Editing Siegfried Line campaign (section)

===Winter counter-offensives===
[[File:American 290th Infantry Regiment infantrymen fighting in snow during the Battle of the Bulge.jpg|thumb|American soldiers taking up defensive positions in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge.]]

The Germans had been preparing a massive counter-attack in the West since the Allied breakout from Normandy. The plan called ''Wacht am Rhein'' ("Watch on the Rhine") was to attack through the Ardennes and swing north to Antwerp, splitting the American and British armies. The attack started on 16 December in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Defending the Ardennes were troops of the U.S. First Army. After initial German successes in bad weather, which gave them cover from the Allied air forces, the Allies launched a counterattack to clear them from the Ardennes. The Germans were eventually pushed back to their starting points by 25 January 1945.

The Germans launched a second, smaller offensive (''[[Operation Nordwind|Nordwind]]'') into [[Alsace]] on 1 January 1945. Aiming to recapture Strasbourg, they attacked the 6th Army Group at multiple points. Because Allied lines had become severely stretched in response to the crisis in the Ardennes, holding and throwing back the ''Nordwind'' offensive was a costly affair that lasted almost four weeks. Allied counter-attacks restored the front line to the area of the German border and collapsed the [[Colmar Pocket]].