February 1996 - World War II History Round Table



October 1997

Vol. 6 Number 2

Published by the WW II History Roundtable

Edited by Jim and Jon Gerber

Welcome to the October meeting of the Dr. Harold C. Deutsch WW II History Roundtable. Tonight’s program is about the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. The Hurtgen Forest in peacetime was a beautiful place. But in war it was a nightmare for the infantry soldier. The American commanders were very optimistic as they pursued the German Army across France and Belgium. However, when they entered the difficult forest terrain, the Americans gave up the advantages in mobility and firepower that had helped get them to Germany in the first place. The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest is often overshadowed by another battle that really was a part of all of this namely the Battle of the Bulge.

Jim Renner and Howard Flen have traveled to this area and have first-hand knowledge and pictures of the area. The veterans on our program have experienced war in this area and will tell their stories.

The Bucket of Blood

Some units, as well as individuals, have had the bad luck of being the wrong place at the wrong time. Such was the US 28th Infantry Division. The 28th was a Pennsylvania National Guard unit and its shoulder patch was a red keystone which became known as ‘the bucket of blood’ due to the large number of casualties that the division took during the fighting on the German border in November of 1944. This was the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. After the Allied breakout from Normandy and race across France this battle was one of a number of reverses the Allies encountered as they moved toward and across the German border. Troops and equipment were tired, the Allied supply lines were stretched to the limit and the Germans were bringing up reinforcements. The 28th division was unthinkingly sent into the Hurtgen Forest which was a densely wooded and rugged region of no significant importance. Here the 28th met stiff German resistance and in the first week of November was so shot up that it ceased to be capable of offensive operations. Some infantry battalions were nearly wiped out.

By the end of the month, the division was sent south to the relatively quiet Ardennes area. There, on December 16th, the Germans launched their last major offensive of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. The 28th Division absorbed the full force of one of the two attacking panzer forces. Within one week, the division was broken into scattered remnants and took over one month to become capable of any battlefield operations. In all, the division had 2683 dead and 9609 wounded in its nine months of combat.

All the American infantry divisions fighting in Europe in 1944 and 1945 averaged 50 combat casualties per day including 10 or 11 dead. Most of these losses were among the divisions’ 6000 infantrymen.

Remember When

As the US Army moved eastward across France in the late summer and early fall of 1944, it was crossing country familiar to many of the older men, the ‘retreads’ who had been with John J. Pershing in the First World War. Here are some tales:

- A commanding officer of an infantry regiment was looking over a map with his staff when he noticed some familiar names. He turned to his operations officer and said, “Major, any chance we can go around that town? Back in Eighteen I made some pretty tall promises to a young lady there and I’d rather not run into her just now.”

- A wartime cartoon showed a young GI with glasses, a rather pointy nose, and a cowlick being greeted in a small French village by a crowd of townspeople, many of whom had glasses, a rather pointy nose, and a cowlick. The caption read, “ My Daddy told me about this place.”

- A pillbox in Lorraine, in northeastern France, was taken by American troops twice, once in each war. On one of the walls is written a doughboy’s name and a date in late 1918. Just underneath it appears the same name, with a date late in 1944. Written beneath that is, “This is the last time I want to be in this damned bunker.”

The 1917 song was prophetic, for it wasn’t “over over there”. Perhaps because American troops have been ‘over there’ for fifty years now in peace, it hasn’t been necessary for that man or his son or his grandson to visit that bunker again in war.

A Puff of Smoke and A Flash of Light

This century saw the widespread introduction of “flashless, smokeless” gunpowder for rifles. Although it cleared the air on the battlefield somewhat, it made it more difficult to see where the enemy fire was coming from. But not all “flashless, smokeless” powder was equal. The type produced by the Germans created a smaller flash and less smoke than what US troops were using. The Germans quickly noted this difference and trained their troops to quickly spot the distinctive flash of US rifles and machine guns. This made it easier for the Germans to spot where the US troops were firing from. This was not fully realized by the US until after the Normandy invasion in June of 1944. However, it was too late to do anything about it. By then, many GIs had died largely because their rifle was a bit too flashy and smoky.

Miss Me

The old familiar Piper Cub went to war as an artillery spotter. While the pilot dodged enemy ground fire, the second man spotted targets for the artillery and radioed back the information. In April 1945, one such aircraft, called Miss Me spotted one of their German counterparts (a Fieseler Storch) and the Americans drew their 45-caliber pistols and dove on the Storch with guns blazing. Amazingly, they damaged the German aircraft, forcing it to land. The Piper Cub then landed and took the startled Germans captive. Four more and the Miss Me pilot would have been an ace.

More Precious Than Gold

Gasoline, which played such an important role in halting the German advance during the Battle of the Bulge and was at times considered to be as precious as water to the Allied and Axis tanks in North Africa, was needed in tremendous quantities. An armored division needed more than eight times as much gasoline as it did food and even an infantry division needed six times more gasoline than food.

Oops

Adolf Hitler received his Iron Cross in WW I from a Jew, Lieutenant Hugo Gutman.

Further Reading on Tonight’s Topic:

Three Battles: Arnville, Altuzzo and Schmidt

by Charles MacDonald

Superintendent of Documents

US Government Printing Office

Washington, D.C. 20402

1952

A Dark and Bloody Ground

by Edward Miller

Texas A & M University Press

College Station, Tx 77843-4354

1995

The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest

by Charles MacDonald

Jove Publications, Inc.

200 Madison Ave.

New York, N.Y. 10016

1963

The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest

by Charles Whiting

Pocket Books

Simon and Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, N.Y. 10016

1989

Follow Me and Die

by Cecil B. Currey

Stein and Day/Publishers

Scarborough House

Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. 10510

1984

“After the Battle - The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest”

Issue 71

May be found at various military bookstores or it can be ordered from:

RZM Imports

P.O. Box 995-WW2

Southbury, CT. 06488

(203) 264 - 0774

Many thanks to Howard Flen for the preceding list of books for further reading.

Hope to see you next month at the first annual Dr. Harold C. Deutsch Lecture.

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