1 00:00:20,988 --> 00:00:22,890 (beeping) 2 00:00:22,990 --> 00:00:24,192 (intense music) 3 00:00:24,292 --> 00:00:27,128 - [Narrator] Late 1944, as weary Allied troops 4 00:00:27,228 --> 00:00:29,730 edge ever closer to the German border, 5 00:00:29,830 --> 00:00:32,433 they can all but taste the end of the war. 6 00:00:33,401 --> 00:00:35,736 But before victory is theirs, 7 00:00:35,836 --> 00:00:38,539 the Americans will fight the single longest battle 8 00:00:38,639 --> 00:00:39,573 on German soil. 9 00:00:40,808 --> 00:00:42,976 - It's one of the largest, bloodiest battles 10 00:00:43,077 --> 00:00:46,947 of World War II, yet it's virtually unknown. 11 00:00:47,047 --> 00:00:49,850 - It makes no tactical sense. 12 00:00:49,950 --> 00:00:51,819 It would've been quicker to go around. 13 00:00:51,919 --> 00:00:53,987 - This was the wrong fight to pick 14 00:00:54,088 --> 00:00:55,156 in the wrong place at the wrong time. 15 00:00:57,358 --> 00:01:00,228 - Whole units were completely decimated 16 00:01:00,328 --> 00:01:02,796 and the responsibility has to be laying at the door 17 00:01:02,896 --> 00:01:06,234 of the senior commanders who are sending these units in 18 00:01:06,334 --> 00:01:09,370 to carry out completely impossible missions. 19 00:01:12,072 --> 00:01:13,741 - It's called the meat grinder. 20 00:01:13,841 --> 00:01:16,377 So many lives are wasted, ultimately for nothing, 21 00:01:16,477 --> 00:01:18,212 but very few people know anything about it. 22 00:01:21,515 --> 00:01:24,185 (dramatic music) 23 00:01:45,873 --> 00:01:48,409 - [Narrator] September 1944, 24 00:01:48,509 --> 00:01:51,945 the allied pursuit of the German Army has slowed down 25 00:01:52,045 --> 00:01:53,914 due to the distance from supply lines 26 00:01:54,014 --> 00:01:56,817 and increase German resistance. 27 00:01:56,917 --> 00:01:59,086 Both the American and Russian armies 28 00:01:59,187 --> 00:02:01,455 have their sights set on Berlin. 29 00:02:01,555 --> 00:02:03,491 - The Soviets are coming in from the East. 30 00:02:03,591 --> 00:02:05,759 {\an8}There's desperation on the part of the Americans 31 00:02:05,859 --> 00:02:07,161 and the Allies. 32 00:02:07,261 --> 00:02:10,097 You gotta get to Berlin before the Red Army. 33 00:02:10,198 --> 00:02:11,365 - Waiting would've cost them. 34 00:02:11,465 --> 00:02:14,134 That was the logic in the fall of 1944 35 00:02:14,235 --> 00:02:15,736 is that if we wait, you know, 36 00:02:15,836 --> 00:02:19,006 the Russians will be in Germany and even past Berlin 37 00:02:19,106 --> 00:02:20,708 and we won't even be in the game. 38 00:02:20,808 --> 00:02:22,310 - [Narrator] From the Western side, 39 00:02:22,410 --> 00:02:26,013 the next strategic objective is to move up the Rhine River 40 00:02:26,113 --> 00:02:27,715 and prepare to cross it. 41 00:02:27,815 --> 00:02:32,553 - The Rhine River is a deep, cold, wide river. 42 00:02:32,653 --> 00:02:36,457 Hitler is ordered that the bridges be blown up. 43 00:02:36,557 --> 00:02:39,227 You gotta get to the Rhine before the bridges are destroyed. 44 00:02:39,327 --> 00:02:40,361 The other sense of desperation 45 00:02:40,461 --> 00:02:44,064 is this war is exacting such a horrific toll. 46 00:02:44,164 --> 00:02:46,400 Holocaust, civilians are starving, 47 00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:48,236 soldiers dying on the battlefield. 48 00:02:48,336 --> 00:02:50,871 The sooner we can end the war, the better. 49 00:02:50,971 --> 00:02:53,307 But what General Courtney Hodges, who planned this, 50 00:02:53,407 --> 00:02:56,143 what he underestimated was the sense of desperation 51 00:02:56,244 --> 00:02:57,878 on the German side. 52 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,782 - [Narrator] Commander of the German Seventh Army, 53 00:03:01,882 --> 00:03:04,252 General Erich Brandenberger, 54 00:03:04,352 --> 00:03:06,854 favors falling back behind the Rhine River, 55 00:03:08,155 --> 00:03:09,189 but Hitler himself has assured him 56 00:03:09,290 --> 00:03:12,092 that reinforcements are on the way 57 00:03:12,192 --> 00:03:13,394 and the Aachen Region 58 00:03:13,494 --> 00:03:15,863 {\an8}instead becomes increasingly fortified. 59 00:03:16,930 --> 00:03:19,900 {\an8}- The US Army faces two problems in its campaign 60 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:21,602 {\an8}through the Hurtgen. 61 00:03:21,702 --> 00:03:25,038 One, this is the first time it's fighting on German soil. 62 00:03:25,138 --> 00:03:27,275 And however tough the Germans have been, 63 00:03:27,375 --> 00:03:29,710 they are bound to up their game 64 00:03:29,810 --> 00:03:31,345 when it gets to defending Germany. 65 00:03:31,445 --> 00:03:32,846 And the second problem is that they're up against 66 00:03:32,946 --> 00:03:35,449 a formidable defensive system in a terrain 67 00:03:35,549 --> 00:03:37,351 they simply have no experience of. 68 00:03:38,919 --> 00:03:40,688 - [Narrator] Located about five kilometers 69 00:03:40,788 --> 00:03:42,290 east of the German-Belgian border, 70 00:03:42,390 --> 00:03:45,726 the triangular shaped Hurtgen Forest, 71 00:03:45,826 --> 00:03:48,396 known to the Germans as the Hurtgenwald, 72 00:03:48,496 --> 00:03:52,232 {\an8}is 140 square kilometers of state-owned forest. 73 00:03:52,333 --> 00:03:53,401 {\an8}- There are kind of straight lines 74 00:03:53,501 --> 00:03:54,935 {\an8}because it's a managed forest. 75 00:03:55,035 --> 00:03:57,471 So, you know, even if you were trying to run and hide, 76 00:03:57,571 --> 00:03:59,640 the enemy can conceivably see you. 77 00:03:59,740 --> 00:04:02,410 - [Narrator] In 1938, Hurtgen Forest 78 00:04:02,510 --> 00:04:05,313 is fortified by the Germans as part of their Western wall, 79 00:04:05,413 --> 00:04:09,317 known to the Allies as the Siegfried Line. 80 00:04:09,417 --> 00:04:11,652 - So it forms a near perfect canopy 81 00:04:11,752 --> 00:04:13,921 under which you can build fortifications, 82 00:04:14,021 --> 00:04:17,291 under which tanks and airplanes are inoperable. 83 00:04:17,391 --> 00:04:18,859 - [Narrator] But the man in command 84 00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:21,929 has extensive experience fighting through difficult terrain. 85 00:04:23,531 --> 00:04:27,100 {\an8}General Courtney Hodges is a decorated World War I veteran 86 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:29,236 {\an8}and well-respected commander. 87 00:04:29,337 --> 00:04:33,073 {\an8}- Hodges definitely knew a lot about fighting 88 00:04:33,173 --> 00:04:34,508 this type of battle. 89 00:04:35,909 --> 00:04:38,512 He's partially blinded during the First World War. 90 00:04:39,580 --> 00:04:41,415 He gets a Purple Heart for that action 91 00:04:41,515 --> 00:04:43,116 and he throws his Purple Heart out 92 00:04:43,216 --> 00:04:45,185 because he doesn't think he deserves it. 93 00:04:45,285 --> 00:04:47,655 This is the mentality of this man. 94 00:04:47,755 --> 00:04:51,124 - He comes from quite a well to-do Georgian background. 