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Originally Posted by STEED
The battle of the Hurtgen Forest was not needed; just one of those battles that had no real goal.
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It seems more that it has fallen in a memory hole because of the Ardennenschlacht. That is the part the 'winner' like more to talk about. But in the last few years it has become more attention.
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The Huertgen Forrest: The Necessary Battle
by: Craig Bayer
This paper was awarded the Loyola University History Award for Outstanding History Senior Thesis for the 2001-2002 Academic Year.
World War II histories about the European theater spend much of the time talking about the D-Day invasion, Operation Cobra, Market Garden, The Battle of the Bulge, and the final surrender of Nazi German. These events all occurred between June-September 1944 and December-May 1944-1945. Very little time is spent on the events that occurred between September and December of 1944.
[...]
It was during the months of September to February that the Battle of the Huertgen Forest occurred. 2 The Huertgen Forest, a wooded area of 50 square miles sits on the border of Belgium and Germany about 5 miles south of the city of Aachen. Not much has been written about the events that took place in the forest and there are several reasons. Operation Market Garden overshadowed the beginning of the battle and the Battle of the Bulge overshadowed its end. American forces did most of the fighting in the Huertgen and British historians, who wrote many of the post war histories, spent little if any time concentrating on the Huertgen. In fact, very few American historians have written about it either, and when they do, they are highly critical about the decision to attack into the forest. Most of the books on the subject concluded that the American commanders made a huge mistake by entering the forest and should have bottled it up and gone around it. They are right, when they argue that the forest itself has very little strategically value. However, what makes the forest important is the Roer River. More important than the Roer River are the dams that control the river’s flow. The only way the Americans could capture the dams was to enter the forest. Without control of those dams, the Allies could not move over the Roer River because the Germans could blow up the dams, cutting off any American troops that had crossed it. Therefore, two out of three of the Allied Army groups would have troops that would not be able to cross the river into Germany.
[...]
When Holitzinger encountered the Siegfried Line, he and his men found that most of the pillboxes and the defenses were unmanned. General Collins, on reading this report, felt that if they attacked the Siegfried Line now, they could easily break through it, before the Germans had time to reorganize from their hasty retreat from France and adequately began to defend their homeland. General Collins requested permission from General Hodges to form a reconnaissance group to probe the defenses of the Siegfried Line. The group was not going in to scout the area; it was going to attempt to break through the Siegfried Line. Collins hoped that if he were successful, he would be given more troops and supplies to advance his attack into Germany.
[...]
Collins planned to move into the Stolberg Corridor, an area between the city of Aachen to its north and the Huertgen Forest to its south. The goal was to try and break the Siegfried Line before the Germans had time to man it.
During World War I, General Pershing had major problems with German troops attacking his flanks out of the Argonne Forest. Well aware of Pershing’s problem, Collins was adamant on making sure his flanks were protected. To secure his flank Collins decided to move troops to the north and take the hills surrounding Aachen. He briefly flirted with the idea of invading the city but decided that it would be better just to surround it and wait for the XIX Corps to catch up. Aachen held no real significant military importance, but it was where Charlemagne was born and had once been the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, the first Reich. Losing the birthplace of the First Reich would be a demoralizing blow to Hitler and the Nazis. To protect his right flank Collins would move troops into the northern part of the Huertgen Forest. The goals would be to capture some of the northern towns and keep the Germans in the forest. Collins could then be sure that his flanks would be protected. This is how the battle of the Huertgen Forest began.
[...]
Because of low fuel, General Collins ordered his troops to stop west of the Roer River until more supplies could arrive. That was assuming his troops were able to make it that far, which they did not. Had his troops had enough gas, it would have been a disaster to cross the Roer River without controlling the Roer River dams, especially the Schwammenauel and the Urft. If Collin’s troops crossed the Roer and the Germans destroyed the dams, the Americans on the east bank would have been completely cut off and could have been wiped out by the Germans. The dams were a crucial factor that was overlooked, not just by Collins, but by just about everybody involved in the process. It was just like the hedgerows of Normandy. No one considered them in the planning of the attack.
[...]
