The cost of the Colmar battle was heavy on both sides. The [Allies’] 6th Army Group staff estimated American casualties around 8,000 and French losses about twice that number, but only some 500 American soldiers were killed in action; in both national components, disease and noncombat injuries accounted for almost a third of the losses and probably even more.[1]

The deep snow, freezing temperatures, and numerous water crossings caused a marked increase in trench foot and frostbite, and the mixed Franco-American casualty evacuation flow prevented medical services from keeping a precise tally of the toll taken by the weather.

German casualty records are even more sparse than usual. During the operation, the 6th Army Group recorded 16,438 Germans taken prisoner in the Colmar area and obviously thousands more were killed or wounded, while non-battlefield casualties from the weather may also have been high.

On 10 February the [German] Nineteenth Army recorded over 22,000 permanent (killed or missing) casualties, and [the Nineteenth Army General] Rasp probably saved no more than 10,000 troops of all types. Certainly no more than 400 to 500 combat effectives from each of the eight divisions managed to escape [back] across the Rhine [into Germany from the Allies].

Allied losses of combat vehicles because of enemy action and mechanical breakdown were also high, but most were recoverable, while the German defenders lost most of what they had permanently.

As an effective fighting force the Nineteenth Army had ceased to exist.

The battles of northern Alsace and those in the Colmar Pocket had seriously depleted the fighting capabilities of the German Army.

During the last weeks of February and the first weeks of March, the 6th Army Group made final preparations to exploit this weakness during its forthcoming drive into Germany.[1]

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[1] Clarke, 553-558.

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