Audie Murphy: Battle of the Colmar Pocket
Published on HivePostify by @molometer · Tue Aug 25 2026
I knew very little about Colmar in France until we visited the town.
This was our second visit to Colmar as we stopped here overnight 2 years ago on our way back to England from Italy.
Something kept niggling me about Colmar from our first visit. It bugged me to know what?
>During the Battle of the Colmar Pocket, a total of ten Medals of Honor were awarded for acts of valor. This battle was significant in World War II, taking place from January 20 to February 9, 1945, in Alsace, France.
[Source](https://www.fdmuseum.org/medal-of-honor-recipients/)
Today we will look at just one recipient and one aspect of the Battlefront. Not to glorify war but to reflect on what one person can do.
Digging a little deeper what emerged was an incredible story of courage against overwhelming odds.
Courage is not about being fearless. Courage is about being fearful and doing whatever it is in spite of the fear.
We all face challenges and things can seem impossible to change but sometimes we can overcome the most difficult times when there is no alternative.
Head down dig in and get on with it.
Audei Murphy
Image Source Wikipedia
Below is a still image from the movie "To Hell And Back" Murphy played himself in the movie of his actions in the battle of the Colmar Pocket.
Murphy suffered from what they euphemistically called 'battle fatigue' more commonly known today as Post Traumatic Strees Disorder (PTSD).
He said that making this movie helped him with his PTSD but the film itself was a "powder puff".
The movie is filmed in bright sunny dry conditions. The battle itself was fought in blistering freezing cold winter conditions.
Image Source Wikipedia
Most people of a certain age may have heard of the Battle of the Bulge in France in World War II. This is where German forces counterattacked the allies through the Ardennes Forest.
The Battle of the Colmar Pocket
Colmar Tank Memorial
What many may not know is that at the same time as the Battle of the Bulge was taking place, one of the fiercest battles since the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy was also taking place in Colmar.
>Colmar was the core of what became known as the Colmar Pocket: the Germans held a bridgehead in central Alsace around Colmar (on the west bank of the Rhine in France) after the Allies had liberated most of the surrounding Alsace region by late 1944.
>In the German plan 'Operation Nordwind', Hitler was trying to use Colmar under the command of Heinrich Himmler to attack toward Strasbourg and pressure the Allies in Alsace.
Hitler's objective was to divide the Allied forces and march on to retake Antwerp a port on the North Sea.
Utter lunacy but history was playing a role here in Hitler's head.
Hitler had attacked successfully through the Ardennes at the beginning of the war and probably thought in his demented mind that he could do it again.
Except this time the allies were better prepared, equipped and in charge of the Battlefront and they had air superiority.(weather permitting)
When Nordwind’s attacks (launched from the Colmar Pocket) failed to retake Strasbourg, the Allies then began the assault from 3 sides. North, South and West of the Colmar Pocket. From the Vosges Mountains in the West the allies first dislodged the Germans.
The German-held bridgehead that Himmler controlled and from which German forces attacked during Nordwind was doomed from the start.
Himmler had never held command of soldiers in a battle. Himmler was used to pushing around unarmed prisoners.
Himmler abandoned the German troops and left while the fighting continued.
A Soldiers View.
The memoir and maps below were hand drawn & annotated by Staff Sergeant Albert S Brown. They give a good overview of the two Battlefronts. Very confusing to read but show troop deployment in the pocket.
As the allies advanced the pocket shrank but not without many casualties.
These low res pictures are the best images that I have found of this event. Made by a serving soldier.
The German pincer movement (below) trying to encircle allied forces.
Source: http://www.dogfacesoldier.org/info/memoirs/brown/colmar.htm
It's winter the ground is frozen and US troops were not equipped with winter clothing.
They had been fighting since June 6th 1944 D-Day and all through Normandy and were exhausted and logistics hadn't caught up with the front lines.
Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy was and still is the most highly decorated soldier in American military history and his contribution to the successful defensive action near Colmar is largely forgotten or misunderstood.
The (Colmar pocket) was a tactical battle where Murphy snatched victory from defeat in a fight that led to halting the German advance on the allies flank and contributed to winning on the larger Battle.
Quick refresher. The Battle of the Bulge was the last attempt by the German army to break out from the encircling allied forces.
The German army had been fighting a defensive withdrawal from the moment the allies landed on 6th June 1946 D Day.
Why was the Colmar battle so fierce?
Hitler had ordered Himmler to not surrender one inch of the Alsace region even to the last man and last bullet.
At this stage of the war Hitler was ordering everyone to fight till the death.
The Alsace region had been changing hands between Germany and France for literally centuries.
On May 10th 1940 Hitler saw Alsace as a part of Germany and that's why it was one of the first places he annexed when he came to power in Germany. By June 1940 Hitler had full control of the region.
In the opening stages of WWII the Germans had attacked through the Ardennes Forest bypassing the French defensive Maginot line.
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