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incurred 57,095 battle casualties alone during the entire Siegfried Line Campaign. Lasting from September 1944 to January 1945, the campaign was part of a drive by the U.S. First Army, led by white-haired, dependable Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges, to cross the Roer River and eventually capture its vital dams. On the 10 th of February, the Americans took the dam, but it was already too late. 28th Infantry Divisions, 2d Ranger Battalion, and 46th Armored Infantry
If you survive your first battle, I’ll promote you. The Hürtgenwald was valuable territory to the Germans, and its loss would threaten their entire defense line west of the Rhine.
Key point: The fight was terrible and costly. area of Vossenack, Kommerscheidt, and Schmidt, known collectively as the battle
As the battle for the Huertgen Forest neared its end, the massive Nazi attack that became immortalized as the Battle of the Bulge (December 16) exploded into Belgium Also, as a purely American affair, the Huertgen Forest campaign has been largely overlooked by British military historians who dominated much of the postwar scholarship."
Only a mile away, men of the U.S. 22nd Infantry Regiment’s rifle and weapons companies rolled up their blankets and ate breakfast.
By the night of November 20, after five days in action, the 22nd Regiment’s rifle companies had lost more than 40 percent of their strength. First U.S. Army combat losses totaled 47,039. AMEDD MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS
Advances outside the Hurtgen were delayed by two weeks, costing the Americans, British, and Canadians heavy casualties. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944, between American and German forces on the Western Front during World War II, in the Hürtgen Forest, a 140 km2 (54 sq mi) area about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the Belgian–German border. First US Army Casualty Statistics. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) is the name given to the series of fierce battles fought between U.S. and German forces during World War II in the Hürtgen Forest, which became the longest battle on German ground during World War II, and the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. The next strategic objective was to move up to the Rhine River along its entire length and prepare to cross it. But there was never any question of his courage. Medical Service of the European Theater of Operations (ETOUSA) and the 6th and
More detailed information on the American casualties of the divisions engaged in the fighting in the H?rtgen Forest will be added to this section in the near future. context for combat operations from Holland to the Swiss border. With this battle, the war precipitated by the Nazi regime returned to Germany. AMEDD CORPS HISTORY
Use every skill you possess. casualties of the divisions engaged in the fighting in the H?rtgen Forest will be added to this
It was followed by the 9th Infantry Division, the 28th Infantry (Keystone) Division, and numerous supporting units as the Americans hammered with little success against the German pillboxes and bunkers deep in the damp, gloomy forest. On the 10 th of February, the Americans took the dam, but it was already too late. The Germans had jammed open the floodgates. Battle of Hürtgen Forest, also known as Hürtgen Forest, or simply Hürtgen is a ground forces map available in all modes. captured, and disease and nonbattle losses. June-31 December 1944, Report
Like many other units engaged, the Double Deucers fought longer than normally expected in the gloomy Hürtgenwald, and few American combat outfits have ever experienced such severe casualties. fortifications of Adolf Hitler's West
The Germans employed tree bursts, which exploded well above the soldiers’ heads, resulting in a shower of shrapnel and shredded tree limbs. 71,654. First U.S. Army had 50,867 and the Ninth U.S. Army had 20,787, for a total of
Armies) was functioning smoothly
Its defenses—both natural and man-made—were strong, and it was resisting the Allied crusade more stubbornly than ever. There, the Germans were able to delay and wear down the Americans, providing security and buying critical time to prepare for the Ardennes counteroffensive. "Capturing History Today for Tomorrow's Future", Disclaimer: Web Site Medical Information Posting Restrictions. After the unexpected success of the Normandy breakout, the Allied high command believed that the enemy was virtually defeated. The offensive as undertaken placed the American forces at a severe disadvantage in the forest. THE AMEDD HISTORIAN NEWSLETTER, When American forces reached the German border
He told them, “As officers, I expect you to lead your men. excerpt from the official history of the U.S. Army Medical Department in World
the other divisions.
German Ardennes offensive in mid-December and provides the Medical Service
More detailed information on the American
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The German Army was being pushed back to its home ground, but it was still a well-disciplined and formidable force. Then there was the weather—either drenching wet or burning cold. U.S. Army suffered very significant battle casualties, missing in action and
[1] Eventually, the 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th, and
The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945 between U.S. and German forces during World War II in the Hürtgen Forest about 50 sq mi (130 km 2) east of the Belgian–German border.It was the longest battle on German ground during World War II, and is the longest single battle … MEDICAL MEMOIRS
During the autumn and winter of 1944/45, the longest battle of the Second World War on German soil took place in the Hürtgen Forest. ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE SURGEON GENERAL
HISTORICAL ART WORK & IMAGES
The weather worsened that autumn and winter, and a series of bitterly contested battles—Walcheren Island, Aachen, the Saar Basin, the Vosges Mountains, the Reichswald Forest, and the Hürtgen Forest and the Roer River—was fought under the most trying conditions. The former said later, “If we would have turned loose of the Hürtgen and let the Germans roam there, they could have hit my flank.”. There were no strategic gains or operational values. It would be too perilous to send troops across the Roer while the enemy controlled the dams. fighting. the Communications Zone for care.