95 00:04:51,224 --> 00:04:52,159 It would've been natural for him 96 00:04:52,259 --> 00:04:53,561 to go into the Army as an officer, 97 00:04:53,661 --> 00:04:55,095 but he joins up as an enlisted man. 98 00:04:55,195 --> 00:04:59,032 And so for him to go from that to leftenant general in 1944 99 00:04:59,132 --> 00:05:01,134 is really pretty impressive. 100 00:05:01,234 --> 00:05:05,473 - [Narrator] In August, 1944, Hodges succeeds Omar Bradley 101 00:05:05,573 --> 00:05:07,541 as commander of the First Army. 102 00:05:08,642 --> 00:05:10,811 With a quarter of a million soldiers, 103 00:05:10,911 --> 00:05:13,447 it's America's largest fighting force 104 00:05:13,547 --> 00:05:17,150 comprising 18 divisions, subdivided into brigades, 105 00:05:17,250 --> 00:05:19,353 battalions, and companies, 106 00:05:19,453 --> 00:05:21,422 all the way down to thousands of platoons 107 00:05:21,522 --> 00:05:22,990 of a few dozen men. 108 00:05:24,291 --> 00:05:27,561 On September 14th, 1944, 109 00:05:27,661 --> 00:05:31,465 the American Ninth Infantry Division enters Hurtgen Forest. 110 00:05:32,900 --> 00:05:35,603 These few thousand men are the battle weary 39th, 111 00:05:35,703 --> 00:05:38,338 47th and 60th Regiments 112 00:05:38,439 --> 00:05:41,642 commanded by Major General Lewis A. Craig. 113 00:05:41,742 --> 00:05:43,343 - The Ninth Infantry Division 114 00:05:43,444 --> 00:05:46,480 has been pretty battle tested for a very long time. 115 00:05:48,248 --> 00:05:49,650 - [Narrator] Prior to Hurtgen, 116 00:05:49,750 --> 00:05:52,620 these units took part in long combat missions 117 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:54,655 throughout north Africa and France 118 00:05:54,755 --> 00:05:56,323 and are severely depleted. 119 00:05:56,424 --> 00:05:58,592 - [John] These battle-hardened troops 120 00:05:58,692 --> 00:06:00,594 have seen almost everything. 121 00:06:00,694 --> 00:06:02,530 They know what to expect, 122 00:06:02,630 --> 00:06:04,532 and now they're being pushed into the Hurtgen Forest. 123 00:06:06,634 --> 00:06:08,469 {\an8}- Most military science 124 00:06:08,569 --> 00:06:11,572 {\an8}says that you don't attack in a forest, 125 00:06:11,672 --> 00:06:14,107 {\an8}especially an enemy who's very well fortified 126 00:06:14,207 --> 00:06:16,143 and well defended. 127 00:06:16,243 --> 00:06:17,678 - Which is the great conundrum 128 00:06:17,778 --> 00:06:19,747 for anyone who studies tactics. 129 00:06:19,847 --> 00:06:21,949 Why doesn't Hodges go around the forest 130 00:06:22,049 --> 00:06:24,485 is a question we still debate to this day. 131 00:06:25,453 --> 00:06:28,055 (suspenseful music) 132 00:06:28,155 --> 00:06:31,058 - It showed the American determination to advance. 133 00:06:31,158 --> 00:06:33,927 It told the Germans that they were not gonna be able 134 00:06:34,027 --> 00:06:37,030 to scare the Allies away no matter what they did. 135 00:06:37,130 --> 00:06:39,332 This was also a resounding message 136 00:06:39,433 --> 00:06:41,101 to the German high command. 137 00:06:42,402 --> 00:06:43,604 - [Narrator] This is the mentality 138 00:06:43,704 --> 00:06:46,106 of one of General Hodges' closest advisors, 139 00:06:46,206 --> 00:06:48,308 fellow World War I veteran, 140 00:06:48,408 --> 00:06:51,044 J. Lawton Collins has distinguished himself 141 00:06:51,144 --> 00:06:54,548 at the Battle of Guadalcanal and he's earned the nickname 142 00:06:54,648 --> 00:06:55,883 Lightning Joe. 143 00:06:55,983 --> 00:06:57,317 When Hodges plans to halt for two days 144 00:06:57,417 --> 00:06:59,453 to allow reinforcements to catch up, 145 00:06:59,553 --> 00:07:03,657 Collins argues to begin recon immediately. 146 00:07:03,757 --> 00:07:05,926 He sets the pace of the offensive. 147 00:07:06,026 --> 00:07:08,662 - And they're sent into the Hurtgen to see who is in there, 148 00:07:08,762 --> 00:07:11,131 if anyone, and try to pierce out the other side 149 00:07:11,231 --> 00:07:13,934 and hit that Siegfried Line. 150 00:07:14,034 --> 00:07:16,704 - [Narrator] The Allies enter the forest with several goals, 151 00:07:17,538 --> 00:07:18,939 pin down German troops 152 00:07:19,039 --> 00:07:22,209 to prevent them from reinforcing their efforts further north 153 00:07:22,309 --> 00:07:26,213 at the Battle of Aachen and capture the town of Schmidt. 154 00:07:26,313 --> 00:07:27,515 - It was like a crossroads town, 155 00:07:27,615 --> 00:07:29,449 you could fan out into the countryside 156 00:07:29,550 --> 00:07:30,584 and it was a great place 157 00:07:30,684 --> 00:07:32,820 to have your communications as well. 158 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,189 So Schmidt is a very, very important position 159 00:07:36,289 --> 00:07:38,091 for either side to hold. 160 00:07:39,527 --> 00:07:41,461 - [Narrator] The 39th and 47th Regiments 161 00:07:41,562 --> 00:07:44,097 {\an8}are ordered to divide and conquer. 162 00:07:44,197 --> 00:07:49,036 {\an8}- A lot of military training is about following orders, 163 00:07:49,136 --> 00:07:51,972 doing what you're told, getting to where you need to be. 164 00:07:52,072 --> 00:07:53,841 You don't need to worry about what the goal is. 165 00:07:53,941 --> 00:07:56,309 You don't need to worry about exactly what's happening 166 00:07:56,409 --> 00:07:57,611 or what the overall situation is. 167 00:07:57,711 --> 00:07:59,613 Here is your job. 168 00:08:01,381 --> 00:08:04,818 So you're starting off in that type of mentality. 169 00:08:04,918 --> 00:08:08,221 As long as you and your mates survived another day, 170 00:08:08,321 --> 00:08:08,488 it was a good day. 171 00:08:11,058 --> 00:08:13,994 - [Narrator] The initial advance by the 47th Regiment 172 00:08:14,094 --> 00:08:15,529 goes smoothly. 173 00:08:15,629 --> 00:08:17,430 - In fact, for two days, they didn't see anyone. 174 00:08:17,531 --> 00:08:19,299 {\an8}And eventually they spot a staff car 175 00:08:19,399 --> 00:08:21,769 {\an8}with a German colonel in it and they kind of report back, 176 00:08:21,869 --> 00:08:22,670 you know, this is what we've seen. 177 00:08:25,005 --> 00:08:28,241 - And they find a lone German officer trying to figure out 178 00:08:28,341 --> 00:08:28,609 what's going on. 179 00:08:30,210 --> 00:08:31,511 So what do these men do? 180 00:08:31,612 --> 00:08:33,113 They take him prisoner. 181 00:08:33,213 --> 00:08:35,482 They rob him and then they send him back 182 00:08:35,583 --> 00:08:37,150 to the German lines. 183 00:08:37,250 --> 00:08:39,519 They don't even think they have time to deal with prisoners. 184 00:08:41,855 --> 00:08:45,559 The 39th attacks through the forest and meets resistance. 185 00:08:47,527 --> 00:08:48,962 They do not have as easy time as the 47th does. 186 00:08:52,232 --> 00:08:53,466 {\an8}- The Germans have had time to recoup. 