WELCHE COUNTRY
REMEMBRANCE TRAIL
Second World War
The Welche Country Remembrance Trail recounts the most iconic battles, on the very sites where the soldiers who liberated our country and took part in the reduction of the Colmar Pocket fell.
DECEMBER 1944 – FEBRUARY 1945
TWO MONTHS OF FIGHTING TO LIBERATE THE WELCHE COUNTRY
The offensive to liberate Alsace began at the end of November 1944.
After the liberation of Mulhouse, General de Lattre de Tassigny abruptly changed the axis of attack of his army, which shifted from south to north across the plain to east to west across the mountains.
However, a pocket of German resistance formed around Colmar, passing through the Vosges mountain ridges. Reichsführer-SS Himmler personally took command of all troops operating in the Colmar Pocket. The 19th German Army was reinforced by large numbers of fresh troops from Germany: nine infantry divisions and two armoured brigades.
From 3 December 1944 to 4 February 1945, the Welche Country experienced two months of particularly fierce fighting in harsh winter conditions against a determined German army.
On the morning of 15 December, the main attack was launched along a 20 km front from the region of the Bonhomme Pass to the north of Sigolsheim. The assault was led by General de Monsabert’s 2nd Army Corps, and in particular by the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division, supported by units of the 5th Armoured Division.
This leaflet is the first version of the Remembrance Trail in the municipality of Orbey, which will gradually be extended to the whole of the Welche Country.