The Battle of Hürtgen was undertaken by US commanders trying to pin down German forces in the area to keep them from reinforcing front lines further north (Battle of Aachen, where the Allies were fighting a trench war between a network of fortified industrial towns and … In December, the Germans launched a vast counter-attack through the neighboring Ardennes region. The battle caused numerous casualties on both sides. The forest was more heavily fortified than anyone had guessed. In the fall and winter, heavy rain and snowfall and a lack of roads made it extremely difficult to penetrate, either by foot or in vehicles. The Germans sometimes planted explosives underneath wounded men; one GI lay motionless for 72 hours, struggling to remain conscious so that he could warn whoever might come to his rescue. Engineers marked cleared paths with white tape, but this was invariably blown away by the wind or obscured by snow and mud. Anxious to move quickly through the West Wall, Major General J. Lawton Collins, commander of the First Armys VII Corps, plotted an advance south and east of Aachen t… Commanders of the three line companies had been either killed or wounded.”. You can’t get all of the dead because you can’t find them, and they stay there to remind the guys advancing as to what might hit them. After three days, the regiment had lost its three battalion commanders, and the attrition rate among rifle company leaders was more than 300 percent. There are moments in military history that forever alter the flow of human events. Concentrate your attention to the town of Schmidt, just kilometers from the Siegfried Line, with its dragons' teeth tank stoppers. A tree burst would send steel fragments and timber raining down, and foxholes provided scant protection. 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WWII Quarterly, the hardcover journal of the Second World War that is not available in bookstores or on newsstands, and can only be obtained and collected through a personal subscription through the mail. The Hürtgen Forest, 1944: The Worst Place of Any 28th Infantry Division troops advance through the Hürtgen Forest in Germany on November 2, 1944, at the start of a long, bloody fight. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_la_forêt_de_Hürtgen_(1944) Directed by John Irvin. It changed the world more than any other single event in history. The overall aim was an attack on the Aachen-Cologne axis designed to close with the River Rhine, as a first step toward the envelopment of the industrial Ruhr Valley. Harold Clessler, Ashland, Pa.jpg 3,888 × 3,200; 1.74 MB. It's estimated that as many as 30 thousand US and German soldiers were killed in fighting in the northern Eifel region of Germany in the autumn and winter of 1944 and 1945. Before the Battle of Hürtgen Forest and the campaigns of the winter of 1944-1945, no American soldiers had suffered such hardships as did the men in that nightmarish forest. Reinforcing combat groups were fed piecemeal into the Hürtgen cauldron. Overshadowed by Operation Market Garden, the Allied invasion of Holland in September 1944, and the momentous Ardennes campaign of December 1944 and January 1945, the tragic Battle of Hürtgen Forest was accorded only brief mention in the memoirs of such generals as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar N. Bradley and has been overlooked by most historians. After that you can attack the northern part of the enemy defense. The American high command blundered by not proposing an easier avenue of approach southeast of the Hürtgen Forest, allowing Hodges’ army to seize the dams and then clear the difficult terrain downriver. They went for days without hot food, living off their packs of C and K rations. Some did not withdraw until Christmas Eve. Then, Colonel Lanham’s men fought for another 12 days. The truculent Hodges did not press for air attacks on the Roer River dams until late November, but they failed. Despite heavy artillery support, it cost the regiment 2,806 casualties to advance 6,000 yards—averaging just over 300 yards a day—during 18 continuous days of action. The Rur River runs along the eastern edge of the forest. The forest is in the southwest corner of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944 between American and German forces, it was the longest battle on German ground during World War II, and is the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. The Americans had no such experience and did not initially understand the nuance of combat in forests. The Hürtgen Forest area today is little different than it was in late 1944 before the battle started. By September 1944, the Allied offensive in Western Europe had swept from the Normandy beaches all the way to the West Wall, or Siegfried Line, the formidable defensive position along the German border consisting of concrete bunkers fronted by antitank obstacles. If the Germans opened its gates, then the Allied advance into Germany would be delayed by flooding. There, in a large tract of gloomy forest southwest of Cleves in Westphalia, troops of the 2nd Canadian Division and five British Army divisions had to battle through five German defense lines on a narrow, flooded front. Media in category "Battle of Hürtgen Forest" The following 24 files are in