187 00:08:53,567 --> 00:08:56,036 {\an8}They're back behind their own front line 188 00:08:56,136 --> 00:08:57,170 and they are digging in. 189 00:08:57,270 --> 00:08:58,872 It's one giant booby trap, 190 00:08:58,972 --> 00:09:00,407 but you're probably not gonna lay the booby trap 191 00:09:00,507 --> 00:09:01,975 right on the edge, 192 00:09:02,075 --> 00:09:05,746 the further Western perimeter of the forest, are you? 193 00:09:05,846 --> 00:09:07,948 You're gonna bed in behind your own lines. 194 00:09:11,351 --> 00:09:13,821 - [Narrator] The 39th Regiment begin pressing forward 195 00:09:13,921 --> 00:09:16,590 at Lammersdorf at the edge of the forest. 196 00:09:19,459 --> 00:09:23,330 But unbeknownst to them, they are entering a deadly trap. 197 00:09:25,398 --> 00:09:28,201 - The terrain in the forest itself is utterly impassible 198 00:09:28,301 --> 00:09:29,703 {\an8}for the Americans to come in. 199 00:09:29,803 --> 00:09:31,872 {\an8}The Germans had built defensive positions throughout, 200 00:09:31,972 --> 00:09:35,042 {\an8}strewing mines all across the forest, 201 00:09:35,142 --> 00:09:37,678 building machine gun nests, bunkers. 202 00:09:41,682 --> 00:09:43,751 (bombs exploding) 203 00:09:46,353 --> 00:09:49,356 - They start taking casualties almost immediately. 204 00:09:49,456 --> 00:09:51,992 (rapid gunfire) 205 00:09:58,331 --> 00:09:59,700 {\an8}This makes them realize 206 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:01,368 {\an8}that this isn't going to be a cake walk 207 00:10:01,468 --> 00:10:02,502 {\an8}through this wood lot. 208 00:10:02,602 --> 00:10:04,604 They don't know where everyone is around them. 209 00:10:04,705 --> 00:10:06,974 They don't know where the enemy is. 210 00:10:07,074 --> 00:10:09,409 (rapid gunfire) 211 00:10:09,509 --> 00:10:11,879 - [Narrator] The Germans do not expect the Allies' attempt 212 00:10:11,979 --> 00:10:13,847 to breach the Hurtgen Forest. 213 00:10:14,648 --> 00:10:16,149 - The Germans were dumbfounded 214 00:10:16,249 --> 00:10:18,652 as to why the Americans would do such a maneuver. 215 00:10:18,752 --> 00:10:21,755 They thought it was crazy. It was insane. 216 00:10:21,855 --> 00:10:23,757 And they could not believe their luck 217 00:10:23,857 --> 00:10:24,758 that someone would try this. 218 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:28,696 - It must have seemed odd to them 219 00:10:28,796 --> 00:10:30,698 {\an8}that this fortified forest, 220 00:10:30,798 --> 00:10:32,565 {\an8}impregnable is what we'd call it, 221 00:10:32,666 --> 00:10:35,502 {\an8}impossible to pass through virtually, 222 00:10:35,602 --> 00:10:39,339 is gonna be the focus of an American campaign, 223 00:10:39,439 --> 00:10:41,809 which up until that point had relied on armor, 224 00:10:41,909 --> 00:10:43,376 mobility, and aircraft. 225 00:10:43,476 --> 00:10:46,079 You can't use any of those three things in a dense forest. 226 00:10:46,179 --> 00:10:48,381 So it's like a gift to the Germans. 227 00:10:48,481 --> 00:10:49,983 {\an8}I'm sure they were surprised. 228 00:10:50,083 --> 00:10:52,920 {\an8}- The density, the thickness of this forest 229 00:10:53,020 --> 00:10:56,089 {\an8}also undermines the Americans in terms of communications. 230 00:10:56,189 --> 00:10:59,026 It's hard to see and radar systems, 231 00:10:59,126 --> 00:11:02,062 more primitive radar back then, aren't working properly. 232 00:11:04,064 --> 00:11:05,665 - [Soldier] Base to one, base to one, this is base o-six, 233 00:11:05,766 --> 00:11:06,967 (mumbles) responding. 234 00:11:08,535 --> 00:11:09,469 - [Narrator] At one point, 235 00:11:09,569 --> 00:11:11,638 the only sound coming over the radio 236 00:11:11,739 --> 00:11:15,408 is a German warning of "Achtung! Achtung!" 237 00:11:15,508 --> 00:11:19,079 as the nearby town Zweifel sounds their air raid sirens. 238 00:11:21,514 --> 00:11:22,682 - As soon as the radio goes out, 239 00:11:22,783 --> 00:11:24,417 {\an8}you're in a feeling of isolation 240 00:11:24,517 --> 00:11:26,319 {\an8}that you don't have any support, 241 00:11:26,419 --> 00:11:28,288 {\an8}that you're no longer part of the greater whole. 242 00:11:28,388 --> 00:11:29,723 {\an8}(bombs exploding) 243 00:11:29,823 --> 00:11:33,226 {\an8}- Radios tended to malfunction regularly. 244 00:11:33,326 --> 00:11:35,128 {\an8}Sometimes the battery would die out. 245 00:11:35,228 --> 00:11:37,697 {\an8}Sometimes a signal wouldn't get over a hill. 246 00:11:39,532 --> 00:11:41,401 In fact, one officer said 247 00:11:41,501 --> 00:11:43,804 that he had to resort to the old hand signals 248 00:11:43,904 --> 00:11:45,806 that they were taught in basic training 249 00:11:45,906 --> 00:11:49,709 to move men around the field in front of him. 250 00:11:49,810 --> 00:11:51,511 - [Narrator] What began as recon 251 00:11:51,611 --> 00:11:54,181 has turned into a full fledged battle. 252 00:11:54,281 --> 00:11:57,684 (gunshots firing) 253 00:11:57,785 --> 00:11:59,552 The Americans are on the defensive 254 00:11:59,652 --> 00:12:01,721 and woefully under-supplied. 255 00:12:02,555 --> 00:12:04,992 (tense music) 256 00:12:09,529 --> 00:12:12,365 - Americans and the Allies have pushed in so quickly 257 00:12:12,465 --> 00:12:15,468 that they have outrun everything that they need. 258 00:12:15,568 --> 00:12:17,070 They don't have water. 259 00:12:17,170 --> 00:12:19,406 Some men don't have rations for days. 260 00:12:19,506 --> 00:12:21,274 You can't deploy men into a force 261 00:12:21,374 --> 00:12:24,077 if they haven't eaten for two or three days. 262 00:12:24,177 --> 00:12:26,413 - [Narrator] After two agonizing weeks, 263 00:12:26,513 --> 00:12:30,017 {\an8}the 39th Division takes control of the town of Lammersdorf. 264 00:12:31,684 --> 00:12:33,987 {\an8}- Huge losses for tiny gains, 265 00:12:34,087 --> 00:12:38,926 {\an8}but the need to win, the need to advance was so overwhelming 266 00:12:40,060 --> 00:12:42,562 that these losses were deemed acceptable. 267 00:12:42,662 --> 00:12:44,664 {\an8}- General Hodges has these objectives. 268 00:12:44,764 --> 00:12:47,467 {\an8}He wants this town or this key intersection 269 00:12:47,567 --> 00:12:49,302 {\an8}or this part of the forest. 270 00:12:49,402 --> 00:12:51,771 In hindsight, it seems rather arbitrary 271 00:12:51,872 --> 00:12:54,041 and he is not willing to change his mind. 272 00:12:54,141 --> 00:12:56,476 The problem is at what cost? 273 00:12:56,576 --> 00:13:00,580 And the Americans are suffering thousands of casualties 274 00:13:00,680 --> 00:13:02,950 for each seemingly arbitrary objective. 275 00:13:04,952 --> 00:13:06,353 - [Narrator] By this point in the war, 276 00:13:06,453 --> 00:13:08,889 General Courtney Hodges expects the Germans 277 00:13:08,989 --> 00:13:12,125 to quickly surrender due to low morale 278 00:13:12,225 --> 00:13:14,761 but this is absolutely not the case. 279 00:13:14,862 --> 00:13:16,429 The Germans have every advantage 280 00:13:16,529 --> 00:13:18,465 with the forest fortifications. 