The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (147 page)

“
Aggressive, touchy, and high-strung
”: Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 180 (“
Critical, unforgiving
”); Bradley Commentaries, CBH papers, MHI.

Three rivalrous figures
: Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 28 (“
Captain Bligh
”), 32 (
Tubby
); Bradley Commentaries, CBH papers, MHI; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 150, 197 (
Iago
); Baldwin,
Battles Lost and Won
, 497; Dickson obituary,
Assembly
, Sept. 1978.

“
slightly angry bafflement
”: Baldwin,
Battles Lost and Won
, 318.

“
The enemy has continued to reinforce
”: Chandler, 2257–59.

Canadian First Army troops had captured Breskens
: The Breskens Pocket dissolved on Nov. 3. The British I Corps under the Canadian army included a British infantry division, the U.S. 104th Infantry Division (as of Oct. 23), and Polish and Canadian armored divisions.
VW
, vol. 2, 107, 111–13;
SLC
, 215–29.

“
three general phases
”: Chandler, 2257–59.

First Army’s capture of Aachen
: “Approach to and Crossing of the Rhine, 18 Oct. 1944,” 12th Army Group, G-3, NARA RG 407, ML, box 24143; OH, “Hürtgen Forest,” 28th ID, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77 (
the most promising frontage
).

Four compact woodland tracts formed the Hürtgen
: Rush,
Hell in Hürtgen Forest
, 17; Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 272 (
regulated logging
); Heinz,
When We Were One
, 141 (“
picture forest
”); Currey,
Follow Me and Die
, 108 (“
worst place of any
”).

The
Hürtgenwald
had been fortified
: Rush,
Hell in Hürtgen Forest
, 19; McManus,
The Deadly Brotherhood
, 62 (
sowed mines
); Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 366 (
four days to move a mile
);
SLC
, 337–40 (
4,500 casualties
); Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 272 (“
Battle of the Wilderness
”).

Nearly half of the 6,500 German defenders
: Lucian Heichler, “The First Battle of the Hürtgen Forest,” March 1954, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series #42, 10–17 (“
family-fathers
”);
SLC
, 335–40, 333–34 (“
extensive, thick, and nearly trackless
”); Mack Morriss, “War in the Huertgen Forest,”
Yank
, Jan. 5, 1945, in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 562–63 (“
ointment box
”).

That underestimated American obstinacy
: author visit, Sept. 26, 2009;
SLC
, 323–24 (
Argonne Forest
); Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 365 (“
to make the Hürtgen a menace
”).

No consideration was given to bypassing
: OH, T. C. Thorson, Sept. 12, 1956, and R. F. Akers, June 11, 1956, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7; Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 182; MacDonald,
The Battle of the Huertgen Forest
, 88; OH, JLC, Jan. 25, 1954, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 (“
would not question Courtney
”).

“
We
had
to go into the forest
”: OH, JLC, Jan. 25, 1954, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7; OH, “Conversations with General J. Lawton Collins,” May 17, 1983, Gary Wade, ed., CSI, report no. 5, CARL (“
they could have hit my flank
”).

Seven dams built for flood control
: Together the two main reservoirs had a capacity of 123,000 acre-feet (
SLC
, 325).

“
great destructive flood waters
”: Miller,
A Dark and Bloody Ground
, 32; Collins,
Lightning Joe
, 273 (
nor were the dams mentioned in tactical plans
); OH, “Conversations with General J. Lawton Collins,” May 17, 1983, Gary Wade, ed., CSI, report no. 5, CARL (“
intelligence failure
”).

By late October, as First Army coiled
:
SLC
, 327 (
Düren’s church bells
), 342; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 190; Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 181; Edgar Holton, former XIX Corps G-2 lieutenant, e-mails to author, June 30, July 23, Aug. 3, 2011 (
Inside an Aachen safe
); XIX Corps history, July 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #2220, 21–23 (
a hundred million metric tons of water
); memo, W. Simpson to C. Hodges, Nov. 5, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #1024 (“
capabilities
”); English,
Patton’s Peers
, 119 (
flanking attack toward Schmidt
).

