Liberation of Strasbourg

The Liberation of Strasbourg was completed on 24 November 1944, by French troops under General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque. Four days prior to this, French troops had pushed through the "Belfort Gap" to reach the Rhine.

The city of Strasbourg fell in succession of quickly captured cities including Belfort, Mulhouse, and was unusual given the last two months of hard slogging and furious fights between reinforced and resupplied Germans, and the US 6th Army. It fell so fast because the German Army, under extreme pressure as the Allies fought their way through the Seigfreid Line, crossed the Moselle river and captured Aachen (the first German city to fall, resulting in 5,000 casualties to each side and 5,600 Germans captured), snapped.

The Germans counterattacked on the 16 December 1944, aiming to recapture Strasbourg. They hit the US 6th Army at several points - and, as the 6th was overstretched and depleted from the last several months of fighting, the Germans broke through. It took four weeks of bitter fighting in what was known as "The Battle of the Bulge" before the Germans were defeated.