For their part, the German high command misread the Allied objectives, believing the Allied assault to be a general pressure along the front designed to induce collapse at any given point. Hitler had agreed to a partial withdrawal in the north (the Erstein salient) during the night of 28 January but forbade a general withdrawal over the Rhine. German outposts in the Vosges Mountains were pulled back, but the confusion of the withdrawal and the pressures of the battlefield resulted in many units becoming mixed with one another. While this did not affect the numbers available for combat, it did lower the defensive cohesion of the German units. On 29 January, "Heeresgruppe Oberrhein" was dissolved as a headquarters, and the units in the Colmar Pocket were again subordinated to "Heeresgruppe G" (Army Group G), under the command of "SS-Obergruppenführer" Paul Hausser.