Original Wwii Army

This incredible World War II European Theater map shows extensive wear and field use. This map was used during the fierce fighting in the Colmar Pocket, an area held in France, by the German Nineteenth Army from November 1944 to February 1945, against the U. 6th Army Group (6th AG) during World War II.

Showing the battlefields of towns such as BASEL, MULHOUSE, COLMAR, and STRASBOURG this U. Map was specifically used for fighting in the Colmar Pocket with direct fighting of German and American forces in this area lasting from January 20th - February 9th. This fighting occurred during Germany's Operation Northwind which was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. 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. The Colmar Pocket was formed when 6th AG liberated southern and northern Alsace and adjacent eastern Lorraine, but could not clear central Alsace. During Operation Nordwind in December 1944, the 19th Army attacked north out of the Pocket in support of other German forces attacking south from the Saar into northern Alsace. In late January and early February 1945, the French First Army reinforced by the U. XXI Corps cleared the Pocket of German forces. By 21 December 1944, the German momentum during the Battle of the Bulge had begun to dissipate and it was evident the operation was on the brink of failure; it was believed an attack against the United States Seventh Army further south, which had extended its lines and taken on a defensive posture to cover the area vacated by the United States Third Army (which turned north to assist at the site of the German breakthrough), could relieve pressure on German forces in the Ardennes. In a briefing at his military command complex at Adlerhorst, Adolf Hitler declared in his speech to his division commanders on 28 December 1944 three days prior to the launch of Operation. : This attack has a very clear objective, namely the destruction of the enemy forces.

There is not a matter of prestige involved here. It is a matter of destroying and exterminating the enemy forces wherever we find them. The goal of the offensive was to break through the lines of the U. Seventh Army and French 1st Army in the Upper Vosges mountains and the Alsatian Plain, and destroy them, as well as the seizure of Strasbourg, which Himmler had promised would be captured by 30 January.

This would leave the way open for Operation Dentist. , a planned major thrust into the rear of the U. Third Army which would lead to the destruction of that army.