Operation Northwind (1944)

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Operation Northwind
Part of the Western Front of World War II
Date 31 December 1944 – 25 January 1945 (1944-12-31 – 1945-01-25) Location Alsace and Lorraine, France and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Result Allied defensive victory
Belligerents
United States  France	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Jacob L. Devers Alexander Patch Edward H. Brooks Jean d.L. de Tassigny Joseph de Monsabert	Johannes Blaskowitz Hans von Obstfelder Heinrich Himmler Siegfried Rasp
Units involved
Seventh Army VI Corps 42nd Infantry Division 45th Infantry Division 70th Infantry Division 79th Infantry Division XV Corps 103rd Infantry Division 44th Infantry Division 100th Infantry Division 63rd Infantry Division XXI Corps 36th Infantry Division 12th Armored Division 14th Armored Division First Army I Corps 1st Infantry Division 2nd Armored Division 3rd Algerian Division II Corps 1st Armored Division 1st Colonial Division 3rd Moroccan Division 4th Moroccan Division 5th Armored Division 10th Infantry Division	1st Army 25th Panzergrenadier Division 21st Panzer Division 6th SS Mountain Division XIII SS Corps 19th Volksgrenadier Division 36th Volksgrenadier Division 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division XC Corps 559th Volksgrenadier Division 257th Volksgrenadier Division LXXXIX Corps 361st Volksgrenadier Division 245th Infantry Division 256th Volksgrenadier Division 19th Army 10th SS Panzer Division LXIV Corps 189th Infantry Division 198th Infantry Division 708th Volksgrenadier Division LXIII Corps 159th Infantry Division 716th Infantry Division 269th Infantry Division 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS XIV SS Corps 553rd Volksgrenadier Division 10th SS Panzer Division
Strength
230,000 (average strength)[1]	Unknown
Casualties and losses
United States: 11,609[2][3] killed and wounded, captured or missing[4]  France: 7,000[5] killed and wounded	23,000 killed, wounded, or captured[6]

Operation Northwind (German: Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. Northwind was launched to support the German Ardennes offensive campaign in the Battle of the Bulge, which by late December 1944 had decisively turned against the German forces. It began on 31 December 1944 in Rhineland-Palatinate, Alsace and Lorraine in southwestern Germany and northeastern France, and ended on 25 January 1945. The German offensive was an operational failure, with its main objectives not achieved.