Huertgen Forest, battle of

Huertgen Forest, battle of. Clearance by Hodges's First US Army, started in September 1944, of three evergreen woods, the Wenau, Huertgen, and Roetgen at the start of the battle for Germany. Situated in a 80 sq. km. (50 sq. mi.) triangle bounded by the German towns of Aachen, Düren, and Monschau, the German defenders holding the woods were thought to threaten Hodges's right flank and rear. The battle continued until December, and was one of the worst US reverses in north-west Europe.

The area was thickly laced with mines, barbed wire, and concealed pillboxes with interlocking fields of fire, and among the dark, damp, thickly-wooded forest the Americans lost all their normal advantages of mobility, fire power, and technological superiority. It became an infantry slogging match in which accurate German mortar and artillery fire, bursting at treetop level, had devasting results.

Initial attempts to clear the forest lacked concentration of effort. First one regiment tried on a broad front, then two, then one division and then another. Finally two divisions were thrown into the gloomy, shell-blasted woods, and snow and incessant rain added to the casualties. The 9th US Division attacked first and had 4,500 casualties in advancing 3 km. (1.8 mi.); its replacement, 28th US Division, suffered 6,184 with little to show for it. The 4th US Division, which relieved it, attacked on 16 November as Hodges's 7th US Corps launched an offensive south of Aachen. But by the time it emerged from the forest at Gey on 1 December it had had 6,053 casualties, while 8th US Division and an armoured regiment, thrown in to help clear the forest, suffered about 5,200 before gaining the Roer plain from Bergstein.