Operation Nordwind 1945 - The 'Other' Battle of the Bulge

My Grandfather fought with the 42nd Rainbow Division during Nordwind. He told me a story one day about the battle. His company pulled back from a hill they were defending under intense German pressure, in order to regroup. But no one told him and his foxhole buddy they were moving out. Dawn broke and the Germans were coming up the hill but they were totally alone. With no other real choice, they fired their rifles as fast as they could in every direction. His buddy scavenged the nearby abandoned holes for more ammo while my grandfather kept up the shooting. They burned through the majority of their ammo and tossed all of their grenades through out the day. My grandfather said he shot his Garand so much and so fast that eventually he warped the barrel on his rifle. The Germans quit trying to climb the hill and bypassed his position. After dark, which was mercifully early in Winter, they crawled away in order to try and make it back to US lines. Eventually, they linked up with a friendly unit and after some tense moments, made it into the US lines again. My grandfather went to trade in his rifle to get a new one and was informed he'd have to pay for the damaged US property. He was laughing when he recounted that part to me. He had some choice words for the supply clerk. Needless to say, he got a new rifle and didn't pay for the old one. After finding his old unit, they were all surprised to see him and his buddy. They assumed he was dead or captured. Later, when they retook the area, German prisoners from the battle recounted the battle for the insignificant hill. They thought a company or at least a full platoon was up there. After several attempts to take the hill and incurring casualties, they gave up and bypassed it for following units to deal with. My Grandfather told me this story after years of never talking about it. What prompted it was his visit to my house in Virginia and looking at my rifle collection. Before my Grandmother died, she encouraged him to tell us about his WWII experience as he was reluctant to bring up those old memories. I showed him my Garand and he spent a long time just holding it, saying nothing. Finally he looked up and said, "It's heavier than I remembered." Then he told the above story, more or less how I recounted it. He was always self-deprecating in his stories making it clear that he was no hero despite the fact the I know he won a Bronze Star for Valor. I've seen the medal and citation many times. He was also promoted to Sergeant on the battlefield for his leadership and placed in charge of his platoon. But he insisted that the real heroes never came home and all he did was try to keep he and his men alive. Eventually he told me a lot more and said he felt comfortable I could handle them as I was a war vet myself and former infantryman. I hope you enjoyed the story. My Grandfather joined his wife and comrades in 2016. He was simply the greatest man I ever knew and best role model I could have ever had.

Fortunately, there are experts like Mark Felton who objectively bring the Second World War close to a generation that no longer knows anyone who has personally experienced this slaughterhouse. Mr. Felton you do a perfect job. Greetings from Germany.

I have a degree in, and am a life-long student of military history...and with each excellent video produced by Dr. Felton, I realize just how little I know and how much is left to learn.

My grandfather fought in the battle of the bulge as well as in and around Hagenau, before advancing further into Germany. He said that the fighting in Hagenau was very bloody with tons of house to house and room to room fighting. He said that they and Germans retook the town from each other three times. Finally, one day, low on ammunition and holding their part of the town, they heard tanks coming and they thought that the noise was German tanks. In my grandfather’s words they thought “they were done for,” luckily they were American tank reinforcements. Thank you for doing a video on this and including Hagenau, there is so little information I’ve been able to find about this. My grandpa’s unit was part of the 7th army force, but his regiment, or maybe his company even was actually attached to a unit under Patton for a lot of the campaign, my grandpa has a lot of stories about Patton in person. After further reading, my grandfather’s regiment the 255th was attached to the 100 infantry division from December 30 to beginning of February so he must have fought and defended Bitche from the German attacks there. Also, later at the end of the war his unit liberated the Landsberg concentration camp. He talked about marching the civilians from nearby through the camp, and forcing them to see it. The whole 63rd infantry division got the honor of the liberation, but only his battalion, the 1st battalion of the 255th infantry regiment took part apparently. He was in B company as a tech sergeant.

My great uncle was killed serving with the 70th Infantry Division 274th Infantry during Northwind. He is buried at Epinal. Thank you for covering his contribution to Victory in Europe

Each one of your videos demonstrates how vast the second world war was. Several forgotten operations on multiple fronts.

You may be able to read of these events in a book, but there's nothing like a spoken commentary to infuse a sense of dynamism and urgency which bring it to life. Dr Felton does this in spades.

Thanks so much Dr Felton. My dad was in the 12th Div, 43rd Tank Btn. He was in the first tank hit by artillery on the morning of Jan. 16th, attacking across the open field South of Herrlisheim. The 12th Armored Division Museum website and members of the association have been a great help with details surrounding the story of Nordwind and my father’s participation on that day. His body was never found, but he is memorialized at Epinal. I’m forever grateful for his membership in our greatest generation. I’ve been following your productions. This one, and your earlier Panther vs Sherman production are very personal. Thank you again..

Learned something more about the Bulge action. Thanx Dr. Felton.

History might call such battles "footnotes" in terms of scope to other battles but for the men who waged the battle, I'm guessing they weren't thinking "It's OK, that bullet which just missed my head was just a footnote."

A really great synopsis of a battle never covered in history books!!!

Nobody comes close to Dr. Felton's detailed videos. We are blessed to receive this for free.

Im a simple man, I see mark felton, I click

As a German and French speaker, I have to say that Dr. Felton’s pronunciation of words in said languages is spot on! Einfach spitze, Herr Dr. Felton. LG aus München, Chris King.

Well done Mark!!! This is what the history channel used to be. You know? Non biased, and informative!!

My dad was with General George S. Patton....He was blown out of 3 sherman tanks, recieved several purple hearts, but stayed in the fighting as so many of the greatest generation did...He was top machine gunner 50 cal. He talked about the direct hits from 88s...I lost him in 1975 to lung cancer...People.....We have a heritage....GOD bless America....

Mark Felton makes history addictive

>echoing your victories of 1940 when the Soviets are literally one river-away from overrunning Berlin

I've looked around for operation nordwind documentaries for so long now but haven't had any luck. Thanks Mark Felton for this amazing video. You never fail to impress.

Thank you for producing this video. It has special meaning to me as my uncle, SGT James F. LaPatka who fought in and survived the Battle of Herrlisheim, was KIA Feb. 5, 1945 by a German sniper while his unit, Co. B/66 AIB of the 12th Army, was closing the Colmar Pocket.