Hurtgen Forest 1944 (1) The US First Army's Route to the Rhine

The first part of a detailed study of one of the longest, and most brutal, tactical operations of World War II. In September 1944, the Allied High Command continued to press eastwards towards the Rhine, the thrust being spearheaded by Courtney Hodges' US First Army, whose proposed line of advance was through a wooded area south of Aachen, known locally as the Hürtgenwald – or Hürtgen Forest. On the opposing side, the German forces under the overall command of Walter Model would do all they could to defend the Reich, but also maintain a staging post for the forthcoming Battle of the Bulge. Fought in brutal terrain – heavily wooded, riven with razor sharp ridgelines and precipitous cliffs, and with a woefully inadequate road network – and in all elements, the Battle of Hürtgen Forest was a grinding and protracted encounter where gains were measured in feet and yards and not miles. This study explores the first phase of this bloody battle, including the ‘Aachen Question’ facing the