General Collins would send the 1st Infantry Division to take the foothill surrounding Aachen and have the 9th Infantry Division capture the northern part of the Huertgen Forest. The 3rd Armored Division would then be free to attack the Siegfried Line. Intelligence estimated that the Germans had only 7000 men defending the area, mainly from the 105th Panzer Brigade and the 116th Panzer Division. The German commander in charge of the defenses at the Stolberg area was General Brandenberg. He believed that the Americans would concentrate their attack on the city of Aachen.
[...]
Their initial success was due to the Germany’s miscalculation of the American objectives. However, as the fighting continued, it became more and more obvious to General Brandenberg that the American attack was not towards Aachen and more likely towards Stolberg.
[...]
The Germans sent in the 7th Army Group to stop the attack. On 17 September the 12th Division of the 7th German Army group counterattacked the American 3rd Armored Division in the town of Stolberg, where the Americans took heavy losses and were halted in their tracks. On September 18, Collins had the 3rd Armored Division retreat. The Germans laid an all out attack on the Americans and the fighting was brutal. The Americans had managed to gain a foothold in the northern part of the Huertgen Forest and the hills around Aachen, but the main objective had failed. The Americans’ initial success was due to the fact that the Germans believed the main American attack would focus on Aachen and had left the Stolberg Corridor and the Huertgen with minimal defenses. When the Germans realized their mistake they were able to counterattack and throw the Americans off base. By 13 September more German reinforcements had also begun arriving in the forest to further improve the defense. The ill supplied Americans were inexperienced and did not know how to fight against pillboxes. Their training at home had not taught them the techniques they would need to survive in the wooded areas.
[...]
Even if it had achieved its goals, the first attack into the forest was a complete failure because the Americans were not going after the Roer River dams.
[...]
After General Collin’s failure to break through the Stolberg Corridor, there was no question as to why American troops should attack into the Huertgen Forest. There were Germans in the forest and Hodges wanted them cleared out. He ordered General Collins to make his main attack into the forest and move towards the Roer River. Between 6 and 9 October the 9th Infantry Division was reinforced with new troops and began its attack. Their goal was to capture the towns of Germeter, Vossenack, and Schmidt. With its high grounds and large network of roads, the Americans decided that if they controlled Schmidt they would be able to move through the whole forest. The town of Schmidt is also directly north of the Schwammenauel Dam and is the perfect spot for launching an attack to capture it.
[...]
The Americans were making the right attack for the wrong reasons. The Americans often underestimated the Germans’ will to defend the forest. Hitler came to this conclusion after meeting with his Generals: “In subsequent discussions about which terrain might be relinquished with least impunity, it was decreed that holding in Aachen sector was paramount. The Allies must not be allowed to cross the Roer River. In Particular, the Germans were to maintain at all cost bridgeheads west of the Roer at Juelich and Dueren.”13
The Germans knew the value of the forest and they were going to try their hardest to protect the dams. As the Americans were planning their second attack, the Germans were busy reinforcing the forest. The Germans now had 5000 men plus an additional 1500 in reserve.
For the new attack into the forest, the Americans would deploy aircraft and artillery to accompany the infantry assault. When the attack began again the Allied bombers dropped ordinance on German targets and then the American artillery opened fire. While this method of attacking with airpower and artillery normally destroys the enemy, it had little effect on the Germans, who were extremely well dug in. All it really did was alert the Germans that an attack was imminent, and gave them a general idea where the attack would occur. Thus, when the infantry moved forward to attack, the Germans were waiting. Troops were cut down by German pillboxes, held up by barbwire and mines, and decimated by German snipers. By the middle of October the Ninth Infantry Division had suffered 4000-4500 casualties and had gained 3000 meters, while the Germans suffered about 3800 casualties.
The Germans knew how to defend the forest.
[...]
The Germans knew that if the Americans crossed the Roer River and moved towards the Rhine, they probably would discover the forces Hitler was massing for the Ardennes Offensive. General Omar Bradley would later conclude “Had we secured them (the dams) early in November and pushed across the Roer, the enemy would never dared counterattack us in the Ardennes.”16
German Field Marshal Walter Model was brought in to command most of the German forces in the Huertgen. Model had served in World War One, where he had been wounded twice. During World War II he had been credited with saving the German Army on the eastern front numerous times and raised from the rank of Corps Commander to Army Commander. Hitler was already beginning to plan a massive offensive and needed to buy time. Model was thought to be a great defensive General, and seemed to be a perfect fit for the forest.
[...]
