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krashkart
10-29-10, 04:45 PM
I'm amazed that this didn't get better coverage in the histories I read. Of course, nobody likes to write about these kinds of battles. Hürtgen Forest kicked some serious Allied ass. Some units were completely annihilated, suffering casualties well over 100%.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50381-2004May23.html

http://blog.charlesmccain.com/search/label/Battle%20of%20H%C3%BCrtgen%20Forest

Scary place. :-?
Oberon
10-29-10, 04:58 PM
Reminds me a bit of the winter forest parts (Battle of the Bulge) of Band of Brothers, a forest is not a great place to be in an artillery barrage...heck, an artillery barrage is a bad place to be in any place.
nikimcbee
10-29-10, 05:02 PM
Reminds me a bit of the winter forest parts (Battle of the Bulge) of Band of Brothers, a forest is not a great place to be in an artillery barrage...heck, an artillery barrage is a bad place to be in any place.

Stole my thunder:salute:. I think that is where the German were firing the air burst shells into the tree tops? I think this is when Bill G was wounded?:hmmm:
Oberon
10-29-10, 05:14 PM
I think this is the one I'm thinking of...although it's been a long time since I watched BoB...been wanting to watch Pacific but Sky only shows it on movies :damn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9F1szmKOa8
frau kaleun
10-29-10, 05:16 PM
suffering casualties well over 100%.

How was that possible? Did they kill some dudes twice?

I'd never heard of this one by name either, interesting read.
krashkart
10-29-10, 05:22 PM
How was that possible? Did they kill some dudes twice?

I'd never heard of this one by name either, interesting read.

All of the leadership, the original troop complement, and the people sent to replace them had been killed or seriously wounded.
frau kaleun
10-29-10, 05:27 PM
All of the leadership, the original troop complement, and the people sent to replace them had been killed or seriously wounded.

Yeah, I thought about them losing replacements about two minutes after I posted. :doh: :damn:

Just pretend this never happened and I'll forget about the Ratt t-shirt. :O:
DarkFish
10-29-10, 05:29 PM
CoD2:DL
TarJak
10-29-10, 05:41 PM
Not a nice place to be at the time. Some interesting pics from someone's recent visit to the area here: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/ww2-battlefields-today/21440-bastogne-hurtgen-forest-trip.html
Chad
10-29-10, 07:30 PM
I highly recommend the movie When Trumpets Fade. It takes place in the forest and honestly shows the carnage and accurate scenes of the fighting on the front.

Cast includes Ron Eldard and Dwight Yoakim, who actually does a really good job with his role.

Here's the IMDB of it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135706/
TarJak
10-29-10, 08:03 PM
Might have to see if I can find a copy. Looks worth a watch.
Jimbuna
10-30-10, 02:49 PM
I highly recommend the movie When Trumpets Fade. It takes place in the forest and honestly shows the carnage and accurate scenes of the fighting on the front.

Cast includes Ron Eldard and Dwight Yoakim, who actually does a really good job with his role.

Here's the IMDB of it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135706/

Beat me to it Chad :DL:up:
krashkart
10-30-10, 04:16 PM
Added that movie to my bucket list. :up:
Weiss Pinguin
10-30-10, 04:34 PM
Added to my netflix queue :yep:
Chad
10-30-10, 05:03 PM
Beat me to it Chad :DL:up:

Hehe sorry Jim :DL


In my opinion, it's a very under-rated movie. HBO didn't publicize it nearly enough as they did for Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
Jimbuna
10-30-10, 06:04 PM
Hehe sorry Jim :DL


In my opinion, it's a very under-rated movie. HBO didn't publicize it nearly enough as they did for Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

Oh I definitely agree.....a really good and accurate historical account.
August
10-30-10, 07:13 PM
I have it on DVD. it was pretty good.

The battle though is a good example of incompetent and unimaginative leadership. There is a place for frontal attacks but not exclusively and not into strong defenses manned by an enemy prepared to fight.
Rhodes
10-31-10, 06:07 AM
Will try top get the film to see. You know when we said that existe a portuguese in any place in the world?

"Pvt. Edmund J. Lopes, an immigrant from the Azores Islands who was drafted and made a U.S. citizen, in that order, on his 18th birthday in 1943, remembers finding himself in the middle of prolonged shelling in the town of Kommerscheidt in November."
Even here!
Penguin
11-02-10, 07:49 AM
Hürtgen Forest is only a 90 minutes drive from here. I had a fried who collected much stuff there back in the 80s, though we thought the forest itself was quite spooky. There were so many bones and life ammo remaining, so being there was creepy and dangerous. Still today you should stay on the paths.
Thes latest human remains were found in 2008 :o - two US soldiers from the 28th Infantry.

A german fimmaker made a documentary in 2007, the second part will be available in 2 weeks. Each DVD has ~ 4 hours of material containing american and german footage. Here are the english sites, containing trailers and the possibility to order the films: http://www.konejung-stiftung.de/You_Enter_Germany_EN.htm (1st fim)
http://www.konejung-stiftung.de/You_Enter_Germany2_EN.htm (2nd)