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Seven Days In January: With the 6th SS Mountain Division in Operation Nordwind
Wolf Zoepf has produced an extremely detailed account, part-memoir, part-combat narrative, covering the actions of 6th SS Mountain Division 'Nord' during the battles fought in Operation Nordwind, Alsace, 1945. Against the background of his division's three (plus) years of combat against the Soviets in northern Karelia, this book provides a detailed description of 6th SS Division's actions against elements of the US Seventh Army in the Low Vosges Mountains during the first seven days of 1945. Beyond a simple account of the course of the infiltration, raid, defence and exfiltration by his two-battalion task force, Herr Zoepf's book thoroughly recounts the action in adjacent sectors within the Low Vosges, on the German and the American sides of the battle as well. Particular attention is given to the battle for Wingen-sur-Moder, involving both seasoned and green American forces, and German units ranging from hastily-trained Volksgrenadiers to previously undefeated SS-Gebirgsjager. The course of the battle includes a masterfully-conducted infiltration through snow-covered mountains, the capture - and subsequent release, unharmed - of over 250 Americans, considerable close combat, jointly conducted Waffen-SS and American medical care for their wounded, and, ultimately, the wounding and capture of the author. Ringing with authenticity and full of fresh insights and factual data about this practically-unknown battle and oft-overlooked elite unit, Seven Days in January will make an important and unique contribution to the body of literature of World War II in Europe.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 14, 2021
Hands down this is the best first-person accounting of their time in the war I have ever read. Although in a sense it isn't a fully first-person account. It opens up with the authors getting captured during Operation Nordwind and then moves back to the Division's time in Norway and Northern Russia. When it gets to the actual Nordwind operations it comes into its own as a narrative. Each of the Seven Days is covered in pretty much the same way. There is the first-person account of the actions of the Division, What the US forces they are opposed to are doing, and then an overall view of what is taking place on that section of the front.
This book removed all of the things that I generally dislike about first-person accounts. There is no mystery where we are, what the overall situation, as well as the fact that he never makes the point that if left to their own devices this unit could have won the battle single-handed. In fact, on that last point, it is pretty much just the opposite. An amazing book an example of how things could be done to help the reader follow along and the maps are excellent.
This book removed all of the things that I generally dislike about first-person accounts. There is no mystery where we are, what the overall situation, as well as the fact that he never makes the point that if left to their own devices this unit could have won the battle single-handed. In fact, on that last point, it is pretty much just the opposite. An amazing book an example of how things could be done to help the reader follow along and the maps are excellent.
May 2, 2010
What makes this book so interesting is the fact that Zoepf, as a professional infantry officer, really puts the reader in the picture as to what it is like to lead battalion-sized infantry operations, with concerns for force security, patrol, dissimulated advance, noise discipline, reconnaissance and liaison, all these things that are necessary to conduct a successful infantry combat deployment.
As such, the book may not appeal to all, but I think any professional soldier, or anyone interested in applied operational information will appreciate this perspective on the Vosges Mountains combat during operation Nordwind and the intense battle for Wingen-sur-Moder in early January of 1945.
As such, the book may not appeal to all, but I think any professional soldier, or anyone interested in applied operational information will appreciate this perspective on the Vosges Mountains combat during operation Nordwind and the intense battle for Wingen-sur-Moder in early January of 1945.
October 29, 2023
I just finished "Seven Days in January" by Wolf T. Zoepf (2001). It's about Operation Nordwind, a lesser-known companion to Operation Wacht am Rhein, a.k.a: The Battle of the Bulge. Nordwind took place much farther south than its better-known sister operation in Wingen, France. The scale was also much smaller and the gains made by the Germans were less impressive on a map, though what they accomplished with the almost pitiful resources that they had to work with is remarkable.
The author became a civil engineer after the war and apparently used maps a lot in his work there. The book is full of maps as a result and they're mostly quite good, if a little cluttered at times. There's also a frustrating tendency in this book for a map's legend to contain a symbol that doesn't appear on the map. It's annoying to think that you might be missing out on information. I think in at least one case this is because two map symbols were placed so close together that one had to cover the other up. If that's the case, then another zoomed-in map would have been appropriate.