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.
By the end of the sixth day, the regiment had suffered 50 percent casualties, the point at which an infantry unit is considered to have lost much of its effectiveness. The Bloody Bucket was bloodier than ever: One battalion in the 110th Infantry was reduced to 57 men even after being reinforced, and losses had whittled the 112th Infantry from 2,200 to 300. non-battle injuries. that formed part of the German
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. The initial objective, to protect General Collins’ flank, was limited, and the high command failed to recognize that the Roer River dams would allow the enemy to flood any Allied advances made to the north.
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It was added in Update 1.49 "Weapons of Victory".As the name suggests the map is set in the Hürtgen Forest; a roughly 50 square miles (130 km2) in area in the west of Germany, near the Belgium-Germany border. Battalion and Combat Command R, 5th Armored Division, were all heavily engaged in the
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. stalemate along the German border from mid-September through the onset of the
Moody and prone to depression, Lanham was described by some soldiers as brilliant but “crazy as hell,” while one officer said he wanted to win the war all by himself. At the start, the forest was defended by the German 275th and 353rd Infantry Divisions. Operations, September-December 1944.
Denied the chance to fight a maneuver battle, US armor in the Huertgen Forest suffered heavy casualties.
The other units involved in the grueling campaign were the 1st, 8th, 9th, 78th, and 83rd Infantry Divisions, the 5th Armored Division, the 505th and 517th Parachute Infantry Regiments, and the 2nd Ranger Battalion, led by Lt. Col. James E. Rudder of Pointe-du-Hoc fame. By mid-September 1944, the Allied pursuit of the German army after the landings at Normandy was slowing down because of extended supply lines and German Army rebuilding. In the end, the Nazis would manage to hold off the Allies even though Berlin was clearly losing the war. Report, November 1944, Extracts
The Ninth U.S. Army's battle losses totaled approximately 10,056. The fighting was bitter because the two forest dams controlled the water level of the Roer River flowing northward. For the American soldiers, it’s very name – with its first syllable ‘hurt’ – became a byword for injury and death.
The 9th Infantry Division was involved twice,
The divisions suffered over 30,000 casualties in killed,
Courtney Hodges′ 1st Army experienced hard resistance pushing through the Aachen Gap and perceived a potential threat fro… AMEDD BIOGRAPHIES
Action Reports, November and December 1944, Consolidated Casualties Treated, August-December 1944, by Infantry Regiment, Division Casualties 15
The overall aim was an attack on the Aachen-Cologne axis designed to close with the River Rhine, as a first step toward the envelopment of the industrial Ruhr Valley. The forest was more heavily fortified than anyone had guessed.
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. Advances outside the Hurtgen were delayed by two weeks, costing the Americans, British, and Canadians heavy casualties. So, a total of 128,749 U.S. soldiers were lost as battle and nonbattle casualties during the campaign. The Battle of Huertgen Forest occurred from September 1944 to February 1945 when the US 1st Army launched an offensive towards the Rhine River in the forested Hurtgenwald area near Aachen, Germany.The German forces in the Hurtgenwald, commanded by Field Marshal Walter Model, intended to defend Germany to the last man, holding the American assaults back and … “Tubby” Barton’s 4th Infantry (Ivy) Division on June 6, 1944, and suffered heavy casualties in the Normandy campaign. John Greenwood, Ph.D.
An often forgotten and neglected area of study, the Huertgen Forest still provides lessons on how to use armor in battle and what the results are when it is not used correctly. With this battle, the war precipitated by the Nazi regime returned to Germany. After Action Reports, November-December 1944, After
wounded, missing in action, combat exhaustion, and to various disease and
Stretched thinly, “Buck” Lanham’s regiment was responsible for a three-mile front in the 20-mile-by-10-mile Hürtgen Forest, situated in a 50-square-mile triangle bounded by the German cities of Aachen and Duren and the town of Monschau. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest — or what soldiers referred to as the “ Green Hell ” — raged for three months, and American GIs suffered nearly 33,000 casualties during the battle. Forest was but one part of the overall Siegfried Line campaign during which the
They were the key to the river, but it would take a bitter struggle in the forest by several divisions before Hodges ordered an attack against them. [7] The battles took place from 19 September … The book also explains, in painful detail, why the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest is so little known: it is considered the greatest failure of leadership of US troops in Europe during World War II. But, seasoned and with high morale, it was rated one of the best infantry regiments in the U.S. Army. So, a total of 128,749 U.S. soldiers were lost as battle and
[151] Franz Oppenhoff was appointed Mayor of Aachen by the Allies on 31 October, but after his identity was leaked, he was assassinated on Heinrich Himmler 's orders in Unternehmen Karneval (Operation Carnival) on March 25, 1945. During its operations in early November in the
support in the airborne, armored, and infantry divisions was providing
Nearly half of the 2,517 casualties … Anxious to move quickly through the West Wall, Major General J. Lawton Collins, commander of the First Armys VII Corps, plotted an a…
actually engaged three separate times.
