Hurtgen: Hell’s Forest

The road to the Rhine, and beyond to Berlin, seemed wide open in the early fall of 1944. The German armies in France had ceased being organized formations and were streaming back to the Reich in willy nilly fashion, hotly pursued by the Western Allied armies as they dashed through Paris and to the borders of Germany. The First US Army (with the Ninth later on), hit the Westwall on September 12th and was destined to slog through the mud and rain for months against the fortifications and surprisingly resilient German reserves hurriedly thrown against them in a desperate bid to keep the American army off as much German soil as possible. Additionally, lack of supply served to further restrain the American advance. Would the war be over by Christmas, or would the Germans pull off a second “Miracle of the Marne” and hold long enough to launch a counteroffensive in the west ?