While Model was busy organizing the defense of the forest, the Allied commanders were trying to decide their next course of action. The big question among themselves was whether they should they continue attacking German troops and try and end the war quickly, or wait until after the winter months when the weather would grow more favorable to attack. If Eisenhower waited, he could use the time to secure his supply lines and give his troops much needed rest, yet in doing so he would give the Germans time to develop new weapons and dig in deeper and deeper. Though the town of Aachen had fallen on October 21st, the Siegfried Line remained intact everywhere else.
[...]
For a plan like this to succeed, the Allies must control the Roer River dams. Patton’s attack from Metz through the Saar would be fine, but the First and Ninth Armies would have to cross the Roer River in order to reach the Rhine. Montgomery’s troops in the north would also have to cross the Roer. The first time that the dams are mentioned by an American in writing is late September.
[...]
General Omar Bradley, judging from his statement on the attack on Schmidt, seemed to be well aware of the dams by at least the beginning of November.
[...]
Both General Eisenhower and General Bradley conclude that they knew about the dams and that it was the goal of the attacks made in November to get them. Some have been skeptical of the generals and argue that they are just revising history to make it look like they saw the importance of the dams early on, but in reality they did not discover them until much later in the campaign.
[...]
Field Orders are not supposed to give a reason for an attack; they are simply an order to attack. There was no point of making a plan to take the dams without controlling Schmidt. Once Schmidt was taken a new field order would have been given to take the dams. The first object was to take Schmidt.
In the United States Army’s official history about the Siegfried line campaign, Charles MacDonald writes that on 20 October SHAEF headquarters became well aware of the dams when a German prisoners explained that the Germans were prepared to blow them up to stop an American crossing over them.22 The American Command had indicated the first firm appreciation of the genuine value of the Roer River dams to the Germans when on 11 November both First and Ninth Army had directed no advance beyond the Roer except on army order.
[...]
By late November, tactical air headquarters had begun to dispatch reconnaissance flights over the dams almost daily. By judging all of the sources, it can be concluded that the American commanders probably realized the threat the dams posed by the end of October. All of the attacks into the forest from the beginning of November to the end of February were made with the dams in mind.
[...]
After the July attempt on Hitler’s life, Hitler began to take more and more control of the German armed forces. Hitler believed that the Germans would lose the war if they kept defending the Siegfried Line and then if it fell, the Rhine River. Germany needed an attack that would halt the Americans and British in the west and give him time to reinforce troops in the east. The plan was for Germans to march through the Ardennes Forest all the way to Antwerp, separating the American and British forces and denying the Allies a port that they could use to escape. The Americans never anticipated such a move because the German Army did not have the resources to carry out such an attack. The German Generals also thought the attack would not succeed. Had they gotten their way, they would have attacked at Aachen and the Huertgen.
[...]
It is hard to guess what would have happened if the Germans had attacked Aachen and moved back into the forest. It was not a strategy that would have won the war, but it might have prolonged it for a time. However the Germans did not attack Aachen, they attacked through the Ardennes. Their attack was not as strong as Hitler wanted, because the Germans had put so much effort into the forest.
[...]
In the Aachen sector alone, at least five Panzer or Panzer like divisions had been reduced severely in strength and their rehabilitation dangerously delayed. One parachute and at least six Volks Grenadier Divisions, the latter originally scheduled to have been spared active commitment before the counteroffensive, had been similarly effected. The Siegfried Line fighting had also delayed use in the Ardennes of two corps headquarters and two assault gun brigades.37
It can be concluded that the fighting in the forest probably slightly limited what the Germans could send to the Ardennes offensive, but the goal of fighting in the forest was not to eliminate German troops, it was to capture the Roer River dams.
[...]
Towards the end of January the Allies had finished taking back the land the Germans had recaptured in their ill-fated Ardennes offensive. During the Battle of the Bulge, V and VII Corps had been busy holding their positions. SHAEF had put all of its offensives on hold while the bulk of its resources were used defeating the Germans in the Ardennes. Both Corps had to be content with holding their positions. Now that the Bulge had been contained the attack on the dams could commence. However something had changed between December and January. V Corps commander General Gerow had been given a promotion to become head of the Fifteen Army Group.
[...]
