Part 2 - Hitler’s Reaction and Consequences for the U.S. 3rd Division
Hitler immediately ordered German troops to occupy the whole of France. As a result, when the U.S. 3rd Division made the last of their amphibious landings, it was on the south coast of France, (along with the U.S. 36th Division from Texas, and the U.S. 45th Division from Oklahoma), on the 15th August 1944, they faced German forces!
However, the landing went smoothly, they made a lightning advance up the Rhone valley, (with heavy fighting in Montelimar, and Besancon on the way), which would lead them to the Vosges Mountains, and eventually the ‘Colmar Pocket’.
Upon reaching the Rhine bridges here in Breisach, the Germans were forced to pull across into ‘Germany’ and detonate them.
So, the U.S. 3rd Division were the first to land on the coast of a French colony, and fought through Hitler’s reaction to it.
Here in the ‘Colmar Pocket’, they finally pushed the Germans out of France! They destroyed the last of the German forces as a fighting force, paving the way for a rapid collapse of the Nazi Germany from the west. They made Hitler ‘furious’ again. A job well done!
Audie Murphy said that ‘Anzio’ and the ‘Colmar Pocket’, were the two toughest of the eight campaigns they fought in World War II. For the Colmar Pocket campaign, the U.S. 3rd Division were awarded the ‘Distinguish Unit Citation’, a rare honor.
