19 SEPTEMBER – 16 DECEMBER 1944 – BATTLE OF THE HURTGEN FOREST IN WWII.

For us the Hürtgen was one of the most costly, most unproductive, and most ill-advised battles that our army has ever fought." – Lieutenant General James Gavin

In the longest continuous battle in U.S. Army history, American soldiers of the U.S. First Army fought tooth and nail against entrenched German defenders in the densely wooded terrain of the Hurtgen Forest as the Western Front descended into the harsh winter of 1944.

After the Allied offensives of summer 1944 liberated France, a massive combined Allied force stood near the border of Germany, ready to begin the Rhineland Campaign against the vaunted German defenses of the Siegfried Line (or “Westwall”) along the Rhine River.

The American effort to capture the Hurtgen Forest was initially intended to shore up the Allied right flank as they prepared to attack the urban centers north of it.

The Germans understood that the Hurtgen Forest controlled access to the vital dams across the Roer River, which could be used to flood the Roer River Valley and thus potentially wipe out any Allied advance across it; because of the massive potential value this prospect presented to the hard-pressed Germans, they had heavily fortified the Hurtgen Forest and were prepared to defend it to the bitter end.

The initial piecemeal engagements of the three-month battle began on 19 September, when the 9th Infantry Division, VII Corps, First U.S. Army attempted a direct assault through the forest to capture the Hurtgen-Kleinhau road network.

These early forays were beaten back after sharp and bloody engagements with the entrenched enemy.

The thick woods of tall fir trees, deep gorges, high ridges, and narrow trails (augmented by minefields and prepared positions) made the Hurtgen Forest ideal for defense in depth.

From 6 – 16 October, the 9th Infantry Division again advanced into the forest, this time to capture the critical town of Schmidt.

In terrifying and hectic combat in the Hurtgen’s claustrophobic confines, the 9th Infantry Division suffered 4,500 casualties while advancing only 3,000 yards.

The battered 9th Infantry Division began to be replaced by the fresh 28th Infantry Division (strongly reinforced with tanks, tank destroyers, engineers, and artillery) on 26 October.

The bloodshed and brutal close quarters fighting which had been visited upon the 9th Infantry Division was similarly inflicted upon the 28th Infantry Division, as the Americans captured and lost Schmidt in a back-and-forth battle of attrition.

The 28th Infantry Division’s offensive was ended on 13 November, and it was replaced by the 8th Infantry Division on 19 November.

The 28th’s roughly three weeks in the Hurtgen Forest was one of the costliest actions by any U.S. division during World War II, incurring over 6,000 casualties.

After its relief, the 28th moved to what was thought to be a quiet sector to rest and refit.

Tragically, the division’s new positions, in the Ardennes, would place it squarely in the path of the German counteroffensive in the coming Battle of the Bulge.

After the twin bloodbaths which had befallen the 9th and 28th Infantry Divisions, First Army commander Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges resolved to clear the forest of enemy resistance by any means necessary.

He continued throwing units from the VII and V Corps into the Hurtgen’s bloody maw, including the 1st Infantry Division, the 4th Infantry Division, the 8th Infantry Division, the 2d Ranger Battalion, and elements from the 9th Infantry Division and the 5th Armored Division.

The brute force of the First Army assault met with little success and did little more than turn the Hurtgen Forest into an open-air charnel house reminiscent of the ravaged battlefields of World War I.

Despite massive casualties, the slaughter continued until the initiation of the German Ardennes Counteroffensive on 16 December 1944 forced a sudden halt in the offensive (which nonetheless resumed following the end of the Battle of the Bulge).

The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest has gone down in the annals of American military history as perhaps the most ill-conceived U.S. engagement of World War II’s European Theater; from 16 November to 15 December, the last month of the three-month battle, the First Army suffered an astonishing 21,500 casualties.

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