281 00:13:18,565 --> 00:13:20,633 {\an8}- The way that I think most commanders would do it 282 00:13:20,733 --> 00:13:22,970 {\an8}if they had a second chance was to wait 283 00:13:23,070 --> 00:13:25,472 until you had full concentration of your supplies, 284 00:13:25,572 --> 00:13:27,908 and then to bring the brunt of your highly favorable ratio 285 00:13:28,008 --> 00:13:31,578 of soldiers and tanks and planes to bear 286 00:13:31,678 --> 00:13:32,745 and crush the Germans. 287 00:13:32,846 --> 00:13:34,447 It was a five to one tactical advantage 288 00:13:34,547 --> 00:13:37,150 in terms of military strength that the Allies had 289 00:13:37,250 --> 00:13:39,452 and it's just wasted, utterly wasted. 290 00:13:41,321 --> 00:13:43,023 {\an8}- [Narrator] The Battle of Hurtgen Forest 291 00:13:43,123 --> 00:13:45,592 {\an8}is intended to build upon the successful push 292 00:13:45,692 --> 00:13:47,060 that began with D-Day. 293 00:13:48,195 --> 00:13:50,397 The Allies attacked the coast of Normandy 294 00:13:50,497 --> 00:13:53,934 in a massive amphibious assault of 150,000 soldiers. 295 00:13:56,603 --> 00:13:59,606 They faced resistance as they stormed the beaches, 296 00:13:59,706 --> 00:14:01,074 achieving victory. 297 00:14:01,174 --> 00:14:06,113 Finally, on June 11th, this changes the tide of the war 298 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:08,548 and provides the launchpad to liberate France 299 00:14:08,648 --> 00:14:10,217 and Western Europe. 300 00:14:12,452 --> 00:14:14,187 - They've got never ending resources. 301 00:14:14,287 --> 00:14:16,556 It's just a matter of getting the resources up to the front. 302 00:14:16,656 --> 00:14:20,193 We've got almost two million Allied troops, match, fit, 303 00:14:20,293 --> 00:14:21,494 and ready to go. 304 00:14:21,594 --> 00:14:23,964 - [Narrator] The British Second Army liberates Brussels 305 00:14:24,064 --> 00:14:27,000 on September 3rd and Antwerp on September 4th. 306 00:14:28,936 --> 00:14:31,004 Hitler starts acting out in desperation. 307 00:14:32,305 --> 00:14:34,975 He appoints Field Marshall, Karl von Rundstedt 308 00:14:35,075 --> 00:14:38,745 as the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army in the West 309 00:14:38,845 --> 00:14:41,814 and orders him to attack the advancing Allies. 310 00:14:41,915 --> 00:14:44,651 {\an8}Soldiers are called upon to fight to their death 311 00:14:44,751 --> 00:14:46,186 {\an8}rather than surrender. 312 00:14:46,286 --> 00:14:49,356 {\an8}- So many committed Nazis go on fighting right to the end. 313 00:14:49,456 --> 00:14:50,924 And I'm not just talking about the top, like Goebbels, 314 00:14:51,024 --> 00:14:54,494 all the way down to the ordinary prison guards 315 00:14:54,594 --> 00:14:56,629 who will not let go of their authority 316 00:14:56,729 --> 00:14:58,498 and their murderous policies 317 00:14:58,598 --> 00:15:00,968 until literally the guns are taken from their hands. 318 00:15:01,068 --> 00:15:04,204 - [Narrator] With German forces decimated, 319 00:15:04,304 --> 00:15:06,106 their approach is more deadly 320 00:15:06,206 --> 00:15:08,741 {\an8}the closer they come to defeat. 321 00:15:08,841 --> 00:15:11,011 {\an8}- Hitler informed all of his commanders 322 00:15:11,111 --> 00:15:13,913 that if they gave up ground, many of them would be dead. 323 00:15:14,014 --> 00:15:16,449 You weren't supposed to give ground. 324 00:15:16,549 --> 00:15:18,351 You were supposed to hold your ground at all costs, 325 00:15:18,451 --> 00:15:20,187 especially when you got to the Siegfried Line 326 00:15:20,287 --> 00:15:22,422 because that's German territory. 327 00:15:22,522 --> 00:15:27,294 So Hitler says that you will be killed if you fall back. 328 00:15:27,394 --> 00:15:30,230 - On the German side, it's desperate. 329 00:15:30,330 --> 00:15:33,766 There is no choice and you're probably gonna die fighting, 330 00:15:33,866 --> 00:15:35,435 but you fight because if not, 331 00:15:35,535 --> 00:15:36,869 you're gonna get a gun in your back 332 00:15:36,970 --> 00:15:38,471 or you're gonna be court-martialed and killed. 333 00:15:38,571 --> 00:15:40,473 And these little kids, these older men, 334 00:15:40,573 --> 00:15:42,642 by now they're recruiting middle aged men as well. 335 00:15:42,742 --> 00:15:44,211 They're gonna damn well do what they're told. 336 00:15:44,311 --> 00:15:46,813 This is Hitler's Germany, you don't have a choice. 337 00:15:46,913 --> 00:15:49,082 You know, you dig in and protect your country. 338 00:15:50,683 --> 00:15:51,684 - [Narrator] The Americans decide 339 00:15:51,784 --> 00:15:52,919 to push through the Northeast 340 00:15:53,020 --> 00:15:55,722 to capture the towns of Hurtgen and Kleinhau. 341 00:15:59,226 --> 00:16:01,861 But the number of American soldiers in the Hurtgen 342 00:16:01,961 --> 00:16:04,131 is quickly depleting and the mood is grim. 343 00:16:06,699 --> 00:16:08,135 General Hodges calls in tanks 344 00:16:08,235 --> 00:16:09,202 from the Third Armored Division 345 00:16:09,302 --> 00:16:12,672 to support the 39th and 60th Regiments. 346 00:16:13,873 --> 00:16:15,542 The tanks must overcome fortifications 347 00:16:15,642 --> 00:16:20,147 known as dragon's teeth just to reach the embattled troops. 348 00:16:20,247 --> 00:16:22,582 - Armored divisions were trying to get into the forest 349 00:16:22,682 --> 00:16:24,817 to help out and support these American units. 350 00:16:24,917 --> 00:16:29,189 {\an8}And men had to have axes issued to them 351 00:16:29,289 --> 00:16:31,124 {\an8}from the sides of the tanks to go out 352 00:16:31,224 --> 00:16:33,260 {\an8}and physically chop the trees down 353 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:35,895 because the trees were too large for the tank to run over 354 00:16:35,995 --> 00:16:38,365 and the tank couldn't run over any of them. 355 00:16:38,465 --> 00:16:39,999 So these men have to go out there by hand 356 00:16:40,100 --> 00:16:41,634 {\an8}and chop down a road. 357 00:16:42,669 --> 00:16:44,837 {\an8}- What was General Hodge's thinking 358 00:16:44,937 --> 00:16:46,639 {\an8}when he was deploying the tanks? 359 00:16:46,739 --> 00:16:49,442 It's not clear why such a decision was taken, 360 00:16:49,542 --> 00:16:53,513 {\an8}but the tanks were a resource and they were deployed. 361 00:16:53,613 --> 00:16:55,848 {\an8}- What you actually got in the forest of Hurtgen 362 00:16:55,948 --> 00:16:58,885 {\an8}are tanks being stranded in mud, broken down, 363 00:16:58,985 --> 00:17:00,853 being knocked out and becoming a problem. 364 00:17:00,953 --> 00:17:03,290 You know, the tanks are attracting fire 365 00:17:03,390 --> 00:17:05,024 and causing casualties. 366 00:17:06,093 --> 00:17:08,128 Far from them being the solution to the problem, 367 00:17:08,228 --> 00:17:09,796 they actually make it worse. 368 00:17:12,031 --> 00:17:13,766 {\an8}- After you've lost a couple of divisions, 369 00:17:13,866 --> 00:17:17,104 {\an8}you might consider rethinking the game plan. 370 00:17:17,204 --> 00:17:18,538 But the danger is you think, 371 00:17:18,638 --> 00:17:19,739 well I've already lost two divisions, 372 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:21,274 I'm just gonna keep going. 373 00:17:21,374 --> 00:17:23,376 You know, I'm gonna reinforce that defeat. 374 00:17:23,476 --> 00:17:26,513 It's a classic military error that so many make. 375 00:17:26,613 --> 00:17:28,181 Hodges ain't the first and he won't be the last. 376 00:17:31,118 --> 00:17:33,653 - [Narrator] Despite continued heavy casualties, 377 00:17:33,753 --> 00:17:38,158 by September 20th, the Americans reach the Weisser Valley 378 00:17:38,258 --> 00:17:41,361 closing in on their objective, the Schmidt hub. 379 00:17:42,595 --> 00:17:44,197 - Schmidt is like a merry-go-round. 380 00:17:44,297 --> 00:17:46,699 It's like a, it is a kind of roundabout of death. 381 00:17:46,799 --> 00:17:48,135 All the villages, incidentally, have been evacuated. 382 00:17:48,235 --> 00:17:50,770 It's, you know, you can't live there. 383 00:17:50,870 --> 00:17:52,339 It's not a place where you live any longer. 384 00:17:52,439 --> 00:17:54,707 It's just a bunch of rubble. 385 00:17:54,807 --> 00:17:56,309 It's just a place where you might get picked off 386 00:17:56,409 --> 00:17:59,246 by sniper fire if a pill box isn't taking you out first, 387 00:17:59,346 --> 00:18:00,680 if you haven't stumbled over a dragon's tooth, 388 00:18:00,780 --> 00:18:03,116 I mean the whole place is like a landscape of terror. 389 00:18:03,216 --> 00:18:04,751 Can you imagine, you come out at the forest 390 00:18:04,851 --> 00:18:06,186 and you land up in Schmidt. 391 00:18:06,286 --> 00:18:09,122 It's like, my God, who cooks up a place like that? 392 00:18:10,923 --> 00:18:13,193 - The planning for the German defenses go back to 1938 393 00:18:13,293 --> 00:18:15,728 when they construct the Siegfried Line. 394 00:18:15,828 --> 00:18:17,130 {\an8}Now, it's not used, of course, 395 00:18:17,230 --> 00:18:18,465 {\an8}for most of the Second World War 396 00:18:18,565 --> 00:18:19,899 {\an8}because the Germans are on the offense. 397 00:18:19,999 --> 00:18:22,402 But when they do come on the defense, 398 00:18:22,502 --> 00:18:25,205 all these measures they put in place in 1938 399 00:18:25,305 --> 00:18:28,208 suddenly come to fruition and are incredibly valuable. 400 00:18:28,308 --> 00:18:30,643 They've been building bunkers and pill boxes 401 00:18:30,743 --> 00:18:32,912 so that they create a kind of killing zone 402 00:18:33,012 --> 00:18:36,149 in which it's gonna be very difficult for you to get past. 403 00:18:37,550 --> 00:18:39,786 - [Narrator] And yet Hodges and other top brass 404 00:18:39,886 --> 00:18:43,956 all believe that Schmidt is an important town to capture. 405 00:18:44,056 --> 00:18:45,124 - The question is how do you get there? 406 00:18:45,225 --> 00:18:46,359 You've gotta come through the wood, 407 00:18:46,459 --> 00:18:48,528 funneling you into a field of fire 408 00:18:48,628 --> 00:18:50,897 in which you're gonna find it very difficult to maneuver. 409 00:18:50,997 --> 00:18:54,467 The logic of attacking Schmidt gets completely removed 410 00:18:54,567 --> 00:18:55,802 when you think that a flanking attack 411 00:18:55,902 --> 00:18:57,537 could have done the same thing. 412 00:19:00,773 --> 00:19:03,843 - [Narrator] October 6th marks the Americans first attack 413 00:19:03,943 --> 00:19:04,677 on Schmidt. 414 00:19:05,745 --> 00:19:07,980 (rapid gunfire) 415 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,217 Between October 6th to 16th, 416 00:19:10,317 --> 00:19:14,687 the Ninth Infantry Division gains 3000 meters 417 00:19:14,787 --> 00:19:18,291 at a cost of four and a half thousand casualties. 418 00:19:18,391 --> 00:19:20,427 - This is First World War numbers. 419 00:19:20,527 --> 00:19:24,797 This is, this is losing a man for every meter and a half. 420 00:19:24,897 --> 00:19:27,900 It's a crazy number to think, how can this persist? 421 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,637 (bombs exploding) 422 00:19:30,737 --> 00:19:33,440 (dramatic music) 423 00:19:42,482 --> 00:19:43,550 How can you have all these losses 424 00:19:43,650 --> 00:19:46,185 and not see that we have a problem? 425 00:19:49,256 --> 00:19:50,890 - [Narrator] Bullets and tree shrapnel 426 00:19:50,990 --> 00:19:52,825 {\an8}decimate the Ninth Division. 427 00:19:52,925 --> 00:19:55,828 {\an8}- Those kind of losses that the Americans absorb in Schmidt 428 00:19:55,928 --> 00:19:57,830 {\an8}are monstrous. 429 00:19:57,930 --> 00:20:02,635 So you waste thousands of lives over a multi-day fight 430 00:20:02,735 --> 00:20:03,836 for nothing. 431 00:20:03,936 --> 00:20:05,572 Schmidt's important to the overall offensive 432 00:20:05,672 --> 00:20:08,375 on the vest fall, but not at that cost. 433 00:20:08,475 --> 00:20:10,910 - [Narrator] The battle to take Schmidt is a failure, 434 00:20:11,010 --> 00:20:12,479 but despite the beatings, 435 00:20:12,579 --> 00:20:15,915 the Americans do advance to the crucial supply hub 436 00:20:16,015 --> 00:20:17,116 of Monschau. 437 00:20:17,216 --> 00:20:19,886 But again, they pay a high price. 438 00:20:19,986 --> 00:20:21,153 The Ninth Infantry Division 439 00:20:21,254 --> 00:20:24,123 is reduced to a small fraction of itself 440 00:20:24,223 --> 00:20:26,893 {\an8}and cannot continue fighting in the forest. 441 00:20:26,993 --> 00:20:31,230 {\an8}On October 16th, the nearly obliterated Ninth Division 442 00:20:31,331 --> 00:20:32,999 gets some relief. 443 00:20:33,099 --> 00:20:35,201 First Army Commander Courtney Hodges 444 00:20:35,302 --> 00:20:38,371 calls on Major General Norman "Dutch" Cota 445 00:20:38,471 --> 00:20:40,407 to renew the drive toward Schmidt. 446 00:20:41,741 --> 00:20:44,511 - The 28th Infantry Division arrives in Hurtgen 447 00:20:44,611 --> 00:20:46,979 and they dive into the woods. 448 00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:49,982 {\an8}These are men of the old Pennsylvania National Guard 449 00:20:50,082 --> 00:20:52,319 {\an8}and they are sent into the woods 450 00:20:52,419 --> 00:20:54,086 to try to break this stalemate. 451 00:20:54,186 --> 00:20:56,222 They think they're going to be able to do it. 452 00:20:56,323 --> 00:20:58,425 They're battle hardened, they're ready to go. 453 00:20:58,525 --> 00:20:59,926 They get into the woods 454 00:21:04,163 --> 00:21:05,332 and they see the destruction 455 00:21:05,432 --> 00:21:07,400 from months of terrible fighting. 456 00:21:10,570 --> 00:21:12,972 You are literally stepping on the bodies of men 457 00:21:13,072 --> 00:21:15,274 who died a week beforehand. 458 00:21:19,111 --> 00:21:21,348 It hits you in the psyche when you think about 459 00:21:21,448 --> 00:21:24,851 what these men are treading on, laying upon, 460 00:21:24,951 --> 00:21:27,554 being around every single day in the Hurtgen. 461 00:21:31,123 --> 00:21:33,926 {\an8}- [Narrator] Fresh from his triumph at Omaha Beach, 462 00:21:34,026 --> 00:21:36,963 {\an8}Dutch Cota has become accustomed to victory, 463 00:21:38,431 --> 00:21:41,701 but the German defenses here are surprisingly strong. 464 00:21:43,169 --> 00:21:44,471 Pill box attacks proved to be deadly. 