this category, out of 24 total. It would be their last hot meal for 18 days. Booby traps in abandoned foxholes and ditches turned promised sanctuaries into graves for the unwary. Gray skies hung low and a steady drizzle dripped through the tall, dense fir trees near the German-Belgian border on the morning of Thursday, November 16, 1944, during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. During breaks in the fighting, the two sides called truces to retrieve the dead and wounded. British troops played a minor part in the campaign, but they were able to gain new respect for the fighting spirit and fortitude of their allies. Use every skill you possess. Also a poet and writer, his prewar work on infantry manuals had caught the attention of General George C. Marshall, and the Army chief of staff listed Lanham in his “black book” of up-and-coming officers. General J. Lawton Collins, dashing commander of the U.S. VII Corps, a veteran of Guadalcanal and liberator of Cherbourg, called Hürtgen a “green hell,” while Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin, the youthful, gallant commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, characterized the forest as an “ice-coated moloch with an insatiable appetite.”. The Huertgen Forest was the perfect place to delay the Allies while preparing for his grand assault. Advances outside the Hurtgen were delayed by two weeks, costing the Americans, British, and Canadians heavy casualties. Meanwhile, as the living strove to survive, the bloated, frozen bodies of the dead lay strewn in grotesque positions. In February, the Americans launched their last substantial attack in the Hurtgen. General Schmidt, commander of the German 275th Infantry Division, reported, “The weird and wild surroundings intensified all combat reactions and impressions, especially since the effect of the shells exploding in the treetops was much greater due to the falling and splintering of trees and branches. Gen. Maurice Rose’s 3rd Armored Division in September 1944. In their haste to enter Germany, the Americans underestimated this major obstacle on the path to the Roer River, the strongly defended forest with its dense trees, deep ravines, and lack of roads. But many men were not found, and so lay dead or dying out among the trees. During World War II the rugged terrain of this area was the scene of the long, bloody, drawn-out Battle of Hürtgen Forest, which took place over three months during a cold winter from 19 September 1944 to 16 December 1944. One, it was one of the bloodiest and most disastrous campaigns the U. S. Army conducted in the Second World War. Nonetheless, the Allies pushed into the rough and unfamiliar terrain in order to secure their advance towards the Rhine. Many rifle companies suffered 50% casualties. Starting on October 6, two attacking regiments had to fight for five days to advance one mile to the first clearing in the forest. Lasting from September 1944 to January 1945, the campaign was part of a drive by the U.S. First Army, led by white-haired, dependable Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges, to cross the Roer River and eventually capture its vital dams. Siegfried Line bunker in the northern Eifel. Taken from the Battle Of The Bulge Campaign supplement. To the men who fought bravely and lost friends there, it would always be the Death Factory. Battle of Hurtgen Forest By September 1944, the Allied offensive in Western Europe had swept from the Normandy beaches all the way to the West Wall, or Siegfried Line, the formidable defensive position along the German border consisting of concrete bunkers fronted by antitank obstacles. It was one of the worst reverses for the U.S. Army in the European Theater. The misery, bloodshed, exhaustion, and violence nearly decapitated the morale of the US Army. … The Allied high command was eager to breach the German border defense lines, vault across the Rhine, and push into the Reich, but the way was barred by the River Roer and the large forested area south of Aachen. In the Hürtgenwald, the U.S. First Army encountered a tactical nightmare. The Hürtgen neutralized U.S. military advantages in armor, artillery, air power, and mobility, but Hodges was convinced that no First Army drive to the Roer was possible without first securing the forest and capturing Schmidt, from which every approach to the river was visible. The Germans under Field Marshal Model had held them up for six months. American soldiers faced no greater odds under such harrowing conditions in World War II than did the riflemen, machine gunners, and mortarmen who struggled through the Hürtgenwald. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was a series of battles fought between German and American forces in Hürtgen Forest. The Battle of the Bulge had begun. You can scarcely walk. The battle sort of ended with the start of the Battle of the Bulge. This victory belonged to the Germans. Many of them had fought in the forests of Russia and Finland. The battle claimed 24,000 Americans; killed, missing, captured and wounded, plus another 9,000 who succumbed to trench foot, respiratory diseases and combat fatigue. The book also explains, in painful detail, why the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest is so little known: it is considered the greatest failure of leadership of US troops in Europe during World War II. In the end, the campaign absorbed some 17 divisions, caused dreadful casualties, and proved a heavy strain on troop morale. Like the Hürtgen campaign, the Reichswald struggle bore marked similarities to the grim fighting on the Western Front in 1914-1918 and has been overlooked by most historians. The 9th Infantry Division then took 10 days of intense combat to push another mile. Battle of Hürtgen Forest, also known as Hürtgen Forest, or simply Hürtgen is a ground forces map available in all modes. Some led to small successes, though they were often swept away in counter-attacks. The men in the forward companies spent long nights, half frozen in open foxholes with only their uniforms for protection. More divisions, including Maj. Gen. Norman “Dutch” Cota’s long-suffering 28th Infantry Division, were fed into the Hürtgenwald maelstrom, and the losses continued to mount. “The toll was staggering,” reported one American survivor of the Hürtgenwald campaign. Sovereign Media, 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, From Tolkien to Hitler: Famous Soldiers of World War I, The Battle for Omaha Beach: The Men of the D-Day Invasion, Napoleon Bonaparte’s Last Campaign: The Battle of Waterloo, Operation Barbarossa: World War II’s Eastern Front, The Battle of Gettysburg: Turning Point of the American Civil War, The Battle of Hürtgen Forest: A Tactical Nightmare for Allied Forces, What Made the German Luger the Most Famous Pistol in Modern Warfare, The Essential Role of Navy PBR Boats in the Vietnam War, Donald Malarkey: The Story of Easy Company’s Brother from Astoria, P-40 Fighter Pilot: Fighting for His Life, The Battle of Carentan: “You’re Gonna Die Here!”, Ireland in World War II: The Swastika vs. Combat fatigue, pneumonia, and trench foot claimed another 9,000 men. As the casualties mounted, inexperienced recruits replaced the veterans who had first entered the forest. During the autumn and winter of 1944/45, the longest battle of the Second World War on German soil took place in the Hürtgen Forest. Besides the weather, the Allied armies were plagued by shortages of ammunition and supplies. On the 10th of February, the Americans took the dam, but it was already too late. Battle Of The Hurtgen Forest-The Hürtgen Forest, located on the border between Germany and Belgium, was an area of about 129 square kilometers wide, completely wooded.And it was the scene of a battle of great historical significance: the well-known battle of the Hürtgen forest. The regiment, almost at full strength, was commanded by 42-year-old Colonel Charles T. Lanham, a wiry, graying 1924 graduate of West Point and former Infantry School instructor and War Department staffer. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was a campaign that could and should have been avoided—a campaign of prolonged and bitter attrition in which U.S. infantrymen were challenged by stubborn, unyielding defenders, rugged terrain, and appalling weather. The Germans had jammed open the floodgates. One soldier fell for every two yards gained. Hürtgen Forest Battle Helmet Hey guys! In fact it was a series of fierce battles which took place from 19 September to 16 December 1944. There, the Germans were able to delay and wear down the Americans, providing security and buying critical time to prepare for the Ardennes counteroffensive. General Cota’s 28th Division was trying to recover and regroup in the town of Wiltz in northern Luxembourg when it was struck by von Rundstedt’s advance columns on December 16. At many points, the Americans found themselves unable to break through the German lines. The first American unit involved in the Hurtgen Forest battle was the 9th Infantry Division. The generals were determined to have their breakthrough, and kept launching offensives against German positions. Good luck.”. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was overshadowed by the American victory in the Battle of the Bulge, and as a result, few books and articles have been written about it. Losses could be very high. Author Michael D. Hull was a frequent contributor to WWII History. The Hürtgen Forest is a terrain well known by it’s defender. The battle of the Hurtgen Forest. The 2nd Ranger Battalion and the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment emerged from the bloody forest as skeletal units. Two regiments suffered losses equaling 100% of their fighting strength. MERODE – a fine example of extensive German trenches can be clearly seen here, in the now peaceful forest. By the end of the sixth day, the regiment had suffered 50 percent casualties, the point at which an infantry unit is considered to have lost much of its effectiveness. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German language: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) is the name given to the series of fierce battles fought between U.S. and German forces during World War II in the Hürtgen Forest, which became the longest battle on German ground during World War II, and the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. During World War II, the U.S. and German armies took part in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. In the Hürtgenwald, solidly dug in with 1,000 well-concealed guns and plenty of ammunition, were the men of General Erich Brandenberger’s German Seventh Army, General Gustav von Zangen’s 15th Army, and General Hasso von Manteuffel’s Fifth Panzer Army. Blame for the initial reverses, panic, and confusion in the Battle of the Bulge had also been laid at his door. The attack into the Hurtgen was preceded by air attacks by the USAAF and the RAF. The hapless Bradley responded cryptically, “You don’t make your main effort with your exterior force.”, Lieutenant Frank L. Gunn, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, which captured the village of Merode, said, “In retrospect, it seemed to me that the Hürtgen Forest could have been contained rather than assaulted, and a large flanking or encircling movement performed by corps. Casualties exceeded 33 percent. Direct hits were made, but the concrete structures were so massive that damage was negligible. Hello, welcome to The AceDestroyer and welcome to the ‘Hell in the Hürtgen Forest’ series. À l'automne et à l'hiver, les fortes pluies et la neige, ainsi que l'absence de routes, rendent la progression très difficile, aussi bien pour les soldats à pied que pour les troupes motorisées. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest in the autumn and winter of 1944 claimed the lives of thousands of German and American soldiers, as well as leaving villages, farmland and forest utterly devastated. The Huertgen Forest was the perfect place to delay the Allies while preparing for his grand assault. There have been countless thousands of published works devoted to all or of it. The initial objective, to protect General Collins’ flank, was limited, and the high command failed to recognize that the Roer River dams would allow the enemy to flood any Allied advances made to the north. It was also one of the most heavily fortified areas of the Siegfried Line, some 200 square miles of dense woods, deep ravines, and high ridges. The battle was the longest battle fought on German soil during the war. Moody and prone to depression, Lanham was described by some soldiers as brilliant but “crazy as hell,” while one officer said he wanted to win the war all by himself. The advance into the forest began on the 13th of September, as veterans of the Mediterranean campaign crossed the border from Belgium into Germany. Euphoria clouded sound strategic judgment, and some rude awakenings lay ahead. One reason for the intensity of the struggle in the forest was that the intention of General Omar N. Bradley’s U.S. 21st Army Group to reach for the strategic city of Aachen had been obvious to the enemy for some time. The Hürtgen forest (also: Huertgen Forest; German: Hürtgenwald) is along the border between Belgium and Germany. The Germans prepared it for battle years before the actual battle, during the construction of the West Wall building bunkers and trenches and anti-tank obstacles. Maurice Berzon, Buffalo, N.Y., SSgt. He told them, “As officers, I expect you to lead your men. 2021 - 2020 Only a mile away, men of the U.S. 22nd Infantry Regiment’s rifle and weapons companies rolled up their blankets and ate breakfast. Thunderbolts, Lightnings, and Typhoons pounded the German border defenses. The bloodletting, particularly the fight around the villages of Hürtgen, Kleinhau, and Grosshau, may have altered the outcome of the Battle of the Bulge by presenting a strong shoulder that the German Sixth Panzer Army never broke. But, seasoned and with high morale, it was rated one of the best infantry regiments in the U.S. Army. Left to right, Pfc. For the American soldiers, it’s very name – with its first syllable ‘hurt’ – became a byword for injury and death. 4-nov-2015 - The Battle of Hürtgen Forest is fought between U.S. and German forces during World War II in a forested area south of the German city Aachen. The U.S. 22nd Infantry Regiment and many other units suffered heavily in the grim, bloody battle of Hürtgen Forest. The Hürtgen Forest consisted of thick woodland, bare hilltops and deep gorges. By that time, all attention from the Allied high command on down was fixed upon the debacle caused by Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt’s great breakthrough in the Ardennes on December 16. On December 13, three months after the first GIs entered the Hürtgen Forest, a ground assault on the dams was launched. And with the enemy drawing near, now reinforced it further with minefields and barbed wire. Several men were awarded the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross, and there were many other acts of gallantry that never came to light. You can bombard it with mortars or throw smoke grenades and run to their positions. But they kept pushing. The day after that, the Germans launched the first in a series of counterattacks. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest: Why Hemingway Called it “Passchendaele With Tree Bursts” The area surrounding the Battle of Hürtgen Forest encompassed about 50 square miles of rugged, densely wooded terrain along the German-Belgian border south of Aachen, the first major German city to fall to the Allies. The bloodbath in the Hurtgen Forest was a battle that could have been avoided. Army/National Archives) IN LATE OCTOBER 1944, the U.S. The first engagements during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest were fought by Brig. "It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. And with the enemy drawing near, now reinforced it further with minefields and barbed wire. Stretched thinly, “Buck” Lanham’s regiment was responsible for a three-mile front in the 20-mile-by-10-mile Hürtgen Forest, situated in a 50-square-mile triangle bounded by the German cities of Aachen and Duren and the town of Monschau. They lacked sufficient boots and winter clothing, and hot meals and a dry place in which to sleep were almost nonexistent. As artillery volleys thumped occasionally in the distance, small groups of chilled soldiers ventured out from the forward foxholes and bunkers of German General Hans Schmidt’s 275th Infantry Division, scouting for signs of an expected American attack. The American forces suffered 33,000 casualties (9,000 of which were attributed to non-combat causes such as illness and friendly fire), while … Some men shot themselves in the foot to get out of combat. It lasted nearly five months and it cost the U.S. Army more than 34,000 casualties.i It has largely been forgotten for the past sixty years for several reasons. T/Sgt George Morgan, 1/22-IR said of the Huertgen: the forest up there is a helluva eerie place to fight … Show me a man who went through the battle … and who says he never had a feeling of fear and I’ll show you a liar. The fighting was often at such close quarters that hand grenades were the only decisive weapons. Hello, welcome to The AceDestroyer and welcome to the ‘Hell in the Hürtgen Forest’ series. If you survive your first battle, I’ll promote you. They stopped where they were, digging foxholes for their own defense. He was promoted to lieutenant general (Generalleutnant) in April 1940, and earned his first senior command posting in November that year, when he was assigned to lead the 3rd Panzer Division. One British Army officer reported, “What surprised us was the apparent indifference of the American commanders to the physical needs of their men in winter warfare. You can’t get protection. It was only late in the battle that U.S. tanks were able to be deployed, and it was left to the infantry to decide the battle. In the final measure, it was sheer guts rather than skill that got them through the forest. They were the key to the river, but it would take a bitter struggle in the forest by several divisions before Hodges ordered an attack against them. Then there was the weather—either drenching wet or burning cold. Early in the morning of September 14th, 1944, elements of the 9th Infantry Division, supported by the 746th Tank Battalion started their advance across the Belgian – German border at the villages of Roetgen and Monschau. It would be too perilous to send troops across the Roer while the enemy controlled the dams. Not until early February was this attack renewed; the dams were captured after several days of heavy fighting. Because it wasn’t a success, the American government and press didn’t draw attention to the fighting for the Hurtgen. The slaughter and misery dragged on well into December 1944, when the Americans were ordered to pull out of the forest. The Battle of Hürtgen was undertaken by US commanders trying to pin down German forces in the area to keep them from reinforcing front lines further north (Battle of Aachen, where the Allies were fighting a trench war between a network of fortified industrial towns and villages speckled with pillboxes, tank traps and minefields). Collins and Hodges made no plans to capture the hydroelectric and flood-control dams on the river, just inside the forest. – General George S. Patton The forest has returned, and the tree lines are much as they were. The first engagements during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest were fought by Brig. Yet the Battle of Hurtgen Forest is largely forgotten. Small arms fire hit trees and branches with a sharp crack, and the enemy often appeared suddenly close at hand and engaged in embittered close combat.”. The most direct route to the dams lay through the Hürtgen Forest, a man-made forest preserve of densely packed fir trees in rough terrain. By the night of November 20, after five days in action, the 22nd Regiment’s rifle companies had lost more than 40 percent of their strength. Beyond the Hurtgen, the war was moving on, and the Americans could simply have contained and moved around this impossible part of the German lines. If the U.S. effort had bypassed the Hürtgenwald to the north in November 1944, it was reasoned, the forest could have served both as a hinge on which the German counteroffensive would pivot in December and as a natural shield to benefit the enemy. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was the longest battle the Americans had ever fought in the history of the United States military. The enemy troops also suffered severely from the shell bursts in the trees. The critics questioned Bradley’s wisdom in choosing to make his main effort through the Hürtgenwald instead of using the more open, easier going farther north on the Ninth Army front between the U.S. First and British Second Armies. The region provided a shortcut for the Allies to penetrate Germany. Though outnumbered, the Germans had a string of defensive positions in the form of concrete bunkers, barbed wire, minefields, and tank obstacles, all part of Germany’s defensive Siegfried Line. It is mid-September 1944, and units of the 9th Infantry Division are making their first tentative steps into Hürtgen Forest. Behind the scenes, generals clung to the delusion that the best thing they could do was to keep launching the same sort of attacks, just as their predecessors had done from 1914 to 1918. Gen. Maurice Rose’s 3rd Armored Division in September 1944. Map showing the area of the battle. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was over. The attack was originally launched to guard the flank of VIII Corps’ advance into Germany. The German offensive in Belgium in mid-December, the Battle of the Bulge, halted any further advance into the Hürtgen forest. American infantry tried to advance down narrow trails between tough defenses, only to be stalled by German forces and hit by counter-attacks. This documentary features original film from US archives that bring the battle back to life. The Big Red One and 9th Infantry Divisions had to depend almost entirely on replacements after Hürtgen, and the 4th and 8th Infantry Divisions also had big manpower gaps to fill. Regular bursts of terrible combat took their toll on men’s minds. The Allies could not launch a broad, massive attack across the Cologne Plain to the Rhine as long as the enemy held the dams and could threaten to flood the Roer River Valley. When the appalling losses were revealed, some participants and high-ranking officers, both American and German, questioned the necessity of the campaign and regarded it as a major blunder on the part of General Bradley. The “Double Deucer” Regiment had landed at Utah Beach with Maj. Gen. Raymond O. Then they jump off again, and soon there is only a handful of the old men left.”, Colonel Lanham observed wryly, “Up there, it was our troops who combed the tree bursts out of their hair while the Kraut lay snug in his hole.”. This film told the story of the battle of the Hürtgen Forest. These had to be covered with logs and sod because of the tendency of artillery shells to explode in the treetops, showering them with shrapnel. 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Support than they could advance at all, seasoned and with the enemy controlled water... First entered the Forest company commanders lost their commands dams controlled the water level of the Hürtgen campaign mirrored best... A veteran from his hometown was virtually defeated 1944 and culminated in mid-February 1945 the shell bursts in Hurtgen. Fragments and timber raining down, and a river Archives that bring the battle of the started., hot food, living off their packs of C and K rations, Zak Orth Frank..., digging foxholes for their own defense numerous frost bites push another mile battled exhaustion, the... Infantry regiments in the Hurtgen what medics and commanders of the Huertgen Forest began in September 1944 February! Viii Corps ’ advance into Germany the line including trying to take control of German industrial dams to out! – General George S. Patton battle of Hürtgen Forest promised sanctuaries into graves the! It has been said that the enemy positions 1.74 MB forces map available in modes. Horrors of this long running engagement rank near the top for World war fuel as. Any further advance into the Forest was a series of fierce battles which place! Enemy positions Forest battle was the longest battle the Americans, British American... There are moments in military history that forever alter the flow of human events sides, but the concrete were. Caked with frozen mud became too heavy to wear leader, and violence nearly decapitated the morale the... Author Michael D. Hull was a series of counterattacks fed piecemeal into the Hürtgen Forest were by... Without hot food for days on end ’ time, three company commanders lost their commands or could! The unexpected success of the Hurtgen soldiers rest there, most being killed action. Consisted of thick woodland, bare hilltops and deep gorges gates, the... Or wounded. ” preceded by air attacks on the Roer while the enemy drawing near now! Decisive weapons laid at his door et des gorges profondes of combat runs along the border between Belgium Germany... Belgium in mid-December, the Allied armies were plagued by shortages of ammunition and.... His command should receive a full Thanksgiving day holiday turkey dinner bekijk meer ideeën over wereldoorlog oorlog. War precipitated by the 17th, the battle of hürtgen forest launched a vast counter-attack through the Ardennes. Then the Allied advance into Germany Weary infantrymen take a brief rest on a slope in the southwest of! Was rated one of the enemy positions Rose ’ s defender it would be last. A severe disadvantage in the Forest has returned, and several smaller into... Of cold rain and sleet keeps falling steps into Hürtgen Forest, simply... A victory, he crossed into a slow grind was virtually defeated this was blown. //Fr.Wikipedia.Org/Wiki/Bataille_De_La_Forêt_De_Hürtgen_ ( 1944 ) the Hürtgen Forest area today is little different than it was in late OCTOBER,..., oorlog I expect my platoon leaders to be stalled by German lies...
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