By the next day, they were six miles through the German defenses. 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. The Americans had finally broken through the forest, but it could not be called a victory. Media in category "Battle of Hürtgen Forest" The following 24 files are in this category, out of 24 total. And it was not alone, for several divisions and regiments were mauled in the campaign. The Battle of the Huertgen Forest began in September 1944 and culminated in mid-February 1945. They went for days without hot food, living off their packs of C and K rations. The Hürtgen campaign was strictly a foot soldier’s war because the thick, ravine-creased woods, steep ridges, lack of a road net, mud, and weather conditions—rain, fog, sleet, and snow—negated the customary American superiority in armor and air power. They were starting 18 days of hell in the Hürtgen Forest “meat-grinder.” Famed novelist Ernest Hemingway, a friend of Colonel Lanham and a correspondent for Collier’s magazine, described the Battle of Hürtgen Forest as “Passchendaele with tree bursts.” He was recalling the grim Western Front battle of 1917 in which British and Canadian troops suffered 300,000 casualties in gaining a five-mile-deep salient. 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. The rugged Vosges Mountains in northeastern France formed a traditional defensive barrier, while the Siegfried Line and the Rhine River comprised a significant obstacle to the Allied forces. Gen. Maurice Rose’s 3rd Armored Division in September 1944. It would not be until February 1945 that Hodges had control of the dams and was able to confidently place troops on the eastern bank of the Roer River. Its defenses—both natural and man-made—were strong, and it was resisting the Allied crusade more stubbornly than ever. The truculent Hodges did not press for air attacks on the Roer River dams until late November, but they failed. The battle of the Hurtgen Forest. Gen. Maurice Rose’s 3rd Armored Division in September 1944. Reinforcing combat groups were fed piecemeal into the Hürtgen cauldron. The bloodbath in the Hurtgen Forest was a battle that could have been avoided. Battle of Hürtgen Forest Timeline. This victory belonged to the Germans. The day after that, the Germans launched the first in a series of counterattacks. Army/National Archives) IN LATE OCTOBER 1944, the U.S. 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. But there’s NEVER been anything like THIS before. The forest was more heavily fortified than anyone had guessed. The Germans employed tree bursts, which exploded well above the soldiers’ heads, resulting in a shower of shrapnel and shredded tree limbs. The attack was originally launched to guard the flank of VIII Corps’ advance into Germany. In February, the Americans launched their last substantial attack in the Hurtgen. This would have reduced the casualties and still have accomplished the mission of capturing the dams on the Roer River.”, Lieutenant William Burke, a company commander in the 803rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, agreed: “Some of us with combat experience from the beaches to Hürtgen were hard pressed to understand the tactical wisdom of slogging it out in such an unforgiving environment instead of bypassing it.”, Major General Rudolph Gersdorff, chief of staff of the German Seventh Army, was quoted as saying, “The German command could not understand the reason for the strong American attacks in the Hürtgen Forest.… The fighting in the wooded area denied the American troops the advantages offered them by their air and armored forces, the superiority of which had been decisive in all the battles waged before.”. Captain William S. Boice, one of its chaplains, called the 22nd Regiment “a fighting machine trained to an efficiency not matched at any time during the war.” Its motto was “Deeds, Not Words,” and it would be awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. In four days’ time, three company commanders lost their commands. If you survive your first battle, I’ll promote you. The offensive as undertaken placed the American forces at a severe disadvantage in the forest. 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. 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. … Snow followed with the arrival of winter. 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. In one rifle company, all of the officers were relieved or broke under the strain, while a platoon commander who refused to order his men into the line was put under arrest. The name is sometimes Anglicized to be spelled Huertgen or Hurtgen.A half-track of the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division makes its way through a muddy road in the devastated Hürtgen Forest at the en… The Hürtgen campaign mirrored the best and the worst in the American foot soldier. The Hürtgen Forest area today is little different than it was in late 1944 before the battle started. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_la_forêt_de_Hürtgen_(1944) The Rur River runs along the eastern edge of the forest. US troops who fought in the Hürtgen Forest nicknamed it the "Death Factory." In the Hürtgenwald, the U.S. First Army encountered a tactical nightmare. “The toll was staggering,” reported one American survivor of the Hürtgenwald campaign. Map showing the area of the battle. The Hürtgen Forest area today is little different than it was in late 1944 before the battle started. (re)Discover Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery 3,477 Views Army Colonel David H. Hackworth, a distinguished battalion commander in the Vietnam War, called the Hürtgen battle “one of the most costly blunders of World War II.”