“
a kind of torpor
”: OH, T. C. Thorson, Sept. 12, 1956, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7.

“
present plans of this army
”: Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 181; Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 434–45 (
replenished
).

Bradley would later claim
: Bradley Commentaries, CBH papers, MHI; Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life
, 341; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 442.

Not until November 7 did Hodges order
: Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 181; war diary, Dec. 4, 1944, ONB papers, MHI (“
must control Roer dam
”).

“
Damn the dams
”: OH, T. C. Thorson, Sept. 12, 1956, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7.

Attacking the worst place of any
: OH, “Hürtgen Forest,” 28th ID, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77; Heinz,
When We Were One
, 239, 244–46 (“
save everybody a lot of trouble
”).

In late October the Bloody Bucketeers
: Currey,
Follow Me and Die
, 28, 87 (
Sterno blocks
); Mack Morriss, “War in the Huertgen Forest,”
Yank
, Jan. 5, 1945, in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 562–63 (
No. 8 wire
); Will Thornton, “World War II ‘M’ Co. History as Told by the Survivors,” n.d., a.p. (“
His clothing and tire chains
”); Boesch,
Road to Huertgen
, 162 (
stripping footwear
).

Foul weather, supply shortages, and the slow arrival
: Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 184–85; Margry, “Battle of the Hürtgen Forest,”
AB
, no. 171 (1991): 1
+
(
two-story
Gasthaus); author visit, Sept. 26, 2009; Sylvan, 161 (“
fine fettle
”).

In fact, it was badly flawed
:
SLC
, 346–47; OH, “Hürtgen Forest,” 28th ID, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77; Carey A. Clark et al., “Armor in the Hürtgen Forest,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, 36; Miller,
Division Commander
, 117 (“
gambler’s chance
”); Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 191 (“
Dismount and fight
”).

At nine
A.M.
on November 2
: MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 259; Ent, ed.,
The First Century
, 170–72 (“
singly, in groups
”).

The attack hardly began better for the 109th
: Paul Brückner, “The Battle in the Hürtgen Forest,” n.d., a.p. I am grateful to Maj. Gen. (ret.) David Zabecki for his insights about the battle and for various documents, including this one.

The 109th had advanced barely three hundred yards
: MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 272;
SLC
, 349–50.

Against such odds, and to the surprise
: MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 259–63;
SLC
, 349; Carey A. Clark et al., “Armor in the Hürtgen Forest,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, 36–39 (
wrecked five Shermans
); corr, Edwin M. Burnett to 12th AG, Nov. 6, 1944, NARA RG 498, G-3 OR, box 1 (
burrowed into the northeast nose
).

At dawn on Friday, November 3
: author visit, Hürtgen Forest, Sept. 26, 2009; Currey,
Follow Me and Die
, 113–14 (
astonished garrison at Schmidt
).

“
extremely satisfied
”: Sylvan, 163;
SLC
, 352 (“
little Napoleon
”).

The bad news from Schmidt
: General Freiherr von Gersdorff, “The Battle of Schmidt,” Nov. 1945, FMS, #A-891 and A-892, MHI.

Model ordered the corps commander
: 116th Panzer Division memorial and cemetery, Vossenack, author visit, Sept. 26, 2009; Henry P. Halsell, “Hürtgen Forest and Roer River Dams,” n.d., CMH, 314.7, I-22; General Freiherr von Gersdorff, “The Battle of Schmidt,” Nov. 1945, FMS, #A-891 and A-892, MHI.

Three isolated American rifle companies
: Miller,
A Dark and Bloody Ground
, 64–65, 77; MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 290–91 (
scattered sixty antitank mines
); AAR, 28th ID, n.d., a.p. from David Zabecki; Bradbeer, “General Cota and the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest,”
Army History
(spring 2010): 18
+
(
Cota remained in Rott
).

