The Other Battle of the Bulge: Operation Northwind (Spellmount Siegfried Line)

By Clay Dawson

Book Overview

The story of Operation Northwind, Hitler's surprise attempt to smash the German's way through Alsace Lorraine in January 1945, seen through the eyes of the young men who were "at the sharp end." Few except those who fought it know anything about a second Battle of the Bulge, which cost the Americans and their French comrades-in-arms nearly as many casualties and almost destroyed the alliance. Operation Northwind, planned by the Fuhrer himself, hurled eight German divisions, three of them SS, against the thinly held American line in the Alsace-Lorraine region. Although the U.S. High Command was forewarned by "Ultra" from Bletchley, the Americans were forced to retreat. Eisenhower commanded that Strasbourg, which held a special place in both French and German hearts, should be evacuated but De Gaulle protested. For a few days, while American troops fought for their lives in the snow-bound hills of Alsace-Lorraine, it looked as if the Franco-American alliance might be broken apart and France thrown into something akin to revolution. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380716283
• ISBN13: 9780380716289
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 214 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

The Other Battle of the Bulge: Operation Northwind

By New Year's Eve 1944 the German Army seemed to be finished but the Wehrmact had one last surprise, Operation Nordwind. Hitler personlly planned this great offensive to help turn the tide against the allies and divert pressure from the bulge. 8 German Divisions smashed against the thinly held American lines in Alsace- Lorraine in France. Although seemingly small in scale compared to other great German offensives (42 Divisions...

A solid, serious, sober account

Volume 7 of the very impressive Casemate "West Wall" series, The Other Battle Of The Bulge: Operation Northwind by World War II military expert and author Charles Whiting is a serious, informed and informative examination of an often neglected yet crucial struggle that took place during the closing days of World War II European Theatre. It was called Operation Northwind, and planned by Hitler personally to attack the American...

Graphic but sometimes hard to follow the chain of events.

Mr. Whiting has the 79th infantry entering the war in europe in Aug. of 1944. Actually, the 79TH was one of the units that captured Cherbourg. This occured on June 26TH. On August 19TH the 79TH was in Mantes-Gassicourt.A major battle was fought here the result of which was a victory which allowed the americans to drive all the way to the Belgium border.

Hatten and Rittershoffen was an extremely vicious battle.

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...