Download or read book The Bloody Forest written by Gerald Astor and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2010-06-02 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive account of one of World War II’s bloodiest campaigns—the five-month battle between American and German forces in the Huertgen Forest—told through the words of the men who were there. From the preface: “In the course of research and interviews while writing a series of books on World War II, I became increasingly aware of the campaign for the Huertgen Forest. While survivors of other battles sometimes criticized the strategy and the orders they were given, there was a depth of anger about the Huertgen that surpassed anything I had encountered elsewhere. The unhappiness with what occurred and the absence of much objective coverage in the memoirs of those in the top command slots convinced me to produce this history. As I have reiterated in all of my books, which rely heavily on oral or eyewitness reports, there are always the dangers of flawed memory, limited vantage points, and the possibility of self-interest in such accounts. But the almost universal condemnation of their superiors’ critical decisions by individuals who were under fire in that ‘green hell’ offers a cautionary note on the accuracy and the truths of histories that draw from the official documents and the personal papers of the likes of Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Courtney Hodges (who apparently left little in the way of records), J. Lawton Collins and others in similar positions. . . . Each new war differs from that of the past, but to ignore what happened in the Huertgen enhances the possibilities for another bitter victory, if not a defeat.”

Download or read book Hell in H rtgen Forest written by Robert S. Rush and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some of the most brutally intense infantry combat in World War II occurred within Germany's Hurtgen Forest. Focusing on the bitterly fought battle between the American 22d Infantry Regiment and elements of the German LXXIV Korps around Grosshau, Rush chronicles small-unit combat at its most extreme and shows why, despite enormous losses, the Americans persevered in the Hurtgenwald "meat grinder".On 16 November 1944, the 22d Infantry entered the Hurtgen Forest as part of the U.S. Army's drive to cross the Roer River. During the next eighteen days, the 22d suffered more than 2,800 casualties -- or about 86 percent of its normal strength of about 3,250 officers and men. After three days of fighting, the regiment had lost all three battalion commanders. After seven days, rifle company strengths stood at 50 percent and by battle's end each had suffered nearly 140 percent casualties.Despite these horrendous losses, the 22d Regiment survived and fought on, due in part to army personnel policies that ensured that unit strengths remained high even during extreme combat. Previously wounded soldiers returned to their units and new replacements, green to battle, arrived to follow the remaining battle-hardened cadre.The German units in the Hurtgenwald suffered the same horrendous attrition, with one telling difference. German replacement policy detracted from rather than enhanced German combat effectiveness. Organizations had high paper strength but low manpower, and commanders consolidated decimated units time after time until these ever-dwindling bands of soldiers disappeared forever: killed, wounded, captured, or surrendered. The performance of American and German forces during thisharrowing eighteen days of combat was largely a product of their respective backgrounds, training, and organization.Rush's work underscores both the horrors of combat and the resiliency of American organizations. While honori

Download or read book The Battle of Hurtgen Forest written by Charles Whiting and published by Spellmount, Limited Publishers. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Battle of Hurtgen Forest

Download or read book A Dark and Bloody Ground written by Edward G. Miller and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book examines uncertainty of command at the army, corps, and division levels and emphasizes the confusion and fear of ground combat at the level of company and battalion - "where they do the dying." Its gripping description of the battle is based on government records, a rich selection of first-person accounts from veterans of both sides, and author Edward G. Miller's visits to the battlefield. The result is a compelling and comprehensive account of small-unit action set against the background of the larger command levels. The book's foreword is by retired Maj. Gen. R. W. Hogan, who was a battalion commander in the forest.

Download or read book The Battle of the Huertgen Forest written by Charles B. MacDonald and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2002-09-10 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the first setback suffered by the Allies following the invasion of Europe.