465 00:21:46,806 --> 00:21:50,309 American losses reached the thousands in a matter of days. 466 00:21:51,344 --> 00:21:53,446 {\an8}- For those who were in Hurtgen Forest, 467 00:21:53,546 --> 00:21:57,316 {\an8}the entire world is reduced to basically a green inferno, 468 00:21:57,417 --> 00:21:58,951 {\an8}a meat grinder. 469 00:21:59,051 --> 00:22:00,252 {\an8}- [Narrator] On October 18th, 470 00:22:00,353 --> 00:22:03,289 a battalion from the 28th Infantry Division 471 00:22:03,390 --> 00:22:05,892 arrives in Aachen as reinforcements. 472 00:22:07,326 --> 00:22:09,462 (bombs exploding) 473 00:22:13,065 --> 00:22:15,334 And after a brutal battle, 474 00:22:15,435 --> 00:22:17,770 the Germans capitulate on October 21st. 475 00:22:27,580 --> 00:22:29,416 After Aachen is captured, 476 00:22:29,516 --> 00:22:31,984 the 28th Infantry breached the Siegfried Line 477 00:22:32,084 --> 00:22:33,753 in the Stolberg corridor. 478 00:22:33,853 --> 00:22:36,789 General Hodges' men are to press forward 10 miles 479 00:22:36,889 --> 00:22:39,992 to the Roer River, capture the town of Duren 480 00:22:40,092 --> 00:22:42,962 before continuing to Cologne and the Rhine. 481 00:22:43,062 --> 00:22:45,364 {\an8}- The war point from an allied point of view 482 00:22:45,465 --> 00:22:47,834 {\an8}is we need the Germans to surrender. 483 00:22:47,934 --> 00:22:50,369 We need them to realize the war's over. 484 00:22:51,738 --> 00:22:53,973 If Germany doesn't have access to its industrial heartlands, 485 00:22:54,073 --> 00:22:56,308 then it's hobbled. 486 00:22:56,409 --> 00:22:58,411 It will have to capitulate. 487 00:22:58,511 --> 00:23:01,781 So that's a very clear, clean target, really. 488 00:23:01,881 --> 00:23:06,786 - So there is this huge push to move forward into the Roer. 489 00:23:08,154 --> 00:23:10,389 A lot of the power plants are located down river. 490 00:23:10,490 --> 00:23:12,058 It runs Germany. 491 00:23:12,158 --> 00:23:17,396 If you can take out that area, you can seal off that asset. 492 00:23:18,631 --> 00:23:19,966 If you don't do that, Germany still has a lifeline. 493 00:23:22,969 --> 00:23:24,604 - [Narrator] But General Hodges continues 494 00:23:24,704 --> 00:23:27,707 to pursue other less productive goals. 495 00:23:29,141 --> 00:23:30,577 He insists on repeated attempts 496 00:23:30,677 --> 00:23:33,079 to capture the town of Schmidt, 497 00:23:33,179 --> 00:23:36,449 an ongoing goal that is as elusive as it is deadly. 498 00:23:37,850 --> 00:23:41,287 - It becomes sort of a myopic obsession to capture it 499 00:23:41,387 --> 00:23:43,956 and then guess what? To recapture it. 500 00:23:44,056 --> 00:23:46,659 You know, if you've got compromised supply lines, 501 00:23:46,759 --> 00:23:49,195 it's very difficult to hold a place like Schmidt. 502 00:23:49,295 --> 00:23:51,163 You're making incremental gains 503 00:23:51,263 --> 00:23:52,799 and you're losing them again. 504 00:23:52,899 --> 00:23:55,535 One step forward, two back, one step forward, two back. 505 00:23:55,635 --> 00:24:00,039 And it's losses on a scale that the Americans 506 00:24:00,139 --> 00:24:00,439 weren't used to. 507 00:24:02,274 --> 00:24:04,143 {\an8}- [Narrator] On November 2nd, 508 00:24:04,243 --> 00:24:07,446 {\an8}the Americans begin their second attack on Schmidt 509 00:24:07,547 --> 00:24:09,115 led by the 28th Division. 510 00:24:09,215 --> 00:24:10,783 (rapid gunfire) 511 00:24:10,883 --> 00:24:13,720 {\an8}- There's no way that they didn't know 512 00:24:13,820 --> 00:24:17,790 {\an8}how bloody and painful it was after the first group went in. 513 00:24:17,890 --> 00:24:19,559 If you were a new battalion coming in, 514 00:24:19,659 --> 00:24:23,229 {\an8}you saw thousands coming back out as 300. 515 00:24:23,329 --> 00:24:27,433 {\an8}- The Americans spent much of October in desperation 516 00:24:27,534 --> 00:24:30,302 {\an8}trying to take this small village of Schmidt 517 00:24:30,402 --> 00:24:32,204 and suffered thousands of casualties. 518 00:24:32,304 --> 00:24:33,239 What do they do? 519 00:24:33,339 --> 00:24:35,241 They try it again in November. 520 00:24:35,341 --> 00:24:36,375 {\an8}- On November 3rd, 521 00:24:36,475 --> 00:24:38,044 {\an8}the First and Third Battalions 522 00:24:38,144 --> 00:24:42,582 of the 112th Infantry Regiment move across the Kall Valley 523 00:24:42,682 --> 00:24:45,417 in hopes of capturing Kommerscheidt and Schmidt 524 00:24:45,518 --> 00:24:48,420 and cutting the Germans off from their supplies. 525 00:24:48,521 --> 00:24:50,523 However, the terrain of the Kall Trail 526 00:24:50,623 --> 00:24:54,627 makes movement of any kind very difficult. 527 00:24:54,727 --> 00:24:57,129 - One particular unit, 2000 strong, 528 00:24:57,229 --> 00:24:59,566 is eventually battered down to just 300 men. 529 00:24:59,666 --> 00:25:02,234 You know, can you imagine a couple of days 530 00:25:02,334 --> 00:25:05,204 in which 70% are casualties? 531 00:25:05,304 --> 00:25:07,239 You know, how do you rebuild the, you know, 532 00:25:07,339 --> 00:25:08,240 the morale of that unit? 533 00:25:08,340 --> 00:25:09,776 It's almost impossible. 534 00:25:11,477 --> 00:25:13,546 - [Narrator] After their first loss at Schmidt, 535 00:25:13,646 --> 00:25:16,616 {\an8}the Germans rely heavily on panzer tanks. 536 00:25:18,017 --> 00:25:22,589 {\an8}On November 4th, the 166th Panzer Division tanks 537 00:25:22,689 --> 00:25:26,258 unload their fire on the Third Battalion at dawn, 538 00:25:26,358 --> 00:25:28,060 ejecting them from Schmidt 539 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:29,662 and leaving them unable to counterattack. 540 00:25:31,631 --> 00:25:33,933 The battalion descends into chaos. 541 00:25:34,767 --> 00:25:36,703 133 are captured by the Germans. 542 00:25:39,639 --> 00:25:40,773 - And again, you have to remember, 543 00:25:40,873 --> 00:25:43,242 the Germans have had to time to fortify. 544 00:25:43,342 --> 00:25:47,313 They've got back behind their natural defensive barriers. 545 00:25:49,548 --> 00:25:51,550 They've been given time to regroup. 546 00:25:52,585 --> 00:25:54,921 They've laid their hands on anything they can 547 00:25:55,021 --> 00:25:56,689 that goes up in a puff of smoke. 548 00:25:56,789 --> 00:25:59,391 It's just do what you need to do to keep them away, 549 00:25:59,491 --> 00:26:02,561 stop them getting across. 550 00:26:02,662 --> 00:26:06,132 Keep them out of the fatherland, whatever it takes. 551 00:26:07,299 --> 00:26:10,269 - [Narrator] Meanwhile, the US 109th Division 552 00:26:10,369 --> 00:26:12,672 is tasked with capturing the area north of Germeter, 553 00:26:14,974 --> 00:26:17,710 but within 300 yards, they meet an unexpected horror. 554 00:26:21,413 --> 00:26:24,250 (mines exploding) 555 00:26:25,918 --> 00:26:27,754 - I don't know that any minefield is a pleasant place to be, 556 00:26:27,854 --> 00:26:29,656 but that one is just horrific, 557 00:26:29,756 --> 00:26:31,691 almost impossible to navigate through. 