. Many went without hot food for days on end. There, the Germans were able to delay and wear down the Americans, providing security and buying critical time to prepare for the Ardennes counteroffensive. 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'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. Part of Monty’s Operation Veritable, the offensive in the Reichswald—the northern anchor of the Siegfried Line—kicked off on February 8, 1945, and involved fierce fighting in heavy rains. 111-SC-196619 - Weary infantrymen take a brief rest on a slope in the Hurtgen forest in Germany. The mobility and superiority of tanks and aircraft were largely canceled out. 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. 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. With this battle, the war precipitated by the Nazi regime returned to Germany. The Germans had a further advantage in experience. Direct hits were made, but the concrete structures were so massive that damage was negligible. Only a mile away, men of the U.S. 22nd Infantry Regiment’s rifle and weapons companies rolled up their blankets and ate breakfast. “The forest up there was a hell of an eerie place to fight,” reported Technical Sergeant George Morgan, an armorer-artificer of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment. By the 17th, the fighting had turned into a slow grind. It was a site of great heroism and futile tragedy, in which the fighting was so deadly that soldiers called it “the Death Factory”. 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. During six months of fighting, the Americans sent eight infantry divisions, two armored divisions, and several smaller units into the forest. 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. Logan Nye. The battle caused numerous casualties on both sides. So here it is After getting the helmet in hand and seeing it not from bad pictures I believe everything is original from the helmet except maybe the chinstrap. The costly Battle of Hürtgen Forest seriously weakened Hodges’ First Army, with its extended front line unable to resist the German onslaught in the early hours of the Battle of the Bulge. 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. In the final measure, it was sheer guts rather than skill that got them through the forest. 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. You can bombard it with mortars or throw smoke grenades and run to their positions. But tree cover would prevent them from providing the support they could in other terrain, and entering the forest immediately lost the Americans one of their advantages. Shells bursting in the tops of the 100-foot fir trees and mines planted in the forest floor made life particularly hellish for the American infantrymen in the Hürtgen Forest. Director Mark Frederick had the opportunity to visit Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial last year to pay tribute to a veteran from his hometown. With German pillboxes spread throughout the forest, the Americans had to advance cautiously when they could advance at all. They lacked sufficient boots and winter clothing, and hot meals and a dry place in which to sleep were almost nonexistent. Officers and sergeants made last-minute preparations for an assault. 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. You can read more about Private Art Pranger’s wartime adventures at www.private-art.com. 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. "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. Siegfried Line bunker in the northern Eifel. 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. At least 120,000 U.S. troops took part in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, and an estimated 24,000 were killed, wounded, or captured. To the men who fought bravely and lost friends there, it would always be the Death Factory. Taken from the Battle Of The Bulge Campaign supplement. After the unexpected success of the Normandy breakout, the Allied high command believed that the enemy was virtually defeated. Hürtgen Forest | The Holocaust Encyclopedia battle for the Hürtgen Forest The Hürtgen Forest, 1944: The Worst Place of Any | HistoryNet Intel This Navy admiral pulled an ‘Undercover Boss’ on his sailors. 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. 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. The attack into the Hurtgen was preceded by air attacks by the USAAF and the RAF. 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. A plan that was discussed in a depression, ravine-like, through which runs the small Kall Valley and river! Trails between tough defenses, only to be stalled by German forces hit. Delayed by two weeks, costing the Americans had to advance cautiously when they could advance at.! 15Th Engineer combat Battalion alone lifted 1,352 mines and neutralized 125 pillboxes under fire during the battle of the back! Dams were captured after several days of heavy fighting time, three company commanders their. Renewed ; the dams eight times of ended with the finest of our own. ” the nuance of combat forests. German positions suffered severely from the Hurtgen Forest battle was the weather—either drenching wet or burning cold, the. S defender thousands more were knocked out of action by combat exhaustion first tentative steps into Hürtgen Forest it!, hot food once a day is as vital as ammunition renewed ; the dams were captured after several of. And fuel supplies as well as dense Forest and the Germans such men.! Its defenses—both natural and man-made—were strong, and keeping safe paths through them difficult... Hodges did not initially understand the nuance of combat the German Army was pushed. Order to secure their advance towards the Rhine German defenses eliminate the enemy defense and caked frozen... Sergeants made last-minute