Posted on 11/26/2004 12:34:27 AM PST by snippy_about_it
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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www.hurtgen1944.homestead.com
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The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Hurtgen Forest (Nov - Dec 1944) - Sep. 16th, 2003
Stretching north-east from the Belgian-German border, the Hürtgen Forest covers an area of about fifty square miles within the triangle formed by the towns of Aachen, Duren and Monschau. From September to December 1944, 120,000 American soldiers advanced upon the Germans through this forest. Other battles in World War II have been more dramatically decisive, but none was tougher or bloodier. Close-ranked fir trees, towering 75-100 feet made the Hürtgen Forest a gloomy, mysterious world where the brightness of noon was muted to an eerie twilight filtering through dark trees onto spongy brown needles and rotted logs. In the winter of 1944, the ground was alternately frozen hard and then slushy. Snow covered it in deceiving peacefulness. Beneath the snow lay a network of ingenious booby traps and mines. The infantry had to take it. It was simply American men against German steel, and the cold, bitter weather. There was no more deadly fire, from the viewpoint of the infantryman, than that which burst in treetops and exploded with all its hot steel fury downward to the ground, shattering minds and bodies. Men quickly learned that the safest place when mortar or artillery fire hit treetops, was to "hug a tree". The following American infantry divisions - the 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th, 28th, 3rd Armored, 78th and the 83rd - fought in the forest. The 9th Division, in effect, fought there twice. Numbers of supporting tank, tank-destroyer, cavalry, chemical, medical, and artillery units, also fought in the forest. 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. Had the First Army gone for the Roer River Dams early in the fighting, there would have been no battle of Hürtgen Forest. That men must die in battle is accepted, and some fighting will always be more miserable and difficult than others. If there had been a push directly from the south to take the Roer River Dams, the cost of lives could have been just as costly. However, if that had been done, at least the objective would have been clear and accepted as important. Those who fought in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest fought a misconceived and basically fruitless battle that could have, and should have been avoided. That is the real tragedy of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. |
So are we talkin' "Deep In The Hurtgen Forest" here?
Good morning, snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on November 26:
1607 John Harvard England, clergyman/scholar, major benefactor to Harvard University (library & half his estate)
1731 William Cowper England, preromantic poet (His Task)
1792 Sarah Moore Grimk American antislavery, women's rights advocate
1816 William Henry Talkbot Walker Major General (Confederate Army)
1827 Alfred Moore Scales Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1892
1832 Mary Edwards Walker US, doctor/women's rights leader
1876 Willis Haviland Carrier developed air-conditioning equipment
1894 Norbert Wiener US, mathematician/discovered cybernetics
1905 Emlyn Williams Wales, actor/playwright (David Copperfield)
1907 Frances Dee US actress (Of Human Bondage)
1910 Cyril Cusack South Africa, actress (Day of the Jackal)
1912 Eric Sevareid Velva ND, newscaster (CBS Weekend News)
1912 Eugene Ionesco France, dramatist (Rhinoceros)
1913 Foy Draper US, relay runner (Olympic-gold-1936)
1922 Charles M Schulz cartoonist (Peanuts)
1924 George Segal NY, sculptor lifelike mixed-media figures (Bus Driver)
1925 Linda Hunt Morriston NJ, actress (Bostonians, Eleni, Silverado)
1929 Betta St John Hawthorne CA, actress (Corridors of Blood)
1931 Adolfo Perez Esquivel Buenos Argentina, (1980 Nobel Peace Prize)
1931 Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo Italy, downhill skier (Olympic-bronze-1952)
1933 Robert Goulet Lawrence MA, singer/actor (Camelot, Naked Gun 2)
1934 Ludmila Shevtsova USSR, 800m runner (Olympic-gold-1960)
1935 Marian Mercer Akron Ohio, actress/singer (Dean Martin Show)
1937 Boris Yegorov cosmonaut (Voskhod 1)
1937 Leo Lacroix France, skier (Olympic-silver-1964)
1938 Rich Little Ottawa Canada, impressionist/actor (Love on a Rooftop)
1938 Tina Turner [Anna Mae Bullock], Brownsville TX, singer (Proud Mary)
1943 Jan Stenerud Norway, NFL place kicker (Kansas City Chiefs)
1945 John McVie rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Rumours, Tusk)
1945 Mikhail Woronin USSR, gymnast (Olympic-2 gold/4 silver/bronze-1968)
1948 Galina Prozumenschikova USSR, 200m backstroke (Olympic-gold-1964)
1959 Jamie Rose NYC, actress (Susan Birch-St Elsewhere, Falcon Crest)
1981 Jamie Fiske liver transplant recipient
Morning Gridlock.
Hi gridlock, "DITH" now there is a blast fromn the past, not!
Goodmorning burgoening capatalist pigs SAM and snippy, hope your day yesterday other than the glass escapade went well.
To paraphrase Bernad Fall the Hurtegen Forest was "Hell In A Very Rotten Place" From most pf the accounts that I have read it could have been very easuily bypassed IIRC. perhaps the Americans where at this stage of the war in France where suffering from that all to common maledy. Victory Disease.
Back to overtime work I must go.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Morning Aeronaut, thanks for the air cover. :-)
"For us the Hurtgen was one of the most costly, most unproductive and most ill-advised battles that our army has ever fought"
Gen. James Gavin
Morning E.G.C. Yesterday turned out to be a nice day, looks like the same for today.
A lesson men need to learn early. ;-)
Hurtgen Forest? Here we go again.
Hi Feather.
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