Download or read book The Siegfried Line Campaign written by Charles Brown MacDonald and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Battle Of The Huertgen Forest Illustrated Edition written by Charles Brown MacDonald and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the Siegfried Line Campaign Map Pack - 19 maps and 81 photos “"A testament of the courage and endurance of our fighting men."-New York Times “In September 1944, three months after the invasion of Normandy, the Allied armies prepared to push the German forces back into their homeland. Just south of the city of Aachen, elements of the U.S. First Army began an advance through the imposing Huertgen Forest. Instead of retreating, as the Allied command anticipated, the German troops prepared an elaborate defense of Huertgen, resulting in a struggle where tanks, infantry, and artillery dueled at close range. The battle for the forest ended abruptly in December, when a sudden German offensive through the Ardennes to the south forced the Allied armies to fall back, regroup, and start their attack again, this time culminating in the collapse of the Nazi regime in May 1945. “In The Battle of the Huertgen Forest, Charles B. MacDonald assesses this major American operation, discussing the opposing forces on the eve of the battle and offering a clearly written and well-documented history of the battle and the bitter consequences of the American move into the forest. Drawing on his own combat experience, MacDonald portrays both the American and the German troops with empathy and convincingly demonstrates the flaws in the American strategy. The book provides an insight into command decisions at both local and staff levels and the lessons that can be drawn from one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. “Charles B. MacDonald was deputy chief historian of the Army Center of Military History. He commanded a rifle platoon in World War II, earning the Silver Star, a Purple Heart, and five battle stars. He recorded his wartime experiences in Company Commander, regarded as one of the finest World War II combat narratives.”-Print Ed.

Download or read book Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp written by Douglas E. Nash and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2015-03-09 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “For both students of the German Army in World War II as well as those interested in the late 1944 campaign, this is a must-read” (The NYMAS Review). As the Allies were approaching the German frontier at the beginning of September 1944, the German Armed Forces attempted to regain the strategic initiative. While the “wonder weapons,” such as the V-1 flying bomb, the V-2 missile, and the Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighter, are widely recognized as being the most prominent of these initiatives upon which Germany pinned so much hope, the Volks-Grenadier Divisions (VGDs) are practically unknown. Often confused with the Volkssturm, the Home Guard militia, VGDs have suffered an undeserved reputation as second-rate formations filled with young boys and old men suited to serve only as cannon fodder. This groundbreaking book, now in a new edition, shows that VGDs were actually conceived as a new, elite corps loyal to the National Socialist Party composed of men from all branches of Hitler’s Wehrmacht and equipped with the finest ground combat weapons available. Whether fighting from defensive positions or spearheading offensives such as the Battle of the Bulge, VGDs initially gave a good account of themselves in battle. Using previously unpublished unit records, Allied intelligence and interrogation reports, and, above all, interviews with survivors, the author has crafted an in-depth look at a late-war German infantry company, including many photographs from the veterans themselves. In this book we follow along with the men of the 272nd VGD’s Fusilier Company from their first battles in the Hürtgen Forest to their final defeat in the Harz Mountains. Along the way, we learn the enormous potential of VGDs—and feel their soldiers’ heartbreak at their failure.

Download or read book The Battle of the Huertgen Forest written by Charles B. MacDonald and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-06 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An inspiring testament to American fighting men." -- The New York Times On 19 September 1944 the Battle of the Huertgen Forest began. This series of ferocious encounters on the Belgian-German border would not end until three months later, making it the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. Over this contested fifty square mile area 120,000 American soldiers advanced against 80,000 battle-hardened German troops. Rugged terrain and atrocious weather slowed down the U.S. advance which was forced to combat heavily dug-in German positions, overcoming minefields, barbed wire, and booby-traps, hidden by the snow, as they attempted to move forward. Through the course of this bloody engagement the Allied forces suffered 24,000 battle causalities, plus a further 9,000 victims of weather. This carnage was closely equalled by massive Nazi casualties. It is little wonder that this battle has gone down in history as one of the bitterest and most fruitless battles of World War II. Charles MacDonald's vivid account of the battle is a remarkable book that uncovers how the conflict developed and progressed over its three month duration. "An extraordinarily lucid account of battle." -- The Baltimore Sun In 1944 Charles MacDonald was a twenty-one year old captain, who commanded a rifle company in the 23rd Infantry Regiment. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his service through the course of the Second World War. After the war he became Deputy Chief Historian for the United States Army and wrote a number of books on the history of World War Two. The Battle of the Huertgen Forest was first published in 1963 and MacDonald passed away in 1990.

