Share Posted January 18, 2000 You got me interested, and I found http://www.rainbowvets.org/finalcrisis.htm . This publisher also had a link to something called "Feuer: The Life of an Artilleryman on the Eastern Front" by Werner Adamczyk. These both sound pretty interesting, and I wonder if any of our erudite members have informed opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Mekanik Posted January 18, 2000 Share Posted January 18, 2000 WOW!, this is great!!! I just received a copy of a Unit Citation Report as a christmas present from my wife's grandfather. The topic: Hatten-Rittershofen Jan 9-12. It was from his unit which was an anti-tank company in the 42nd Rainbow Division. I'm waiting more info and putting it into a web page for him, its an amazing story, maybe your dad is mentioned. Email me and lets share some stories!!!! john@tabularasa.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Christensen Posted January 18, 2000 Author Share Posted January 18, 2000 Thanks for the information about "The Final Crisis"... that looks like a must have. Here's what I know, off the top of my head. At that point in the war, my Dad was a 1st Lt., acting as adjutant in headquarters company in the 813th TD battalion attatched to the 79th Infantry division. He spent Christmas with a French family in Hatten, and was pulled back when the offensive started. He talks about being strafed by rocket-firing Me 262s, watching the P-51 fighter cover run like hell when the jets came by, and coming back down when they were gone. He describes the sound of the big RR gun shells coming down, and taking out huge chunks of the town he was in. In the little villages of Hatten and Rittershoffen, the Germans occupied one side of the street, and the Americans the other for days. In the mornings, Panzers would drive down, shooting up one side, and in the evening, the Shermans would drive down the other. The wounded in the middle of the streets could only be retrived by sending Shermans to drive over them and pull them up through the hatches. Mortar crews were firing almost vertically, trying to shell directly across the street. The 79th Divisional history mentions moments when German and Americans were upstairs and downstairs in the same houses. The book Winter Storm shows before and after pictures of the villages.. and after it's all rubble. The 813th suffered more casualties in those two weeks than during the whole war from Tunisia, and Normandy to Berchtesgarten. They lost 24 our of 36 M10s. For part of the action, the took over some abandoned M18s. I've also seen lately that an 827th crew jumped aboard an abandoned M10, and broke up an attack. My dad said that at one point, surviving M10s and M18s of the 813th and 827th were formed into a quick-reaction force, responding to any German attacks. part of one company of the 813th was cut off, and until Harry Dunigan's little book about some 813th veterans, A War to Win, came out, no one in the battalion had any idea what happened to them. Dunigan talks about being surrounded and having to surrender. After the twelve days, the US forces pulled back under cover of a blizzard. Until Von Luck's Panzer Commander came out, my Dad was under the impression that the Germans had pulled out the same night. Jadgtigers were used during Nordwind. I got a third-hand account from a hobbiest in a San Jose model shop about meeting an old TD vet who showed him a picture of the young TD soldier standing next to a Jadgtiger with a hole in the side, and passing on the comment, "He got my buddy, but I got him." Kevin Christensen Lawrence, KS kskchris@sunflower.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts