A quite new documentary of the fierce fighting in the Hurtgenforest was released shortly. I haven’t seen it yet but people who did were enthusiastic about it. Interviews with german and american contemporary witnesses, 104 min. + 18 min. bonus material.
English website:
http://www.konejung-stiftung.de/You_Enter_Germany_EN.htm
Interesting. They seem to be saying that the “myth” of the Huertgen was of a total US defeat. Perhaps they mean it was a battle of attrition that exhausted both sides, but the US could make good the losses whereas Germany could not…
In any case, it was a horrible, stupid battle that should never have been fought…
There was definitely no winner to this battle, both sides suffered too much for that. It’s just the fact that it was -as you mentioned- absolutely unneccessary for the US Army to engage there. I could never reconstruct the conclusion though that the US Army suffered in a about 6 months nearly as many casualties as during the entire Vietnam war.