West European Studies

The Battle of Hurtgenwald (or Hurtgen Forest) was fought from 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945 and was the longest and hardest fought battle in the history of the US military. Fought in the 50 square mile, heavily forested area on the border of Germany and Belgium, by the time the battle came to an end, the Americans had suffered over 33,000 casualties while the Germans had 28,000 casualties.

By the fall of 1944, the allied armies had reached Seigfried Line, a German defensive position that was fronted by antitank obstacles. The Allied Forces wanted to quickly move through the Seigfried line and so decided to advance through the Hurtgen Forest to capture the city of Duren. The Allied forces would have had a better tactical victory if they had tried to capture several dams on the Roer River. For the Germans, the battle at Hurtgen Forest was important to protect their army which was preparing for a counteroffensive. On 21 October 1944, Aachen, a city on the northwest border of the forest came under Allied control. Instead of exploiting this situation Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges decided to capture the forest and eliminate the German forces in an attempt to secure his southern flank.

Fighting in the Hurtgen Forest was difficult since it was thickly wooded and vehicles could not pass through them. As a result, only the infantrymen could fight this battle. In the first phase, the 9th Infantry Division attacked at Lammersdorf on the edge of the forest. The Germans were easily able to ward off this attack by pounding the Americans from a hill overlooking the village. On the other hand, the advance of 60th regiment towards Hufen-Alzen was impeded due to limited visibility of only a few feet, poor radio functionality and anti-personnel mines. In the first month of the battle, the army was able to advance only a few kilometers in to the forest while suffering over 4,500 casualties.

In November, the Allies launched a new offensive but the First Army encountered the German technique of exploding trees, wherein the shells the exploded 80 to 100 meters above the ground and as the troops laid prone on the ground, they were showered with shrapnel and wood splinters. The American trees quickly learned to hug the trees instead but not before they had suffered many casualties. The inability to penetrate the forest strengthened the strategists resolve and they planned Task Force Ripple of nine tanks, a few tank destroyers and 300 foot soldiers. The attack was doomed from start and as the tanks never arrived and Germans successfully defended their territory. The Allied forces continued to suffer losses until Hitlers counteroffensive on December 16, 1944, made the Battle of Hurtgen forest less important.

The Germans were successful in holding off the attack for so long because they were much more familiar with their home terrain. The cold weather also did not help the allied forces. The Germans also booby trapped the forest wit mines to slow Allied progress. On top of it, German snipers were spread across the forest and shot American soldiers who often got lost in the snow covered landscape.
Thus weather and strategic defense helped the Germans hold on to the Hurtgen Forest for so long.