Download or read book The Lost Soldier written by Chris J. Hartley and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-08-01 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lost Soldier offers a perspective on World War II we don’t always get from histories and memoirs. Based on the letters home of Pete Lynn, the diary of his wife, Ruth, and meticulous research in primary and secondary sources, this book recounts the war of a married couple who represent so many married couples, so many soldiers, in World War II. The book tells the story of this couple, starting with their life in North Carolina and recounting how the war increasingly insinuated itself into the fabric of their lives, until Pete Lynn was drafted, after which the war became the essential fact of their life. Author Chris J. Hartley intricately weaves together all threads—soldier and wife, home front and army life, combat, love and loss, individual and army division—into an intimate, engaging narrative that is at once gripping military history and engaging social history.

Download or read book Ardennes 1944 written by Antony Beevor and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The prizewinning historian and bestselling author of D-Day, Stalingrad, and The Battle of Arnhem reconstructs the Battle of the Bulge in this riveting new account On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched his ‘last gamble’ in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes in Belgium, believing he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp and forcing the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back. The allies, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians abandoned their homes, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While some American soldiers, overwhelmed by the German onslaught, fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance. The harsh winter conditions and the savagery of the battle became comparable to the Eastern Front. In fact the Ardennes became the Western Front’s counterpart to Stalingrad. There was terrible ferocity on both sides, driven by desperation and revenge, in which the normal rules of combat were breached. The Ardennes—involving more than a million men—would prove to be the battle which finally broke the back of the Wehrmacht. In this deeply researched work, with striking insights into the major players on both sides, Antony Beevor gives us the definitive account of the Ardennes offensive which was to become the greatest battle of World War II.

Download or read book Battle Of Hurtgen Forest written by Charles Whiting and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2000-11-22 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Army regards the Hurtgen Forest as one of the most desperate battles it has ever fought. Flanking the key German city of Aachen, the forest was one of the formidable natural barriers interspersed with German fortifications in the West Wall in September 1944.

Download or read book Battle of the Huertgen Forest written by Charles B MacDonald and published by . This book was released on 2023-12-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of the Huertgen Forest, first published in 1963 and written by Official Department of the Army Historian Charles B. MacDonald, recounts the story of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. In September 1944, three months after the invasion of Normandy, Allied armies prepared to push German forces back into their homeland. Just south of the Belgian city of Aachen, elements of the U.S. First Army began an advance through the nearly impenetrable Huertgen Forest. Instead of retreating, as the Allied command anticipated, the German troops prepared an elaborate defense of Huertgen, resulting in intense battles involving tanks, infantry, and artillery. The battle for the forest ended in December, when a sudden German offensive through the Ardennes to the south forced Allied armies to fall back, regroup, and start their attack again ("The Battle of the Bulge"), and which eventually culminated in the collapse of the Nazi regime in May 1945. The Battle of the Huertgen Forest provides a well-documented overview of the disposition, strengths, and weaknesses of American and German forces, as well as personal vignettes from both officers and foot-soldiers. With a depth of knowledge based on his own combat experiences, MacDonald portrays the American and German troops with empathy and demonstrates flaws in the American strategy and how the costly battles of Huertgen Forest could have been avoided altogether. This complete, unabridged edition includes maps and an index.

