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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.
On 31 December, the Germans launched a major offensive in north-eastern France, called Operation Nordwind, and managed to gain ground against the Seventh United States Army, and the First French Army. In order to cut off the American held town of Haguenau, the Wehrmacht needed to encircle the position in a pincer move.
Operation Nordwind was launched by German ground forces on 31 December 1944 against U.S. and French ground forces in the Rhineland-Palatinate and the Alsace and Lorraine regions of southwestern Germany and northeastern France as part of the European Theatre in World War II. It ended on 25 January 1945.
On 24 January, the Germans launched their final assault in Operation Nordwind, and attacked straight into the 42nd Infantry Division. The 232nd was brought up from reserve to help in the defense, and on the 25th, the took up positions on the frontline in Schweighausen and the Bois d'Ohlungen .
On New Year's Day 1945, the Germans launched Unternehmen Nordwind (Operation "North Wind"), one objective of which was the recapture of Strasbourg. German troops of the 198th Infantry Division and the 106th Panzer Brigade attacked north out of the Colmar Pocket from 7–13 January.
Operation North Wind (German: Unternehmen Nordwind) was a joint German-Finnish naval operation in the Baltic Sea in 1941, in the course of World War II.The operation itself was a distracting manoeuvre so that another German force could occupy the Estonian islands of Hiiumaa, Saaremaa and Muhu (codenamed Operation Beowulf) without the interference of the Soviet Red Fleet.
The list of Axis named operations in the European Theatre represents those military operations that received a codename, predominantly from the Wehrmacht commands. It does not represent all operations that were carried out by the Axis powers, or their allies in the European Theatre during the Second World War.
This was the last offensive action by the Nord Division before the end of Operation Nordwind, and it failed despite making initial advances. By the end of the operation, the infantry regiments had taken 50% losses, although the other divisional units were intact. The losses were replaced by poorly trained conscripts and volunteers in February 1945.