The writing style of the book is remarkably dry; as much as I wanted to focus on what was being said I often found my mind wandering while trying to read this. The book is written to give a bird's eye view of the entire operation, and that's certainly not a bad thing, but any old historian could have written a dry, "just the facts" type of book; the author was actually there but doesn't include more than about three first-hand accounts of his actions in the battle. Those three acts are quite memorable and were a lot more compelling than hearing the name of a unit and what geographical location they were in at what time over and over again. Perhaps it was in Zoepf's nature to not want to focus too much on himself, lest he take too much attention away from the big picture? Or maybe Germans of that era just took pains to not mention too many details of what they did during the war.
On that note, the story of the author's unit, 6th SS Mountain Division, begins in Finland as they attacked the USSR from there in 1941. The unit stayed in Finland until that country secured a separate peace with the USSR in 1944 and the Germans had to leave as a condition of the Finns' surrender. It was a little disappointing that the author included so few details about these three years, though perhaps that should have been its own book to not take too much away from the focus on Nordwind? More likely, Zoepf had an attitude of "the less said the better" about whatever was done on the Eastern Front. In later chapters he marvels more than once at the idea of his American opponents accepting a cease-fire to take the wounded off of the battlefield and treating the wounded from both sides properly. It is made clear that such chivalry would be a laughable notion to the Red Army and the reader can conclude that the Germans (especially those of an SS unit) would have reciprocated.
Overall, I think the book could have benefited from a more personal touch from the author. It would have been nice to see a professional historian handle the big picture and to have Zoepf (and possibly others) add in their personal accounts of the battle to make the story more visceral and relatable. This is the formula that made Stephen Ambrose the celebrated author that he is. Ambrose's books are "history that reads like fiction" at its best, something that teaches and entertains in equal measure.
The author became a civil engineer after the war and apparently used maps a lot in his work there. The book is full of maps as a result and they're mostly quite good, if a little cluttered at times. There's also a frustrating tendency in this book for a map's legend to contain a symbol that doesn't appear on the map. It's annoying to think that you might be missing out on information. I think in at least one case this is because two map symbols were placed so close together that one had to cover the other up. If that's the case, then another zoomed-in map would have been appropriate.
The writing style of the book is remarkably dry; as much as I wanted to focus on what was being said I often found my mind wandering while trying to read this. The book is written to give a bird's eye view of the entire operation, and that's certainly not a bad thing, but any old historian could have written a dry, "just the facts" type of book; the author was actually there but doesn't include more than about three first-hand accounts of his actions in the battle. Those three acts are quite memorable and were a lot more compelling than hearing the name of a unit and what geographical location they were in at what time over and over again. Perhaps it was in Zoepf's nature to not want to focus too much on himself, lest he take too much attention away from the big picture? Or maybe Germans of that era just took pains to not mention too many details of what they did during the war.
On that note, the story of the author's unit, 6th SS Mountain Division, begins in Finland as they attacked the USSR from there in 1941. The unit stayed in Finland until that country secured a separate peace with the USSR in 1944 and the Germans had to leave as a condition of the Finns' surrender. It was a little disappointing that the author included so few details about these three years, though perhaps that should have been its own book to not take too much away from the focus on Nordwind? More likely, Zoepf had an attitude of "the less said the better" about whatever was done on the Eastern Front. In later chapters he marvels more than once at the idea of his American opponents accepting a cease-fire to take the wounded off of the battlefield and treating the wounded from both sides properly. It is made clear that such chivalry would be a laughable notion to the Red Army and the reader can conclude that the Germans (especially those of an SS unit) would have reciprocated.
Overall, I think the book could have benefited from a more personal touch from the author. It would have been nice to see a professional historian handle the big picture and to have Zoepf (and possibly others) add in their personal accounts of the battle to make the story more visceral and relatable. This is the formula that made Stephen Ambrose the celebrated author that he is. Ambrose's books are "history that reads like fiction" at its best, something that teaches and entertains in equal measure.
