The Colmar Pocket & The Black Forest

June 28, 2023 - Reading time: 4 minutes

The last day of our trip was by far the most moving.  We spent the morning in a small group with a wonderful guide as we toured two French villages (one of which contains a small WWII museum maintained by the local residents) in the Colmar Pocket, an area liberated from the Nazis by American and French forces during the harshest of winters in 1945.   We also visited a cemetery of French soldiers on a hillside overlooking the farms and villages that were freed due to their sacrifice.  A memorial wall is at the cemetery flying the American flag and featuring the U.S. military patches of all the regiments and battalions who fought alongside the French.  Our final stop of the morning was the spot where U.S. Army Lt. Audie Murphy held his famous “one man stand” for over an hour atop a tank on fire to repel German forces from further attacking his fellow soldiers.  Soon thereafter, the village was liberated, but at the cost of many American servicemen.  Our guide recounted the events of that day in Lt. Murphy’s own words, reading quotes from his memoir “To Hell and Back.”  She finished with a poem of remembrance and there was not a dry eye among us standing on that historic, sacred ground.  
You know, people say the French have snooty opinions about Americans and vice-versa; but we did not find that to be the case at all, especially in Alsace and Eastern France.  They have erected memorials, museums, and have common goals of freedom for all people.  We were treated with so much kindness on this trip.  They have not forgotten.  

Look closely on the right of the photo above.  The U.S. flag and French flag are placed at the roadside where American soldiers led by Audie Murphy fought to liberate the village of Holtzwihr. 


Photos from the museum appear below of the villagers who survived. 

Below, the bridge from Germany to France that crosses the Rhine River in Alsace is currently lined on both sides with the national flag of Ukraine.  The parallel of past and present are haunting. 

We finished the day in the mountains of Germany’s Black Forest.  Beautiful rolling hills of farmland and trees.  It’s the land of so many cuckoo clocks!  Caught a glimpse of someone parasailing, too.