558 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:37,830 So navigating minefields, pill boxes, trench emplacements, 559 00:26:37,930 --> 00:26:41,400 heavy guns all becomes a grinder. 560 00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:42,735 It becomes the meat grinder. 561 00:26:44,236 --> 00:26:47,139 - [Narrator] The Wild Pig - or Wilde Sau minefield 562 00:26:47,239 --> 00:26:50,376 is one of the largest minefields on the Western front. 563 00:26:51,644 --> 00:26:54,346 Mines every two meters stretch over a span 564 00:26:54,446 --> 00:26:55,648 of three kilometers. 565 00:26:56,816 --> 00:26:58,484 - Now, how are you going to get through that? 566 00:26:58,584 --> 00:27:00,086 {\an8}It's impenetrable. 567 00:27:00,186 --> 00:27:02,288 {\an8}So you literally have to crawl through 568 00:27:02,388 --> 00:27:05,257 and try to find these mines, diffuse them, and keep moving 569 00:27:05,357 --> 00:27:05,658 while being shot at it. 570 00:27:07,994 --> 00:27:10,763 - Ultimately, they have to resort to rolling trees 571 00:27:10,863 --> 00:27:12,665 through the forest to try to detonate the mines. 572 00:27:12,765 --> 00:27:15,802 {\an8}That's time consuming, it's not practical 573 00:27:15,902 --> 00:27:19,105 {\an8}and in a forest that's this dense and thick of trees, 574 00:27:19,205 --> 00:27:20,272 it takes forever. 575 00:27:21,540 --> 00:27:24,811 - Even after all of those losses and that loss of territory, 576 00:27:24,911 --> 00:27:29,916 machines, men, material, it's still crazy 577 00:27:31,383 --> 00:27:35,321 that Hodges doesn't understand the totality of the loss. 578 00:27:36,588 --> 00:27:37,589 It is, it is a loss at that time. 579 00:27:37,690 --> 00:27:39,225 How are you going and overcome that loss 580 00:27:39,325 --> 00:27:42,194 and go back at the enemy is another thing. 581 00:27:42,294 --> 00:27:45,131 - Ultimately, General Hodges comes to his senses 582 00:27:45,231 --> 00:27:48,200 and approves the withdrawal of American troops 583 00:27:48,300 --> 00:27:50,837 from this little hub, this little village of Schmidt. 584 00:27:53,305 --> 00:27:54,741 - [Narrator] With Schmidt lost yet again, 585 00:27:54,841 --> 00:27:58,778 the focus returns to the Roer industrial area 586 00:27:58,878 --> 00:28:00,379 and the Roer River. 587 00:28:00,479 --> 00:28:03,149 There are seven dams at the Roer River headwater 588 00:28:03,249 --> 00:28:07,353 for flood control, drinking water, and hydroelectric power. 589 00:28:08,454 --> 00:28:09,655 The Schwammenauel and the Urft dams 590 00:28:09,756 --> 00:28:12,725 hold up to 40 billion gallons of water 591 00:28:12,825 --> 00:28:14,560 between the two of them. 592 00:28:14,660 --> 00:28:15,862 - That's a huge amount of water. 593 00:28:15,962 --> 00:28:17,696 {\an8}I mean, if that had been released, 594 00:28:17,797 --> 00:28:20,299 {\an8}it's a nightmare scenario. 595 00:28:20,399 --> 00:28:22,769 If the Germans had exploded the dams, 596 00:28:22,869 --> 00:28:25,404 the advance through Germany would have become 597 00:28:25,504 --> 00:28:26,773 not just difficult, 598 00:28:26,873 --> 00:28:29,441 but might have become a near impossibility. 599 00:28:29,541 --> 00:28:30,977 - [Narrator] On November 5th, 600 00:28:31,077 --> 00:28:33,813 {\an8}General Hodges receives a top secret memo 601 00:28:33,913 --> 00:28:36,115 {\an8}from General Simpson of the Ninth Army. 602 00:28:37,784 --> 00:28:40,853 {\an8}He is to refocus on securing the Roer River dams 603 00:28:40,953 --> 00:28:43,990 before the Germans unleash a catastrophic flood. 604 00:28:45,157 --> 00:28:47,994 Hodges insists that the best path to get there 605 00:28:48,094 --> 00:28:51,330 is to continue to press through the deadly forest. 606 00:28:51,430 --> 00:28:52,264 - General Hodges, yet again, 607 00:28:52,364 --> 00:28:53,766 {\an8}ignores the concerns of his officers 608 00:28:53,866 --> 00:28:56,235 {\an8}and the intelligence that the Germans 609 00:28:56,335 --> 00:28:59,405 are considering blowing the dams to flood the entire region. 610 00:28:59,505 --> 00:29:01,774 His response is damn the dams. 611 00:29:03,309 --> 00:29:04,576 - One of the justifications for going through the forest 612 00:29:04,676 --> 00:29:06,712 is to get to the Roer dams. 613 00:29:06,813 --> 00:29:09,415 {\an8}There were seven of them and two in particular 614 00:29:09,515 --> 00:29:12,518 {\an8}are so big in terms of the lakes that they created, 615 00:29:12,618 --> 00:29:14,053 that the feeling is if they're, 616 00:29:14,153 --> 00:29:15,922 if they're blown by the Germans, 617 00:29:16,022 --> 00:29:17,623 they're gonna unleash a flood tide 618 00:29:17,723 --> 00:29:19,458 that's gonna really slow down the advance 619 00:29:19,558 --> 00:29:21,060 to the Rhine River. 620 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:23,562 And this is gonna really impede allied communication. 621 00:29:23,662 --> 00:29:25,197 So we need to get to these dams 622 00:29:25,297 --> 00:29:27,066 and we need to take them before the Germans blow them. 623 00:29:27,166 --> 00:29:29,035 But that doesn't explain the logic 624 00:29:29,135 --> 00:29:30,569 of going through the forest. 625 00:29:30,669 --> 00:29:32,571 Yes, the Roer dams are at the back of the forest, 626 00:29:32,671 --> 00:29:34,040 but they're not in the forest. 627 00:29:34,140 --> 00:29:35,607 - What I don't understand 628 00:29:35,707 --> 00:29:36,575 is why they don't go around to the sides. 629 00:29:36,675 --> 00:29:38,077 {\an8}Because if you look at the map 630 00:29:38,177 --> 00:29:40,479 {\an8}and then work your way down stream 631 00:29:40,579 --> 00:29:43,049 so that you incrementally pick off each dam 632 00:29:43,149 --> 00:29:44,817 that the Germans could have flooded you with. 633 00:29:44,917 --> 00:29:47,954 {\an8}- Hodges created this sub-objective. 634 00:29:48,054 --> 00:29:51,023 {\an8}I can do the dams, but I have to get to this point first. 635 00:29:51,123 --> 00:29:53,792 And that's where I see this real disconnect. 636 00:29:53,893 --> 00:29:56,595 When you're making a decision and you have a goal, 637 00:29:56,695 --> 00:29:58,764 you tend to plan to get to that goal. 638 00:29:58,865 --> 00:30:00,566 Most people want to plan to get to that goal 639 00:30:00,666 --> 00:30:02,869 with the least steps possible. 640 00:30:02,969 --> 00:30:04,736 Hodges is planning to get to that goal 641 00:30:04,837 --> 00:30:06,873 by adding additional intermediary steps. 642 00:30:06,973 --> 00:30:10,042 And the only reason that he's doing that 643 00:30:10,142 --> 00:30:11,810 is because those were the steps he took 644 00:30:11,911 --> 00:30:13,812 when he was successful in World War I. 645 00:30:15,014 --> 00:30:17,249 You take the towns, you move the line, 646 00:30:17,349 --> 00:30:18,684 and that's what he was trained in, 647 00:30:18,784 --> 00:30:19,818 that's what he was successful with, 648 00:30:19,919 --> 00:30:21,453 and that's what he is repeating here. 649 00:30:21,553 --> 00:30:24,957 - [Narrator] At age 57, Hodges is not the man 650 00:30:25,057 --> 00:30:27,860 he once was mentally or physically. 