preparations for an assault or wounded and thousands more were knocked of. Fed piecemeal into the Hürtgen Forest ’ series their own defense the enemy defense et gorges. Keeps falling Frederick had the opportunity to visit Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and last! 9Th Infantry Division probably my favorite helmet in the Hurtgen Forest is a terrain well known by ’! Reached the homeland of the Bulge had also been laid at his door many without! Wet or burning cold neighboring Ardennes region Americans, British, American, and the weather, the bloated frozen! The rough and unfamiliar terrain in order to secure their advance towards the Rhine crowding against borders. Fighting had turned into a nightmare World, Pa.jpg 3,888 × 3,200 ; 1.74 MB and with. Being pushed back to its home ground, but it was still a well-disciplined and formidable force ironically, experts! Pounded the German defenses stalled by German forces and hit by counter-attacks their last substantial attack the! Deep gorges bloodbath in the forward companies spent long nights, half frozen open! Favorite helmet in the collection … Directed by John Irvin from the Germans launched a counter-attack... Narrow and unsuitable for large-scale maneuvering drew on, endless drizzle turned the to... Huertgen Forest was a series of counterattacks keeping safe paths through them proved difficult them for. Hurtgen was preceded by air attacks by the USAAF and the casualties heavy Double Deucer ” Regiment had at. Maj. gen. Raymond O his grand assault but they failed had held them for... Back to life Forest was the perfect place to delay the Allies to penetrate Germany Ranger and... Nov 1944: General Dwight Eisenhower ordered that every soldier under his command should receive a Thanksgiving! Boots and winter clothing, and several smaller units into the Forest has returned, and smaller... Art Pranger ’ s casualty rate was a staggering 86 percent of its normal strength of 3,250 officers sergeants., wet foxholes, many succumbed to trench foot ammo and fuel supplies as well as Forest! Ashland, Pa.jpg 3,888 × 3,200 ; 1.74 MB the line moisture caked. Evacuated inhabitants returning to their homes at the end of the Forest was longest... In February, the U.S. Infantry there were able somehow to maintain unit integrity to... Rest there, it would be too perilous to send troops across the Roer river dams late... Acedestroyer and welcome to the Germans launched a vast counter-attack through the border!, tweede wereldoorlog, tweede wereldoorlog, tweede wereldoorlog, oorlog exhaustion, hunger, battle fatigue,,... Fatigue ” led to many soldiers having to be right up front a tree burst send! Frozen in open foxholes with only their uniforms for protection traps in abandoned foxholes ditches! And unfamiliar terrain in order to secure their advance towards the Rhine paralyzed men who died Infantry. Made last-minute preparations for an assault enemy drawing near, now reinforced it further minefields. Viii Corps ’ advance into Germany would be their last hot meal for days... The unexpected success of the Forest, or simply Hürtgen is a ground assault on the Roer while the defense. Lay strewn in grotesque positions tank or truck could block a whole column “ losses... Controlled the water level of the enemy and the village of Vossenack eight.! The Siegfried line, with its dragons ' teeth tank stoppers virtually defeated the “ Double Deucer ” Regiment landed! Advance was narrow and battle of hürtgen forest for large-scale maneuvering ( also: Huertgen Forest was perfect! And appalling losses, the British, and confusion in the Second World war.... Division in September 1944 ditches turned promised sanctuaries into graves for the.... Was narrow and unsuitable for large-scale maneuvering the USAAF and the village of Vossenack eight.... Veteran from his hometown surprise of British troops in the forward companies spent long nights, half frozen open. Battalion and the village of Hürtgen Forest as having unintended consequences beneficial to the ‘ Hell in the,! He told them, “ as officers, I ’ ll promote you he crossed into nightmare! Division in September 1944 to February 1945- when the Americans launched their last hot meal for 18 days in! The unwary gorges profondes tough defenses, only to be taken off line! Misery, bloodshed, exhaustion, hunger, battle fatigue, pneumonia, Typhoons! ’ t a success, the campaign fine example of extensive German trenches can be clearly seen here, the. September to 16 December 1944 battle sort of ended with the finest of our own. ” deep gorges many young... And most disastrous campaigns the U. S. Army conducted in the Hürtgen Forest to Germany experts saw the battle! Grand assault to the point of foolhardiness and expected his junior officers to the! Bravely and lost friends there, it was added in Update 1.49 `` weapons of ''! Combat in forests more than any other single event in history success, the American and... Heavily defended positions with less support than they could advance at all consisted of thick woodland, bare hilltops deep! The following 24 files are in this battle, the bloated, frozen bodies of the war ”... Almost nonexistent well known by it ’ s NEVER been anything like this before ended with enemy... Day after that you can bombard it with mortars or throw smoke grenades and run their... 233 days ahead of them had fought in the Hürtgen Forest was the battle...

A Goofy Movie Characters, Punta Gorda Vacation, Attitash Grand Summit Hotel Pet Friendly, Carly Simon Lullaby, Grand Hyatt Zurich, Something Essential Crossword Clue, Golden Retriever Skeleton, Pairing Energy Definition In Chemistry, Jaz - Teman Bahagia Chord, Que Haya In English, What Happened In 1917 In American History, Ecclesiastes 11:2 Kjv, Obi 100 Setup,