June 28, 2019
I bought this book for research into the 6th SS-Mountain Division during its operations in Finland, a subject that is very sparse in any language.
The book is marketed as the Division's history during Operation Nordwind in 1945 but it is much more than that. The first half of the book goes into its founding, its deployment to Finland, initial poor showing during the opening moves of Operation Arctic Fox, how it reorganised itself and became a battle hardened and trusted unit, its withdrawal throughout Finnish Lapland to Norway and its redeployment to the European Western front.
While it is written by one of the senior officers of the Division, it isn't purely a memoir. It is more of a cross between a memoir of a unit and a combat history. The author researched and sourced what he could from both American and German resources and attempts to present the battle in as neutral a light as possible.
The second half of the book breaks down into covering each of the Seven Days, firstly as the action went chronologically and then analyses the pluses and minuses of both sides during that day. This presents itself as a very unique book in the area of Second World War battle studies and as such shouldn't be easily dismissed.
One of the downsides is that the editing missed a lot of spelling or grammar points and occasionally you can see the start of a sentence which is the cut off and started again, but this is a minor point and doesn't distract too much.
The book is marketed as the Division's history during Operation Nordwind in 1945 but it is much more than that. The first half of the book goes into its founding, its deployment to Finland, initial poor showing during the opening moves of Operation Arctic Fox, how it reorganised itself and became a battle hardened and trusted unit, its withdrawal throughout Finnish Lapland to Norway and its redeployment to the European Western front.
While it is written by one of the senior officers of the Division, it isn't purely a memoir. It is more of a cross between a memoir of a unit and a combat history. The author researched and sourced what he could from both American and German resources and attempts to present the battle in as neutral a light as possible.
The second half of the book breaks down into covering each of the Seven Days, firstly as the action went chronologically and then analyses the pluses and minuses of both sides during that day. This presents itself as a very unique book in the area of Second World War battle studies and as such shouldn't be easily dismissed.
One of the downsides is that the editing missed a lot of spelling or grammar points and occasionally you can see the start of a sentence which is the cut off and started again, but this is a minor point and doesn't distract too much.
May 6, 2022
Well written account with sources from both German and American units involved as well as the first hand account of the author. Great background information about the unit prior to the battle and during the battle.
April 15, 2020
Fascinating book in which the soldiers from both sides met and became friends after the end of the war.
September 27, 2007
The author was an ethnic German from Lithuania who joined the Waffen-SS to fight the Soviets. He was posted in the Karelian front, just like that other guy Johann Voss. After the Finns signed a separate peace with the Soviets, the Finns were required to violently expel the Germans from Finland. Stalin stipulated this most likely to break and defile the bonds of brotherhood formed between the two groups. The focus of the book is on the truly last German offensive, which is not the Ardennes offensive, but a resultant attempt to exploit the American's shifting of their Vosges front troops north to pinch the bulge. The German attempt was stalled from the start because the divisions used were Volksgrenadier divisions. These were formed in 1944 as defensive divisions, so they were only given two battalions per regiment instead of the normal three. German doctrine had that one battalion would be resting while two battalion were assaulting, so that the fresh battalion could relieve an exhausted one or exploit a breakthrough. Therefore, the Volksgrenadier divisions, besides consisting of low-grade troops, could not continue offensive operations for much time. The author's 2 Waffen-SS Mountain Infantry battalions were given the mission to avoid roads and instead attack cross-road cities like Wingen-sur-Moder over mountainous paths. They succeeded for a time, but since their radio unit became lost and then captured on the first day, they had no way to tell command that Wingen was captured. Theirs was one of few victories in the offensive, and a portion of their unit successfully extricated themselves and returned to the starting line. The author was captured. A nice part of the story is that he and his unit met amicably with their opposing American unit some time after the war, and such meetings prompted the author to write his story.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews