Phil, as a brand-new company commander, was put to the test the following two days when his Company L was caught in intense artillery concentrations while clearing the town of Biesheim.[1]

Besides contending with fire from well-fortified bunkers, Phil and his men had to beat off constant counterattacks by enemy infantry.

Some German soldiers were wearing stolen American uniforms, which made for a chaotic battlefield.

Despite suffering heavy losses, Phil’s company took 500 German prisoners.

By 1115 hours on February 6, Phil heard over the radio that the final fortified city on the Colmar Plain, Neuf-Brisach, was clear of the enemy and the flanking of the city of Colmar was complete.

The enemy was now unable to supply or reinforce its troops in Colmar or any other location in the Colmar Pocket—a German island amid an Allied sea.

After light enemy resistance, the city surrendered on February 8.

When the fury of the battle subsided, some observers quickly labeled the 3rd Infantry Divisions’ actions as “the best bit of maneuvering on the Western Front.”[1,2]

During the last sixteen days of the Colmar battle, the 3rd Infantry Division liberated twenty-two towns. General Charles de Gaulle’s[3] Provisional French Government recognized what the American soldiers had accomplished by awarding the entire 3rd Division the French Order of the Croix de Guerre with palm.[4,5]

President Roosevelt awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation to the 3rd Division,[6] saying, in part, “In one of the hardest fought and bloodiest campaigns of the war, the 3rd Infantry Division annihilated three enemy divisions, partially destroyed three others, and captured over 4,000 prisoners.”[4]

The German Nineteenth Army recorded over 22,000 casualties and ceased to exist as an effective fighting force, as approximately 75 percent of its personnel were either killed or captured. The Wehrmacht’s last gamble was at an end.[4]

~~~~~

[1] Larimore, At First Light, 203-204.

[2] “Blue and White Devils: The Story of the 3rd Infantry Division.” Lone Sentry website.

[3] Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970) was a French army officer who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and then chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944–1946. In 1958, he came out of retirement and was elected President of France.

[4] Larimore, Ibid, 207.

[5] The Croix de Guerre was a French military decoration to honor people or organizations who fought with the French against the Axis forces during World War II. The “palm” was issued to military units whose members performed heroic deeds in combat and was the highest-level Croix de Guerre that could be awarded. This was the unit’s second Croix de Guerre, the first coming from fighting in the Vosges.

[6]  This was one of the few times in World War II that an entire division received the Presidential Unit Citation, which was normally awarded only to smaller units for especially outstanding actions.

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