Army Group Oberrhein ( Germany ) The Upper Rhine High Command ( ) , also incorrectly referred to as Army Group Upper Rhine ( ) , was a short - lived headquarters unit of the German Armed Forces ( " Wehrmacht " ) created on the Western Front during World War II . The Upper Rhine High Command was formed on 26 November 1944 and deactivated on 25 January 1945 . The sole commander of this headquarters unit was Heinrich Himmler . Although English language sources refer to this command as an " army group , " the German term " Oberkommando " actually means " high command " . As such , the " Oberrhein " command was not an army group subordinated to theater command , but a command of importance equal to that of a theater command and one which reported directly to Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( " OKW " ) and Adolf Hitler . The German term " Oberrhein " refers to the upper reaches of the Rhine River , the geographical area for which this command had defense responsibility . Creation . Following successful Allied offensives in November 1944 that forced the Saverne and Belfort Gap s , reached the Rhine River , and liberated Belfort , Strasbourg , and Mulhouse , Hitler ordered the German troops around Colmar in Alsace to hold fast . German Army Group G ( " Heeresgruppe G " ) was stripped of defense responsibility for the area around Colmar and the defense of the Rhine River south of the Bienwald . On November 26 , 1944 , the Germans organized the Upper Rhine High Command to defend the upper Rhine . Hitler placed German Interior Minister Heinrich Himmler in command on December 10 , believing that Himmler ' s presence would stimulate extraordinary efforts by both German military and Nazi Party officials in the region . The designation of the command as a " High Command " also meant that the Upper Rhine High Command was an independent theater - level command that answered directly to " OKW " , rather than to the OB West . OB West was the German command responsible for the rest of the Western Front . With Himmler in charge of the Upper Rhine High Command , the practical effect was that this army group answered directly to Hitler . This introduced a largely disadvantageous schism into the German high command for operations on the Western Front . Organization . The Upper Rhine High Command controlled the German Nineteenth Army as well as several regiments of the German Replacement Army ( " Ersatzheer " ) that were mobilized by Military District V ( " Wehrkreis V " ) as an emergency measure in reaction to the successful Allied offensives of November 1944 . The battle for Alsace . On December 16 , 1944 , the Germans attacked in the Ardennes . What became known as the " Battle of the Bulge " forced the movement of large numbers of U . S . troops north out of Alsace and Lorraine to counter the German attack . In January , additional U . S . troops were moved north in response to the German counter - offensive into northern Alsace , Operation North Wind ( " Unternehmen Nordwind " ) . Taking advantage of the stretched Allied lines , Himmler ordered the recapture of Strasbourg . German troops assaulted across the Rhine near Gambsheim on January 5 , 1945 and soon occupied a bridgehead including the towns of Herrlisheim , Drusenheim , and Offendorf north of Strasbourg . South of Strasbourg , German troops in the Colmar Pocket attacked north toward Strasbourg on January 7 , inflicting painful losses on the French II Corps , but were ultimately unable to break the French defense . Reinforced by elements of the 10th SS Panzer Division , the German troops in the Gambsheim Bridgehead held their own against U . S . and French counterattacks during January 1945 , manhandling the U . S . 12th Armored Division at Herrlisheim . The German successes of January , however , marked the high point for the Upper Rhine High Command . The Gambsheim Bridgehead , and further to the south , the Colmar Pocket , would not be reduced by Allied forces until well into February 1945 , but the operations of the Upper Rhine High Command after mid - January were defensive in nature . Inactivation . With the defeat of Operation North Wind and the impending collapse of the Colmar Pocket , the Upper Rhine High Command was inactivated on January 24 , 1945 , and the responsibility for the defense of the upper Rhine region was again returned to Army Group G . The staff of the Upper Rhine High Command was used to staff the newly formed Eleventh SS Panzer Army on the Eastern Front . Hapless as a senior military leader , Heinrich Himmler was next sent to command Army Group Vistula ( " Heeresgruppe Weichsel " ) , also on the Eastern Front .