A more cynical view would be that SHAEF was fed up with Gerow’s lack of progress in the forest and found a pleasant way of getting rid of him without demoting him. The new commander of V Corps was General Huebner. As the Allies regained the offensive it became crucial that they control the Roer River dams. Eisenhower decided to begin the new attack against Germany with the goal of reaching the Rhine River. Once they were at the Rhine, plans could be made for crossing it, and moving into the heart of Germany.
[...]
Since the First and the Ninth armies had not broken free by the end of the year, the Ninth Army was given to Montgomery. He would be in charge of making the main thrust across the Roer and to the Rhine. Montgomery’s plan was to hold the Ninth Army back while he sent in the rest of the 21st Army Group to attack the Germans. While they were engaging the Germans, the Ninth Army could cross the Roer into Germany with little or no resistance. The fate of the 21st Army Group hinged on the capture of the Roer River dams in the Huertgen Forest, because if they were not captured the Ninth could not cross, and the rest of Monty’s troops would be forced to fight the Germans alone.
[...]
The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest lasted from 13 September to 10 February, roughly five months. The Americans were forced to put the 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th, 28th, 78th, and the 83rd Infantry Divisions, the 505th and the 517th parachute regiments, the 2nd Ranger Battalion, and the 5th and 7th Armored Divisions into the forest. They suffered 24,000 combat casualties along with 9,000 cases of diseases like trench foot and combat fatigue. The Germans were forced to employ eight divisions in the forest fighting, and it is estimated that they took slightly fewer casualties than the Americans. If the battle is examined by the casualty reports, it could be considered a failure. It took the Americans five months to control a forest, and the fighting cost them more casualties than the Germans. However, in Huertgen, the objective was not a war of attrition, it was to capture the dams, and the objective was completed. The first attempt to break through the Siegfried Line during Market Garden failed and the Americans needed to cross the Roer River to get to the Rhine. To do this they would have to fight through the forest to capture the Roer River dams. There is a lot of criticism about the planning, and some of it is justified. It was not until November, after a month and a half of fighting, that the American commanders realized what was their real objective should be. Once they did, they still had to deal with Germans who were determined to give their lives to protect the Fatherland. They would fight to the last man, no matter what the odds, to defend Germany. After the October campaign into the forest failed, Eisenhower could have waited until after the winter to begin Allied attacks into Germany. This would have allowed him to secure the supply lines and give the troops time to rest. However, he would have also given the Germans more time to prepare for the oncoming attack, and their counterattack in December would have been much stronger. So the Americans attacked even though the troops were tired and they were low on supplies. Eisenhower had to attack and he needed to control the Roer River for his plan of a broad attack along all German fronts. Maybe this was not that best strategy, but it was the one that was used and the control of the Roer River dams was essential. Some would argue that if the capture of the Roer River dams was so essential, why did the Americans also spend time fighting in the middle of the forest. The first two attacks on the town of Schmidt failed because the Germans controlled the northern sections of the forest. They were able to use the high ground they controlled to observe the American troops movement and call down artillery on them. They controlled all the roads in the northern part of the forest and could move troops to reinforce the southern part. VII Corps’ march through the middle of the forest was necessary to capture Schmidt and the Roer River dams. The Americans could not have simply attacked the southern part of the forest. They tried twice and failed. The Americans could have attempted to bottle up the forest and move south of the Roer River, but because Eisenhower wanted a broad attack, going south of the Roer was out of the question.
The battle of the Huertgen forest seems to underlie a huge problem that the American Army faced. The Americans continued to ignore the effects of terrain on their plans. Most of the attack plans were made far from enemy lines without having someone there to observe what the troops were going up against. This is quite evident in the Thanksgiving Dinner incident when the commanders ordered that the men be served hot meals, not realizing that they had to remain in their foxholes at all times or face the wrath of German artillery. “None of the brass ever came forward to our positions; we were too far up front for them,” remarked soldier John Chernitsky.41
The Americans were not used to fighting in the forest and their training at home did not prepare them for what they would face. They had not been taught about fighting in the woods: things like hugging a tree instead of diving for the ground when artillery was coming your way. By the end of October a five-page report was issued to the troops, which explained how to fight in the woods, but there should have been more training. The new troops that were coming into the forest were often replacing casualties. Instead of whole units being replaced, individuals were added to units, as they were needed. This was a very unproductive practice.
