Liberation of Strasbourg

Liberation of Strasbourg
Part of Second World War
Date 23 November 1944 Location Strasbourg Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Germany
Commanders and leaders
General Leclerc	General Vaterrodt

The Liberation of Strasbourg constituted the dramatically symbolic high point for the rehabilitation of the honor of French arms as the Allies advanced across France toward Germany in 1944. Alsace, of which Strasbourg is the capital, had been the focus of French-German enmity since the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, and General Charles de Gaulle insisted that only French forces should retake it. After the victory of Kufra, General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque and his troops swore an oath to fight until "our flag flies over the Cathedral of Strasbourg".^[1][2] The oath was fulfilled on 23 November 1944, when the 2nd French Armoured Division under Leclerc's command liberated Strasbourg.^[3]

On November 22, 1944, the hard-fighting French 2nd Armored Division, along with the French First Army, had been assigned the capture of Strasbourg by Allied Supreme Command. That same day, the 2nd Armored moved up to the vital pass at Saverne, which had been taken by the Americans, about 40 km northwest of Strasbourg. This Saverne "gap" is the historic gateway through the barrier of the Vosges Mountains, opening a line of advance on Strasbourg.

On November 23, 1944, units of the French 2nd Armored Division entered the city and raised the Free French tricolore over Strasbourg cathedral at 2:30 pm.

The German collective memory of the battle is rather more bleak. In Ardennes: 1944, Antony Beevor states that the Battle for Strasbourg was one of the more "inglorious episodes" in German military history with a collapse of the Wehrmacht defense that was both premature and ignominious. It was hastened by a panic of senior Nazi leadership as many officials fled prior to the Allied push. This led to a general demoralization of Heer, Waffen-SS, and Luftwaffe ground forces as well as a breakdown in discipline. He states: ″"The SS had looted Strasbourg before withdrawing. According to one general defending the town, soldiers ordered to 'fight to the last round' tended to throw away most of their ammunition before the battle, so they could claim that they ran out and then surrender. Generalmajor Vaterrodt, the (Heer) commander, was scornful about the behaviour of senior officers and Nazi Party officials. 'I'm surprised that Himmler did not have anyone hanged in Strasbourg,' he told fellow officers after he had been captured. 'Everyone ran away (including high ranking Nazi Party^[4] officials)...'"

While the Liberation of Strasbourg was a hugely symbolic victory for the French people and the Western Allies in general, they were unable to quickly seize on the German collapse due to increasing fuel shortages resulting from the rapid Allied advance to the borders of the Reich and further breakthroughs became logistically unsustainable. As a result, Strasbourg would become threatened during the German Wacht am Rhein offensive known as The Battle of the Bulge in the West. The portion of the German offensive into France known as Operation Nordwind was quickly contained.

References

1. Jurez de ne déposer les armes que lorsque nos couleurs, nos belles couleurs, flotteront sur la cathédrale de Strasbourg. (English: "we shall not lay down our arms before our colours, our beautiful colours, are flying above Strasbourg Cathedral)." Association des Amis du Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie à Caen, "Cemin de l'Est au cœur de l'histoire", Libération et Mémoire p.2
2. "The liberation and defence of Strasbourg". Chemins de Mémoire: Review. French Ministry of Defense. December 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
3. "Hommage le serment de Koufra" [Honoring the oath of Kufra]. Armée de Terre. French Ministry of Defense. 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
4. Beevor, Antony. Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble. (2015) Viking ISBN 0670918644