Senseless bloodbath perpetrated by people who could not possibly have known what the terrain was like and didn’t seem to care all that much to find out. A horrific display of officers with maps dictating (badly and with very, very little to gain from such manuevers) the actions of those doing the actual fighting, IMHO.
Dara
You sound like what a critic would have said about WW1 Western Front battles.
Paul
Really? I just find that this was one of the most disgusting displays of trying to gain something of little value at the cost of so much and so many. The more I learn about this, the more I find that I am sick to my stomach.
i know that the 4th and 1st inf. div. fought there along with the 36th div. and 442 inf.reg.
I’m sure I read somewhere many years ago (I think it was in After the Battle Magazine) that a crewman (men) of a Sherman Tank were not recovered from their destroyed vehicle in Hurtgen Forest until many years after the war. It was in a cordoned of area strewn with glass mines which was too dangerous to clear. I can’t remember if the unfortunate(s) were recovered in 1963 or 1973 or some such date.
Paul
Right, Paul, however it was not a Sherman. Please look here:
http://www.ww2incolor.com/modern/HiH_301_1%23.html
If I recall right, the caption that I saw in the ‘After the Battle’ magazine showed a Sherman under a few trees fenced off in about an acre of land. By the looks of the picture it seemed to have been taken long after the war.
It goes to show Just how dangerous the Glass mines were and how hazardous it must have been for those brave American troops.
Paul
Sorry about the delay in replying to this thread as I was away for the week visiting family.
Happy and prosperous new year to all at WW2 in Colour.
didnt the 442 infantry regiment fight there. i believe they were attached to the 36 texas national guard division. they made a movie about it with van johnson i believe.
the hurtgen forest battles were a shambles
Yes, and I feel like fighting the Lernaean Hydra.
Good luck with that Hercules;)
Located at the border of Germany and Belgium, the Hürtgen Forest was a wooded area 50 square miles wide that provided another possible corridor for the Allies to thrust into Germany. Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges’ First Army, charged with taking the densely wooded terrain, quickly saw the advance becoming a standstill as the American material advantage were taken away by the fierce shelling from well defended German positions.
After nearly a month of fighting, the Americans suffered 4,500 casualties after pushing only a few kilometers into the forest. Had the Americans advanced further, the German defenders also had the option of opening the dams nearby and flood the entire forest. Meanwhile, elements of Hodges’ army besieged the city of Aachen a short distance north of the forest; Aachen became the first large German city to fall under Allied control when it fell on 21 Oct 1944. Instead of enveloping Hürtgen Forest and move the bulk of his forces eastwards into the heart of Germany, Hodges decided to eliminate the German forces in the forest to secure his southern flank.
Early in Nov, the Allies launched a new offensive into the forest. The elements of the First Army encountered exploding trees, a technique deployed by the German defenders where shells exploded 80 to 100 feet above the ground, and the explosion at the treetops sent a rain of shrapnel and wood splinters of wood down at the American troops who uselessly proned at the first sound of explosion.
Early in Nov, the Allies launched a new Offensive into the forest. The elements of the First Army encountered exploding trees, a technique deployed by the German defenders where shells exploded 80 to 100 feet above the ground, and the explosion at the treetops sent a rain of shrapnel and wood splinters of wood down at the American troops who uselessly proned at the first sound of explosion. The American troops, however, quickly learned to “hug a tree” in which they stood flat against large tree trunks to minimize body area exposed upwards. Replacement troops flowed into the forest constantly, but not at a rate that replaced the mounting number of casualties; many units had over 100% casualty rate with the fierce fighting.
The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was the longest battle the Americans had ever fought in the history of the United States military. The American forces suffered 33,000 casualties (though 9,000 of which were attributed to non-combat causes such as illness and friendly fire), while the Germans suffered 28,000 casualty (12,000 of them died). Despite the eventual American victory achieved with the “Yankee doggedness” as described by Eisenhower, many historians argue that the lives spent at Hürtgen was in vain for that the forest was of little strategic value. While the American troops fought the extended battle, dams on the Roer River remained under German control.
Perhaps, the Germans didn’t blow up those dams in the Roer. They remained until the end of the war. After the Battle of The Bulge, the Hurtgen Forest Campaign had been long-forgotten. :army:
9th Infantry Division troops rest after an American attempt to break the defenses in the Kall trail.
Bump.
This thread is a duplicate of a discussion. Please use the search function before starting threads in the future…
I kind of doubt that the good people over here appreciate this post - uncredited as it is.
http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=117