Nordwind (Fort Indiantown Gap, PA)

For this event we are portraying the members of Nr. 5 Kompanie, Gren. Regt. 477 / 257th Volksgrenadier Division during Operation Nordwind (North Wind).  Nordwind was the last major German offensive of the World War II. It began on January 1, 1945 in the area known as Alsace/Lorraine which is north east France.  The objective was simple. Break through the lines of the U.S. Seventh Army in the Upper Vosges mountains and the Alsatian Plain, & destroy it. This would leave the way open for Operation Zahnarzt, a major thrust into the rear of the U.S. Third Army.

On January 1st, moving south through the dark forests, leading elements of the 559th, 257th, 361st, and 256th Volksgrenadier Divisions easily penetrated the positions of the a small American mechanized force, bypassing strong points and scattering the road bound armored units as they withdrew and tried to regroup.  During the next four days the attacking infantry divisions pushed south through the Vosges for about ten miles; but the real contest for control of the vital mountain exits began almost immediately, as reinforcing American units tried to keep the German Volksgrenadiers bottled up in the Low Vosges forests.