There was still a lot of war to fight since the Allies were still in France. The elimination of the Colmar Pocket was assigned to the French First Army in September 1944, but once the French proved incapable of the mission, U.S. divisions were sent in. The kickoff for the Battle of the Colmar Pocket began on January 22, 1945, the one-year anniversary of the landing at Anzio.[1]

The massive armed conflict took place in daytime temperatures that never exceeded 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was carried out under thick clouds that limited artillery shelling and precluded any support from air strikes.

The landscape was uniformly flat, covered with thick, frozen snow, and offered virtually no protection to the infantrymen. Innumerable streams, brooks, and canals flowed across projected routes of advance.

The considerable bridging equipment needed to span these waterways remained critically scarce and was carefully rationed.

The enemy had also assembled its elite 2nd Mountain Division, which had been transferred from Norway, and joined them to an estimated twenty-five German battalions, each with about 500 men.

By committing this elite division to the action, Hitler was demonstrating the crucial importance of holding the bridgehead west of the Rhine.

The elimination of the Colmar Pocket under these difficult wartime conditions would result in the third most costly campaign, in terms of casualties, in the history of the Dogface Soldiers of the 30th Infantry Regiment.[2]

A frozen hell would begin at midnight.

~~~~~

[1] Larimore, At First Light, 186.

[2] Ibid, 186-187.

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