Download or read book West Wall written by Charles Whiting and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Roer River Battles written by David R. Higgins and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2010-07-26 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the ups and downs of a six-month-long WWII campaign with “a well detailed chronological order of the battles [and] interesting photographs” (Armorama). A selection of the Military Book Club. Following the Allied breakout from the Normandy beachhead in July 1944, the vaunted German Army seemed on the verge of collapse. As British and US forces fanned out across northwestern France, enemy resistance unexpectedly dissolved into a headlong retreat to the German and Belgian borders. In early September, an elated Allied High Command had every expectation of continuing their momentum to cripple the enemy’s warmaking capability by capturing the Ruhr industrial complex and plunging into the heart of Germany. After a brief pause to allow for resupply, Courtney Hodge’s First Army prepared to punch through the ominous but largely outdated Westwall, the Siegfried Line, surrounding Aachen. But during the lull, German commanders such as the “lion of defense,” Walter Model, reorganized depleted units and mounted an increasingly potent defense. Though the German Replacement Army funneled considerable numbers to the front, they too often strained an overburdened supply system and didn’t greatly enhance existing combat formations. More importantly, the panzer divisions, once thought irretrievably destroyed, were resupplied and reinvigorated. When the Allied offensive resumed, it ran into a veritable brick wall—gains measured in yards, not miles, if any were made at all. While both sides suffered equally in an urbanized environment of pillbox-infested hills, impenetrable forests, and freezing rain, the Germans were on the defensive and better able to inflict casualties out of proportion to their own. For the US First Army, what was originally to be a walk-through turned into a frustrating six-month campaign that decimated infantry and tank forces alike. The “broad front,” as opposed to a “Schwerpunkt” strategy, led to the demise of many a citizen-soldier. Drawing on primary Wehrmacht and US sources, including battle analysis and daily situation and after-action reports, The Roer River Battles provides insight into the desperate German efforts to keep a conquering enemy at the borders of their homeland. Tactical maps down to battalion-level help clarify the very fluid nature of the combat. Combined, they serve to explain not just how, but why decisions were made and events unfolded, and how reality often differed from doctrine in one of the longest US campaigns of World War II.

Download or read book All Souls Day written by Joseph M. Pereira and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2020-11 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Army attacked three villages near the German-Belgium border, surprising the Germans who surrendered with little resistance. The German army regrouped and counterattacked. A brief but horrific battle ensued, and as the enemy pressed forward, the Americans retreated in haste, leaving behind their wounded and their dead. Discussion of this week-long conflict that began on All Souls Day, November 2, 1944, has been confined to officer training school, in part due to its heavy losses and ignominy. After the war the U.S. Army returned to the battlefield to bring home its fallen. To its dismay it found that many of these men had vanished. The disappearances were puzzling and for decades the U.S. government searched unsuccessfully for clues. After poring over now-declassified battlefield reports and interviewing family members, the authors reconstruct a spellbinding story of love and sacrifice, honor and bravery, as well as a portrait of the gnawing pain of families not knowing what became of their loved ones. Ultimately this work of history and in-depth contemporary journalism proffers a glimmer of light in the ongoing search.

Download or read book Hell in H rtgen Forest written by Robert Sterling Rush and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2001-11-27 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some of the most brutally intense infantry combat in World War II occurred within Germany's Hrtgen Forest. Focusing on the bitterly fought battle between the American 22d Infantry Regiment and elements of the German LXXIV Korps around Grosshau, Rush chronicles small-unit combat at its most extreme and shows why, despite enormous losses, the Americans persevered in the Hrtgenwald "meat grinder," a battle similar to two punch-drunk fighters staggering to survive the round. On 16 November 1944, the 22d Infantry entered the Hürtgen Forest as part of the U.S. Army's drive to cross the Roer River. During the next eighteen days, the 22d suffered more than 2,800 casualties-or about 86 percent of its normal strength of about 3,250 officers and men. After three days of fighting, the regiment had lost all three battalion commanders. After seven days, rifle company strengths stood at 50 percent and by battle's end each had suffered nearly 140 percent casualties. Despite these horrendous losses, the 22d Regiment survived and fought on, due in part to army personnel policies that ensured that unit strengths remained high even during extreme combat. Previously wounded soldiers returned to their units and new replacements, "green" to battle, arrived to follow the remaining battle-hardened cadre. The attack halted only when no veterans remained to follow. The German units in the Hrtgenwald suffered the same horrendous attrition, with one telling difference. German replacement policy detracted from rather than enhanced German combat effectiveness. Organizations had high paper strength but low manpower, and commanders consolidated decimated units time after time until these ever-dwindling bands of soldiers disappeared forever: killed, wounded, captured, or surrendered. The performance of American and German forces during this harrowing eighteen days of combat was largely a product of their respective backgrounds, training, and organization. This pre-battle aspect, not normally seen in combat history, helps explain why the Americans were successful and the Germans were not. Rush's work underscores both the horrors of combat and the resiliency of American organizations. While honoring the sacrifice and triumph of the common soldier, it also compels us to reexamine our views on the requisites for victory on the battlefield.