# Hurtgen Forest



## Foxbat (Jul 10, 2004)

I've been reading a book on this battle (Germany 44/45). Apparently it was the longest single battle ever fought by American troops (it lasted six months) and ended in defeat.

I had never even heard of this place before and yet many thousands of young American soldiers died there in horrific circumstances. 

I'm just wondering if any Americans on the boards have heard of this because it seems pretty sad that all these soldiers  have died for their country and have just  been forgotten. 

The book itself is pretty damning about the competence of some US generals. It seems that the British were not the only 'Lions led by Donkeys'.


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## Brian G Turner (Jul 10, 2004)

Never heard of it either.


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## littlemissattitude (Jul 11, 2004)

I haven't ever heard of it, either.  I even checked the World War II chronology I've got, and I don't see any reference to it.  I wonder if it has another name.  Or maybe it just didn't get mentioned because it was an Allied loss.

I'll have to look around some more and see if I can find some reference to it; I've been doing some reading around the war, as I've discovered while researching (yes, it goes on and on and on and on ) my project about Baby Boomers, that it probably isn't possible to understand the Baby Boomer generation without understanding the war, as it had a profound impact on the parents that raised the Baby Boomers.


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## Foxbat (Jul 11, 2004)

The book implies that Hurtgen was allowed to get hidden behind the Bulge (which was around the same time). It lies a bit further east and to the south of the Ardennes area so I can see how this 'sleight of hand' could be quite easily achieved. It involved the 1st, 8th and 28th Infantry Divisions - and some of the regiments suffered almost 100% casualties.

The names of some of the comanders involved in this mess are Gavin, Cota, (to names just a couple) - and even implicates Eisenhower himself. 

Also, between 1864 and 1953 the US only shot one soldier for desertion - and it happened here: Eddie Slovik. He was only 25 and was suffering from combat fatigue.

These poor people have been more or less forgotten in a place the GIs called 'The Death Factory'.


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## littlemissattitude (Jul 11, 2004)

Okay, I've heard of Eddie Slovik.  They did a TV movie about him quite a few years ago; I think Martin Sheen played the part of Eddie.


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## Foxbat (Jul 11, 2004)

From your info, I've tracked it down. It's called 'The Execution Of Private Slovik' and was made  in 1974. Sheen's performance was described as 'stunning'. Unfortunately, it's not available on DVD yet. Hopefully it'll get released sometime in the future.


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## Hypes (Jul 11, 2004)

I must admit I've only heard about Hurtgen through a video game, _Call of Duty_.

So much for history.

IMDb entry on _The Execution of Private Slovik_


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## rtroxel (Dec 2, 2004)

My father was in the battle of Huertgen Forest. He was with the U.S. VII Corps, under Lawton Collins.

You can read about the battle here:
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/hurtgen.html

and here:

http://www.hurtgen1944.homestead.com/02StorySummary.html

But it didn't last six months, and the Germans didn't exactly "win":

​


> Approximately 120,000 Americans, plus individual replacements augmenting that number by many thousands fought in the battle. More than 24,000 Americans were killed, missing, captured and wounded.  Another 9,000 succumbed to the misery of trench foot, respiratory diseases and combat fatigue.  In addition, some 80,000 Germans fought in this battle and an estimated 28,000 of them became casualties.
> ​
> ​What was gained in this battle?  The Americans conquered 50 square miles of real estate of no real tactical value to future operations, and they had destroyed enemy troops and reserves, which the other side could ill afford to lose.  The Germans, on the other hand, with meager resources, had slowed down a major Allied advance for 3 months. At the end of November, vital targets,  dams along the Roer River, the importance of which were not realized until late in the fighting in the the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, were still in German hands.
> ​​


​​The Roer River dams were eventually dynamited as were the water towers around the city of Aachen.​​


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## Brian G Turner (Dec 3, 2004)

Good call, Roy. 

The second website is especially interesting - very effective design, too.


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## protelcoman (Jan 17, 2007)

For a great description of the Battle for the Hurtgen Forest, it's reasons and it's aftermath, read "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen E. Ambrose.  It's a fantastic, exciting read.  Actually, check out it's predecessor, "D-Day", also by Stephen Ambrose.  His name may be familiar from the mini-series based upon another book by him, "Band Of Brothers", scene on HBO and The Military Channel.


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