bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Germany > The ETO > War of Attrition > Hürtgen Forest, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 31 Dec 2023.
This webpage is incomplete.
1944 combat in the Hürtgen Forest area began in mid-September and ended in mid-December. Combat resumed near the forest edge in late January 1945 and finally ended in mid-February.
This webpage is incomplete.
1944 combat in the Hürtgen Forest area began in mid-September and ended in mid-December. Combat resumed near the forest edge in late January 1945 and finally ended in mid-February.
About the Hürtgen Forest Area
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The rectangular-shaped Hürtgen forest is shown on the accompanying map. The Hürtgen Forest is densely wooded and relatively level. However, to the southeast the Roer River and its tributaries have carved a landscape with steep wooded hillsides through the plateau. The small Kall River borders the southeast edge of the Hürtgen Forest.
In this eroded area, the Roer River valley contains a system of dams for generating electricity. Failure of this system would result in a flood down the Roer Valley. (The Roer flows between the two large lignite strip mines shown on the accompanying map.) For US forces along the Rhineland border in September 1944, the easiest invasion route to Rhine lay through the Stolberg corridor between Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest and then across the Roer and Cologne Plains to the city of Cologne. |
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The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, first phase, September - October 1944
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The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, second phase, October- November 1944
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The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, third phase, November - December 1944 - part of Operation Queen
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Operation Queen - The Hürtgen Forest, 16 November - 9 December 1944
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Popular WWII writing sometimes conveys the idea that the Hürtgen Forest offensives were complete failures. This is not the case. Indeed, conditions were horrendous, mistakes were made, losses were high, and objectives were not reached. But by 16 December, the US First Army did occupy most of the Hürtgen Forest.
However, the goals of capturing the Roer River dams and advancing to the Rhine River had to wait until the late winter.
However, the goals of capturing the Roer River dams and advancing to the Rhine River had to wait until the late winter.
Sources for Big Pigeon's The ETO > War of Attrition > Hürtgen Forest webpage:
Major Sources:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The ETO > War of Attrition > Hürtgen Forest:
† Ellison, Melvin Isaac, SN 37-446-316, US Army, Harrison Co.
Major Sources:
- The Siegfried Line Campaign, www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Siegfried/index.html (from the United States Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations series, by Charles B. MacDonald, 1963), Part Four, The Roer River Dams & Part Five, The Hürtgen Forest.
- The Green Hell, The Battle for Hürtgen Forest, September 1944 - February 1945, https://chindits.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/the-green-hell-4e1.pdf, by Akhil Kadidal.
- The Battle of the Huertgen Forest, http://home.scarlet.be/~sh446368/home.html.
- The Hürtgen Forest Project, https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Briefing%20Video%20Files/Huertgen_Project_Slides.pdf?ver=PEN_4b_yW2sEEUVTOYpdAA%3d%3d - Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
- Operation Queen - The Hürtgen Forest, 16 November - 9 December 1944 scalable map, https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Siegfried/maps/USA-E-Siegfried-VII.jpg.
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The ETO > War of Attrition > Hürtgen Forest:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Dead module.
† Ellison, Melvin Isaac, SN 37-446-316, US Army, Harrison Co.
- Co. I, 3rd Bn., 12th Inf. Regt., 4th Inf. Div., VII Corps, First Army; WIA probably near Schmidt, S of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany; DOW 19 Nov 1944; The ETO > War of Attrition > Hürtgen Forest.
- Medical Detachment, 112th Inf. Regt., 28th Inf. Div., V Corps, First Army; DOW 5 Nov 1944 near Schmidt, S of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany; The ETO > War of Attrition > Hürtgen Forest.