The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) is the name given to the series of fierce battles fought between U.S. and German forces during World War II in the Hürtgen Forest, which became the longest battle on German ground during World War II, and the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. of Schmidt, the 28th Infantry Division lost more men in the forest than any of
The battle caused numerous casualties on both sides. Then, Colonel Lanham’s men fought for another 12 days. The “Double Deucer” Regiment had landed at Utah Beach with Maj. Gen. Raymond O. These forces were not at full strength but were well prepared — 5,000 men (1,000 in reserve) — and commanded by Generalleutnant Hans Schmidt. Wall,
[1][21] The Americans suffered 33,000 casualties during the course of the battle which ranged up to 55,000 casualties, included 9,000 non-combat losses and represented a 25 percent casualty rate. American operations of the entire European war. The American high command blundered by not proposing an easier avenue of approach southeast of the Hürtgen Forest, allowing Hodges’ army to seize the dams and then clear the difficult terrain downriver. When all was ready on November 16, soldiers of the 22nd Infantry Regiment’s forward companies waded across the Roter Weh stream and began climbing a fir-clad ridge toward the Roer River plain, five miles ahead.
The region provided a shortcut for the Allies to penetrate Germany. In a battle many believed mattered little in the big picture, the 22d suffered 2,773 casualties, or 85% of its normal complement of 3,257 soldiers, to take one village and 6,000 yards of forest. This Thanksgiving, no American warriors were …
life-saving medical care under fire, while the chain of evacuation operated
Chief, Office of Medical History
The rugged Vosges Mountains in northeastern France formed a traditional defensive barrier, while the Siegfried Line and the River Rhine comprised a significant obstacle to the Allied forces. "Hard Fighting at the West Wall," an
After three days, the regiment had lost its three battalion commanders, and the attrition rate among rifle company leaders was more than 300 percent. Besides the weather, the Allied armies were plagued by shortages of ammunition and supplies. [4] The battles took place from 19 September to … A series of attacks in the forest were ill fated, and from the beginning the campaign reflected little credit on the senior American commanders. © Copyright 2021 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. of Operations, 1 November 1944-30 April 1945.
12th U.S. Army Groups (First, Third, Seventh, and Ninth U.S. 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. efficiently to move the casualties from the divisions to rear area hospitals in
The area was thickly laced with mines, barbed wire, and concealed pillboxes with interlocking fields of fire. Gen. Maurice Rose’s 3rd Armored Division in September 1944.
John Greenwood, Ph.D. Battle of Huertgen Forest The longest battle of the Second World War on German soil During the autumn and winter of 1944/45, the longest battle of the Second World War on German soil took place in the Huertgen Forest.
Gray skies hung low and a steady drizzle dripped through the tall, dense fir trees near the German-Belgian border on the morning of Thursday, November 16, 1944, during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest.
The Germans had jammed open the floodgates. German border in the First U.S. Army's area of operations in September 1944, the
Men will follow a leader, and I expect my platoon leaders to be right up front. It is intended for interested members of the Army Medical Department, the Army, the public, and the news media.
Overview. Also a poet and writer, his prewar work on infantry manuals had caught the attention of General George C. Marshall, and the Army chief of staff listed Lanham in his “black book” of up-and-coming officers. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest from 2 - 12 November 1944 (American and German forces battle on Germany’s western border) was a series of battles fought between German and American forces in Hürtgen Forest.
into miles of steel-reinforced, concrete anti-tank defenses,
The corridor for advance was narrow and unsuitable for large-scale maneuvering. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." The battle caused numerous casualties on both sides. The most direct route to the dams lay through the Hürtgen Forest, a man-made forest preserve of densely packed fir trees in rough terrain. HISTORY OF THE OFFICE OF MEDICAL HISTORY
General J. Lawton Collins, dashing commander of the U.S. VII Corps, a veteran of Guadalcanal and liberator of Cherbourg, called Hürtgen a “green hell,” while Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin, the youthful, gallant commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, characterized the forest as an “ice-coated moloch with an insatiable appetite.”. The scrappy Lanham led from the front to the point of foolhardiness and expected his junior officers to do the same. Colonel Luckett's
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. The regiment, almost at full strength, was commanded by 42-year-old Colonel Charles T. Lanham, a wiry, graying 1924 graduate of West Point and former Infantry School instructor and War Department staffer. 4th Infantry Division, Battle of Hurtgen Forest, Casualties and Replacements, 22D … The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944 between American and German forces on the Western Front during World War II in the Hürtgen Forest, a 140 km 2 (54 sq mi) area about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the Belgian–German border. better known to Allied soldiers as "the Siegfried Line. By September 1944, the British, American, and Canadian Armies were crowding against the borders of Germany.
Artillery-damaged trees during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORIES
The fighting in the H?rtgen
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