How long is the tour?

The tour lasts approximately five hours, including private transfers between sites and short walks at each stop.

Meeting point is flexible and arranged with you; pickup is typically available from accommodations in Colmar, Strasbourg, or Freiburg.

What is the minimum age?

Minimum age is 12; guests under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, and parental judgment is advised due to combat subject matter.

Is the tour accessible for people with mobility issues?

The tour uses a private vehicle between sites and includes short walks on uneven ground; guests with mobility needs should notify the operator in advance so accommodations can be discussed.

What languages does the guide speak?

The live guide language listed is English.

What is the cancellation policy?

Free cancellation or rescheduling is allowed up to 48 hours before the tour.

Across the Colmar Pocket: Private Battlefield Tour of Holtzwihr and Jebsheim

The Colmar Pocket Battlefield Tour takes you across the winter battlefields of Alsace, where villages, casemates, and frozen fields still hold the scars of a brutal 1944–45 campaign. Operated as a private, expert-led tour that meets flexibly around Colmar, Strasbourg, or Freiburg, the trip covers seven stops in chronological order—from a 1940 Maginot casemate at Marckolsheim to the street fighting in Jebsheim where the road to the Rhine finally opened.

Begin at Maginot Casemate 35/3, Marckolsheim, and feel how the same concrete defenses that guarded the Rhine in 1940 were contended again five years later. Sélestat follows: a town that controlled vital roads and where American infantry fought through built-up blocks under fire. In Kaysersberg you stand beside an M4A4 Sherman at the gate, a tangible link to armored crews who pushed into Alsace’s wine country. On Hill 351 at Sigolsheim, the story darkens—"Bloody Hill" memorializes units cut off and captured in savage winter fighting.

Bennwihr shows the human cost as houses burned and villages were ripped apart overnight. The narrative culminates at Holtzwihr, where on 26 January 1945 Audie Murphy famously climbed a burning tank destroyer, held off German infantry at close range, and earned the Medal of Honor. The last stop, Jebsheim, evokes urban combat so intense it earned the nickname "the Alsatian Verdun," with frozen streets changing hands repeatedly until the Allied line broke toward the Rhine.

This tour’s strength is the connective tissue the guide provides. Rather than isolated monuments, you get a sequence that explains operational choices, geography, and the logistics of winter warfare. Sites include a Maginot casemate, village ruins, a preserved Sherman tank, memorials, and street-level ruins—each a different scale of combat and memory. The landscape is agricultural and riverine: Rhine floodplain soils, vineyards on low slopes, and villages set against Vosges foothills. Weather matters; winter snows and mud shaped the fighting and still shape access.

Practical details: duration is about five hours, with private vehicle transfers between stops and short, sometimes uneven walks; minimum age is 12. Meeting and pickup are arranged from accommodations in Colmar, Strasbourg, or Freiburg. The guide speaks English and frames the campaign in both military and civilian terms, treating casualties and courage with accuracy and restraint.

For history-minded travelers, this private itinerary offers concentrated context—terrain, tactics, and personal stories—that larger tours often miss. It’s a walk across a critical but overlooked chapter of the Western Front, one that closes the gap between the Rhine and the stories people remember. Bookings are private and flexible; pickup from Colmar, Strasbourg, or Freiburg is arranged with you. The guide speaks English, and the tour balances tactical detail with human stories, making this a powerful, sober field school in living history.

Across the Colmar Pocket: Private Battlefield Tour of Holtzwihr and Jebsheim

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