Itinerary
All stops are visited in chronological order, following the campaign as it unfolded from November 1944 to February 1945.
1. Hotel Pickup — The Rhine Briefing.
Before driving west into the battlefield, we establish why this river mattered. The German 19th Army's lifeline ran across these bridges. Control the Rhine and the Pocket starves.
2. Sélestat — The Northern Stranglehold
1–6 December, 12 December 1944
The U.S. 103rd and 36th Divisions attack the Pocket's main supply artery in flooded, freezing conditions. A small platoon crosses a blown bridge in a leaking rubber boat, in darkness, to establish a bridgehead on the far bank.
3. Riquewihr / Hohe Schwaertz Ridgeline — Operation Habicht
5–14 December 1944:
Himmler orders a coordinated counterattack to retake the Vosges foothills. We walk to foxholes still visible on Hills 621, 666, and 672 — and stand in positions held by American infantry in December 1944.
4. Mont de Sigolsheim / American Memorial — The Overview
9–10 December 1944:
The hilltop memorial overlooks the entire Colmar Plain. From here, with a campaign map, you can see every stop that follows. The story of Able Company — isolated, surrounded, and overrun — is told on this hill.
5. Bennwihr — Christmas in the Vineyards
22–24 December 1944:
The 15th Infantry Regiment attacks Bennwihr three days before Christmas. By morning, the village is on fire. The Monument de la Fidélité — one of the only structures left standing — is still there. Staff Sergeant Gus Kefurt earns the Medal of Honour on this street.
6. Holtzwihr — Audie Murphy's Stand
26 January 1945:
A country lane. Open farmland. An unchanged field of fire. We stand where Murphy stood on that burning M10 and tell the story properly — not as legend, but as a series of specific decisions made by a 20-year-old officer under fire.
7. Jebsheim — The Alsatian Verdun
24 January – 2 February 1945:
The last major German strongpoint west of the Rhine. A week of street fighting in deep snow, Jagdpanthers counterattacking into the village, the town changing hands multiple times. The Mill Cross memorial lists every unit — American, French, German — that fought and died here.
8. Colmar & Turckheim — Liberation and Legacy
2–4 February 1945:
Colmar was liberated on 2 February 1945 by de Lattre's French First Army. For France, this was not a military objective — it was a national act. Alsace had been under German administration since 1940. We stop here to tell the French side of the campaign before moving to Turckheim for the day's final chapter.
The Musée Mémorial des Combats de la Poche de Colmar is the only museum dedicated entirely to this campaign. Uniforms, weapons, personal kit, photographs, and maps — everything you've seen on the ground today given its final human weight. The day ends here.