Hurtgen Forest?

[Jack T.]

Didn't want to Hijack Matts Thread on the Ardenne Campaign,

But, with all the Battle of the Bulge Hype these days, (My father fought in this battle) You never hear much about the Battle of Hurtgen Forest.

I read a book by Charles Whiting, The Battle of Hurtgen Forest, It is a real heartbreaker.

I'm posting on the sly and have to rush. But Some of the best American troops got chewed up, In my fathers case, the 899th TD Battalion, attached to the 9th Division. Luckily, he transferred to 18th Corp Airborne, in Dec 44, but was there initally.

I gave him this book and he was really upset, since he really didn't know all the story. It was all hushed up.

To this day it's all Battle of the Bulge, Battle of the Bulge, while thousands died in Hurtgen to save Eisenhowers ego and Credability of the top brass.

Anybody else have opinions on this?

[Jack T.]

Battle of Hurtgen Forest
September 19, 1944 to February 10, 1945

Battle of the Bulge
December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945

Hurtgen Forest is roughly 50 square miles.

First the 3rd Armored Division and the 9th Infantry Division went in. They lost 80% of front line troops. Next came in the 28th Infantry Division, the Bloody Bucket Division, It was essentially wiped out.

Then General Bradley and Hodges sent in the 4th Infantry Division. In one month they lost over 7000 men.

Then the 2nd Ranger Battalion went in next. They suffered 90% casualities.

In all, 24,000 Americans lost their lives. There were another 9,000 casualities from trenchfoot, disease and combat exaustion.

Can’t forget the 12,000 Germans who died.

In all Nine divisions took part. As with WMD, the reason for the battle kept changing.

At first we just wanted to get into Germany first. Then it changed into save the Roer River Dams from destruction.

The whole thing could have been bypassed.

The forgotten dead are still being found.

[DaveJ]

A pretty good movie about that action was

When Trumpets Fade

[Jack T.]

Some quotes

"For us the Hurtgen was one of the most costly, most unproductive, and most ill-advised battles that our army has ever fought." --Gen. James Gavin, Commander, 82nd Airborne Division, 1944-1945

"The German Command could not understand the reason for the strong American attacks in the Hurtgen 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." -- Generalmajor von Gersdorff, Chief of Staff, German 7th Army, 1944-1945

"The forest up there was 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. 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. You can't get protection. You can't see...Artillery slashes the trees like a scythe. Everything is tangled. You can scarcely walk. Everybody is cold and wet, and the mixture of cold rain and sleet keeps falling. Then they jump off again, and soon there is only a handful of old men left." --T.Sgt. George Morgan, 1st Battalion, 22d Infantry

"I realized after the first week that the only reason I was still alive had more to do with my T/5 stripes than anything else. Were it not for those, I would have quickly been placed as a replacement in one of the rifle companies, and undoubtedly killed or wounded within days. As it was, I wasn't expendable yet. We lost so many good men." --T/5 Tony Brichta, 728th Ordnance, 28th Infantry Division

[Homer Hodge]

Huertgen Forest

For a detailed and accurate (if terrifying) account of the battle, I highly recommend A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hurtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-1945, by Edward G. Miller, Texas A&M University Press, 1995.

[Jody]

Huertgen Forest

Hello,
A great book on the Huertgen Forest and a must read is the classic Follow Me and Die:The Destruction of an American Division in World War II by Cecil B. Currey.

I feel this book still holds up very well. A very tragic story of a battle that should of been avoided.
Regards,
Jody

[GLM]

For a detailed and accurate (if terrifying) account of the battle, I highly recommend A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hurtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-1945, by Edward G. Miller, Texas A&M University Press, 1995.

I believe this book is the most accurate and revealing of any I have read about the Hurtgen Forest.

Don't forget the Big Red One, Jack. I have always been particulary interested in this battle because while my dad was serving as a squad leader/platoon guide with Co. G., 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, he was severly wounded, not once, but three seperate times on the same day by the "tree burst" barrages. This was on Nov. 20, 1944. It took 3-1/2 years at Fitzsimmons Gen. Hospital in Denver for him to recover enough from these wounds to be discharged from the Army.

I agree, major SNAFU on the part of the brass!

Regards,
Gary

[Jürg]

Hurtgen Forest

Well I have visited the Hurtgen Forest three time in the last three years (I did poste some shots of my battletourtrip in the member forum). This have been a severe battle and one of the best books (in german) is called "Grüne Hölle Hürtgenwald" (green hell of Huertgen). They still find soldiers this days and if you ever want to build a house there, they first call the German ordnance recovery team to clear the area where the house shall be built in order that the workers will not find any live ordenances.

There are still plenty of foxholes to see in this area and in the Huertgen museum is very nice done.

Check this link for such a story:

http://www.lerenfort.fsnet.co.uk/page10.html

Jürg

[Jack T.]

Thanks for the Link Jurg. Isn't there another link somewhere that has a lot of pictures of the Forest?

I never meant to get all worked up about this. Iwo Jima had 6,800 American dead, Guadalcanal lost 1,600 American dead. Hurtgen- 24,000 dead. (American) With all the D-day celebrations(My Dad was too sick to go on the 60th Anniversary, we had planned to go together on the 50th anniversary, but had a huge fight and cancelled)-He came ashore in a floating M-10. Then there are the Battle of the Bulge celebrations and the Market Garden celebrations. But a large amount of the Africa and D-day veterans died int the Hurtgen and they don't get so much as a wreath laid.

It ain't right. End rant

Thanks all for the contributions.

[Terry K.]

"When Trumpets Fade" is a great movie and I believe that had SPR not come out at the same time you would have heard much more of it. How about the Mark IV.s firing at Kahr bridgehead? I also read "Follow Me And Die, great read. What a waste! I had a friend who along with his platoon were to step off at 0600 on an advance when the Germans arieal burst(tree) artillery by 0603 all of his men were killed and he waas wounded in the hip.