Just before sunrise on Saturday, November 4
: “Combat Experiences,” 28th ID hq, March 9, 1945, NARA RG 498, G-3 observers’ reports, box 2.

At 8:30 an American platoon
: OH, Jack W. Walker, Co L, 112th Inf, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, 28th ID, folders 74–77; Currey,
Follow Me and Die
, 129–34 (“
ragged, scattered, disorganized
”); SLC, 360–61; MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 297–300.

stampeded in the wrong direction
: The division history estimates that only 67 of the 200 survived (Ent, ed.,
The First Century
, 17).

The fight for the Hürtgen had taken a turn
: author visit, Bergstein, Sept. 26, 2009; e-mail, David T. Zabecki to author, Sept. 22, 2009 (
slow to realize
).

Confusion soon turned to chaos
:
SLC
, 359–60; MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 288, 310 (
nine feet
); Carey A. Clark et al., “Armor in the Hürtgen Forest,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, 61 (
unhitched and manhandled
).

In Rott, Cota’s perplexity
: AAR, 893rd TD Bn, Nov. 18, 1944, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, 28th ID, folders 74–77; Miller,
A Dark and Bloody Ground
, 73;
SLC
, 359–60 (“
warm-hearted affection
”); MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 313.

A fretful General Gerow
: Miller,
Division Commander
, 122–24; OH, JLC, 1973, G. Patrick Murray, SOOHP, MHI (“
tougher than I had ever heard
”); Currey,
Follow Me and Die
, 155 (“
Roll on
”).

Had the generals seen the battlefield clearly
:
SLC
, 360–63; OH, “Hürtgen Forest,” 28th ID, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77 (“
artesian wells
”); MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 335 (
shifting guns hole by hole by hole
).

A relief battalion from the 110th Infantry
: OH, Anthony R. Seymour, Warren G. Holmes, John Hayducok, 110th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, HI (“
just like cattle
”).

Soldiers in the claustrophobic forest
: Linderman,
The World Within War
, 29 (
cigarettes
), 16 (“
So this is combat
”); Cowdrey,
Fighting for Life
, 260 (“
wet liver
”); memoir, Robert D. Georgen, n.d., 2nd Bn, 110th Inf, NWWIIM (
snipers were aiming
).

“
Pushing, shoving, throwing away equipment
”: Miller,
A Dark and Bloody Ground
, 79; Currey,
Follow Me and Die
, 165 (“
saddest sight
”).

Officers managed to rally
: memoir, Thomas E. Wilkins, Co. C, 146th Engineers, n.d., CEOH, box X-37A (
hip boots
); Miller,
A Dark and Bloody Ground
, 79–82 (
Rubble Pile
); Ent, ed.,
The First Century
, 172 (“
destroyed as a fighting unit
”).

“
The 28th Division situation
”: Sylvan, 167; OH, Richard W. Ripple, CO, 707th Tank Bn, Nov. 14, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77; Currey,
Follow Me and Die
, 183–86;
SLC
, 362–65; MacDonald and Mathews,
Three Battles
, 378 (
dogtags
).

Reeling from lack of sleep
: At one point in the ordeal, Cota reportedly fainted (Miller,
Division Commander
, 128–29).

“
All we seem to be doing is losing ground
”: Bradbeer, “General Cota and the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest,”
Army History
(spring 2010): 18
+
; OH, Richard W. Ripple, CO, 707th Tank Bn, Nov. 14, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77 (
battered last-stand redoubt
); OH, George R. Sedberry, Jr., Co C, 112th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, HI (
litters from tree limbs
); OH, G. M. Nelson, CO, 112th Inf, Nov. 13, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77 (
threw away his compass
); OH, 20th Engineer Combat Bn, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77 (
abandoned two tons of TNT
).