My partner and I were assigned to the extreme left flank as an outpost there. By now it was dark and we took turns on watch. When dawn arrived, we discovered that we and the GIs in the adjacent hole had been left alone—evidently the company had moved out and forgotten us. Replacements meant so little that we were never really integrated into the unit with the rapid turnover in squads and platoons from the terrific casualties being sustained in the Huertgen. 42 Soldier Jerry Alexis
The problems with training and replacements were not specific to the Huertgen Forest, but the whole war. However, they were a factor in the high casualty rates.
One of the reasons that the Huertgen Forest is not well know is because the American Generals spent little time talking about it. In his book Crusade in Europe, General Eisenhower had this to say about the Huertgen Forest: “Nevertheless, progress was slow and the fighting intense. On the right flank of this attack the First Army got involved in the Huertgen Forest, the scene of the most bitterly contested battles of the entire campaign. The enemy had all the advantages of strong defensive country, and the attacking Americans had to depend exclusively on infantry weapons because of the thickness of the forest. The weather was abominable and the German garrison was particularly stubborn, but Yankee doggedness finally won. Thereafter, whenever Veterans of the American 4th, 9th,and 28th Divisions referred to hard fighting they did so in terms of comparison with the Battle of the Huertgen Forest, which they placed on top of the list.”43
General Omar Bradley also has little to say about the affair in his autobiography A General’s Story: “What followed over the next several weeks was some of the most brutal and difficult of the war. The battle—known as the Huertgen Forest—was sheer butchery on both sides. In three weeks, Collins advanced a mere six miles in miserable weather at a terrible cost.”44
This is not much information from the commander of the European theater and the commander of the 12th Army Group. The main reason is that they had little to do with the planning of the attacks in the forest. Hodge, Gerow and Collins did most of it. The only time they were really concerned about the fighting is when the lack of control of the dams prevented them from moving forward into Germany. General Joe Collins does talk about the battle in detail in his autobiography, Lightning Joe: “While it took two weeks, October 7-21, for the 1st and the 30th Divisions to capture Aachen, it required until December 9 for the VII Corps to clear the Hurtgen Forest, an essential preliminary to the seizure of the Roer dams, which in turn would determine when the Roer was safe to cross.”45
Collins argues that in order to take the Roer River dams he would have to go through the forest, and he concludes with the observation: “Costly as was the Aachen-Stolberg-Hurtgen battle to the First Army in casualties, ammunition, and equipment, it cost the Germans far more, and forced Rundstedt to deploy divisions, tanks, and gasoline intended for the Ardennes counteroffensive, weakening that supreme German effort and the subsequent defense of the Rhine.”46
While the American Commanders have always defended the Huertgen as a necessary battle, most historians have not. The main reason is the comparisons that can be made to the Vietnam War. “The same terrible war [Vietnam] of attrition, with no apparent strategically purpose, save that terrible “body count” had commenced. It was Hurtgen’s Death Factory all over again”, writes Charles Whiting, author of The Bloody Forest. 47 In his book, Citizen Soldiers, Stephen Ambrose remarks, “The forest they held, for which they had paid such a heavy price, was worthless. The battle did not shorten the war by one minute.”48 Charles Whiting also comments, “Here is the true story of the ill-conceived, ultimately useless, six-month long Hurtgen Campaign…of thousands of American soldiers that died, and the generals who refused to give up long after their objective had lost real meaning.”49 These are the same arguments that people make about the Vietnam War. There are some similarities between the Huertgen and Vietnam. There was similar terrain and because of it, the Americans had trouble moving around. In Vietnam and the Huertgen, the Americans would fight enemies who were outnumbered and out-manned, but would sacrifice anything to protecting their homeland. Despite these comparisons, the Huertgen was no Vietnam. After a rough start, the Americans formed a clear objective and went about the task of completing it. It was not the best situation for making an attack, but the Americans had no choice. In the end they completed their objective, and the Allies were able to cross the Roer River and defeat Germany.
http://www.loyno.edu/history/journal/Bayer.htm
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Both German and American troops fighting here had to share these deplorable conditions: exposed to incessant enemy fire, fighting daily without relief, receiving little support from their own artillery, drenched in frequent rain, and without the possibility of changing clothes. Forsaken as they were they had no choice but to hold out and die in hopeless resignation. Oddly enough, one-half of the Americans who fought here had German - American ancestry which meant that three quarters of all the combatants in the Hurtgen Forest were either German or of German origin.
http://www.5ad.org/hurtgen_joe.htm
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October 22, 1995 issue of "The Arizona Republic" newspaper
Steve Wilson wrote the following article
One of the longest, bloodiest and least publicized battles of World War II was fought in the dense fir trees along the German - Belgian border called the Hütgen Forest.
Thirty thousand Americans were killed or wounded in six months of fighting that began in September 1944 and lasted far into the bitter winter. Thousands more were disabled by combat fatigue and exposure. An estimated 12,000 Germans were killed.
"Whoever survived Hütgenwald must have had a guardian angel on each of his shoulders, " wrote Ernest Hemmingway, who covered the battle for Collier's magazine.
One soldier who got out alive is retired Major Gen. John F. Ruggles of Phoenix, 86. He was then a Lieutenant Colonel serving with the 22nd Infantry Regiment.
Last year (1994) to mark the battle's 50th anniversary, Ruggles organized an effort among veterans of the Regiment to place a monument in the forest.
It's a very different monument. Unlike other World War II tributes, this one doesn't honor our own soldiers. This one honors an unheralded act of humanity by a 23 year old German Infantry Lieutenant.
Ruggles wasn't interested in media attention last year, and the monuments dedication received no news coverage in this country. But a friend recently convinced him that others would like to hear the story, so last week he talked about it.
On November 12, 1944, Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld was commanding a beleaguered German rifle company. Like most units on both sides, he had suffered heavy casualties.
Early that morning, a wounded American could be heard calling from the middle of a German minefield in a no man's land separating the combatants.
"Help me" the man cried. His unit had withdrawn , however, and no U.S. troops were close enough to hear.
Lengfeld ordered his men not to shoot if Americans came to rescue the man. But none came. The soldiers weakening voice was heard for hours.
"Help me" he called, again and again. At about 10:30 that morning, Lengfeld could bear the cries no longer. He formed a rescue squad, complete with Red Cross vests and flags, and led his men toward the wounded American.
He never made it. Approaching the soldier, he stepped on a land mine, and the exploding metal fragments tore deeply into his body. Eight hours later Lengfeld is dead. The fate of the American is unknown.
Much of this story, unpublished in any American books on the war, is based on the eyewitness account of Hubert Gees, who served as Lengfeld's communications runner.
Speaking at the monument's dedication in Germany last October, Gees said : " Lieutenant Lengfeld was one of the best soldiers of the Hütgen Forest. He was an exemplary company commander, who never asked us to do more than he himself was ready to give. He possessed the complete confidence of his soldiers.
Ruggles said Lengfeld's sense of duty went far beyond the call. " You can't go to any greater extreme than to give your life trying to rescue someone you are fighting as your enemy in war " he said. " Compare that to the indifference most people feel about each other today."
The bronze and concrete monument is believed to be the only one placed by Americans in a German military cemetery. In both German and English, the plaque reads :
Here in the Hütgen Forest, on Nov. 12, 1944, Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld, a German officer, gave his life while trying to save the life of an American soldier lying severely wounded in the 'Wilde Sau' minefield and appealing for medical aid."
To the young Lieutenant, the voice crying out that day did not come from an enemy. Nor from an American, nor a stranger. It came from a human being in need. Something inside Lengfeld compelled him to act - a feeling so strong and enduring not even the madness of war could block it.
In the heavy silence of the German forest, where thousands upon thousands met death, that glorious impulse for life is now honored.
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Ehrenfriedhof Hürtgen. Memorial Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld.
IN MEMORY
OF
LIEUTENANT FRIEDRICH LENGFIELD
2nd Co,. Fues. Bn., 275th Inf. Div.
Here in Huertgen Forest on November 12, 1944,
Lt. Lengfield, a German officer, gave his life
while trying to save the life of an American
soldier lying severely wounded in the “Wilde Sau”
minefield and appealing for medical help.
PLACED AT THIS SITE ON OCTOBER, 7, 1994.
THE
TWENTY SECOND UNITED STATES
INFANTRY
SOCIETY – WORLD WAR II
“Deeds not Words”
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04-03-06, 09:04 PM
They originally expected a tougher fight. Even the Japanese themselves later blamed their subsequent overextension and defeats on the 'Victory Disease' they caught in early 1942.
So much for so very little. 
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