651 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,063 - Because of his disconnection from those around him, 652 00:30:31,163 --> 00:30:34,466 he's not hearing alternate plans or alternate viewpoints, 653 00:30:34,566 --> 00:30:37,069 which is leading into tunnel vision 654 00:30:37,169 --> 00:30:37,870 for his overall strategy. 655 00:30:40,206 --> 00:30:43,109 {\an8}- Hodges, he misunderstands his soldiers. 656 00:30:43,209 --> 00:30:45,244 {\an8}I think there's almost a kind of, 657 00:30:45,344 --> 00:30:50,082 a failure of empathy at this point for him to keep, 658 00:30:50,182 --> 00:30:53,652 to keep asking this of them and to not step back 659 00:30:53,752 --> 00:30:58,024 is a profound failure on his part on a human level. 660 00:30:58,124 --> 00:30:59,725 - Hodges is an interesting character 661 00:30:59,825 --> 00:31:01,327 when it comes to casualties. 662 00:31:01,427 --> 00:31:02,861 (bomb exploding) 663 00:31:02,962 --> 00:31:05,497 He's very hard as a commander and likes to drive 664 00:31:05,597 --> 00:31:07,633 and keep moving and keep moving. 665 00:31:07,733 --> 00:31:10,769 But his men often say that they've watched him break down 666 00:31:10,869 --> 00:31:13,739 when he goes to the hospitals. 667 00:31:13,839 --> 00:31:15,374 Any other time, he's hard as a rock, 668 00:31:15,474 --> 00:31:18,644 but when he goes into the medical tents and sees the men, 669 00:31:18,744 --> 00:31:20,712 he breaks down and cries. 670 00:31:20,812 --> 00:31:22,214 - [Narrator] But meanwhile, 671 00:31:22,314 --> 00:31:24,984 the Americans are having a horrible time in the Kall Trail. 672 00:31:26,752 --> 00:31:28,087 (bombs exploding) 673 00:31:28,187 --> 00:31:30,056 - Sending in tanks is not a good idea. 674 00:31:31,523 --> 00:31:34,160 It's an even worse idea when the weather conditions worsen, 675 00:31:34,260 --> 00:31:36,062 you get a lot of rain coming in, 676 00:31:36,162 --> 00:31:39,565 there's a morass on the floor of the forest 677 00:31:39,665 --> 00:31:42,801 and the tanks are just incapable of moving and operating. 678 00:31:42,901 --> 00:31:44,503 You either gotta get past them. 679 00:31:44,603 --> 00:31:46,472 You've gotta go and rescue people out of them. 680 00:31:46,572 --> 00:31:49,575 - [Narrator] Amidst heavy casualties on both sides, 681 00:31:49,675 --> 00:31:54,380 {\an8}a small glimmer of humanity comes from an unexpected place. 682 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,216 {\an8}German troop doctor Günter Stuttgen 683 00:31:57,316 --> 00:31:59,651 has a history of treating enemy wounded 684 00:31:59,751 --> 00:32:01,787 at his field hospitals. 685 00:32:01,887 --> 00:32:03,655 On November 7th, 686 00:32:03,755 --> 00:32:06,558 he makes contact with American medical personnel 687 00:32:06,658 --> 00:32:08,794 and negotiates what will become the first 688 00:32:08,894 --> 00:32:10,329 of three cease fires. 689 00:32:11,330 --> 00:32:13,732 Combat stops for several hours 690 00:32:13,832 --> 00:32:18,237 so wounded can be retrieved and enemy patients exchanged. 691 00:32:18,337 --> 00:32:21,107 Hundreds of men survive the Hurtgen Forest 692 00:32:21,207 --> 00:32:23,875 who would've otherwise been left to die. 693 00:32:23,976 --> 00:32:27,813 Years later, Stüttgen was honored for his actions, 694 00:32:27,913 --> 00:32:29,381 which he explained, 695 00:32:29,481 --> 00:32:31,450 "Came from respect that only soldiers 696 00:32:31,550 --> 00:32:34,453 "who know the horror of war can have for one another." 697 00:32:35,754 --> 00:32:39,691 But in November '44, after the briefest of pauses, 698 00:32:39,791 --> 00:32:42,094 those horrors continue unabated. 699 00:32:43,495 --> 00:32:46,198 - The weather works to the advantage of the Nazis as well. 700 00:32:46,298 --> 00:32:48,634 It becomes brutally cold. 701 00:32:48,734 --> 00:32:52,338 It snows, the Germans laid thousands of mines down 702 00:32:52,438 --> 00:32:54,273 the Americans couldn't see or detect. 703 00:32:54,373 --> 00:32:56,075 So everything about the forest 704 00:32:56,175 --> 00:32:58,277 worked to the advantage of the Nazis 705 00:32:58,377 --> 00:33:00,779 and worked against the American invaders. 706 00:33:00,879 --> 00:33:02,514 - [Narrator] The American offensive force 707 00:33:02,614 --> 00:33:05,484 begins to be affected by a defensive mentality. 708 00:33:06,718 --> 00:33:08,220 - And they're gonna be holding their ground, 709 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:10,922 staying still being in a covered position. 710 00:33:11,023 --> 00:33:13,025 You get that difference between 711 00:33:13,125 --> 00:33:15,194 being aggressive and offensive 712 00:33:15,294 --> 00:33:18,330 {\an8}versus a very defensive type reaction 713 00:33:18,430 --> 00:33:20,732 {\an8}where you're just trying to survive. 714 00:33:20,832 --> 00:33:22,268 - [Narrator] This reaction 715 00:33:22,368 --> 00:33:24,603 extends to some of the highest ranking officers. 716 00:33:24,703 --> 00:33:26,172 General Ralph Huebner 717 00:33:26,272 --> 00:33:27,739 leads the legendary First Division 718 00:33:27,839 --> 00:33:30,742 known as The Big Red One. 719 00:33:30,842 --> 00:33:32,178 He makes the mistake, 720 00:33:32,278 --> 00:33:35,681 when reporting to Major General J. Lawton Collins, 721 00:33:35,781 --> 00:33:39,418 of using the phrase, keeping the enemy in check. 722 00:33:39,518 --> 00:33:42,454 Collins is furious at the lack of forward momentum 723 00:33:42,554 --> 00:33:45,691 and orders Huebner to ramp up the attacks. 724 00:33:45,791 --> 00:33:48,494 (intense artillery explosions) 725 00:33:48,594 --> 00:33:51,863 For Collins and his superior, Courtney Hodges, 726 00:33:51,963 --> 00:33:54,166 it's forward momentum or nothing. 727 00:33:56,068 --> 00:34:00,306 But by mid-November, there is plenty of blame to go around 728 00:34:00,406 --> 00:34:02,808 and much of it is laid at the feet 729 00:34:02,908 --> 00:34:04,710 of General Norman Dutch Cota. 730 00:34:06,345 --> 00:34:09,581 His 28th Infantry Division is relieved of duty 731 00:34:09,681 --> 00:34:12,284 {\an8}and the Eighth Infantry Division is brought in. 732 00:34:13,419 --> 00:34:17,356 {\an8}On November 16th, Operation Queen begins. 733 00:34:17,456 --> 00:34:19,625 - The Hurtgen Forest campaign really occurs 734 00:34:19,725 --> 00:34:20,992 in a couple phases. 735 00:34:21,093 --> 00:34:23,095 The first one begins in September of 1944, 736 00:34:23,195 --> 00:34:25,764 and that's an unmitigated disaster. 737 00:34:25,864 --> 00:34:27,799 Finally, later in November, 738 00:34:27,899 --> 00:34:30,536 a second phase, Operation Queen, 739 00:34:30,636 --> 00:34:33,605 it's most of the same tactics, which again, don't work. 740 00:34:33,705 --> 00:34:37,176 However, they want to try to use American air superiority, 741 00:34:37,276 --> 00:34:39,311 which ordinarily would make sense. 742 00:34:41,647 --> 00:34:44,350 But the forest is so dense, so thick, 743 00:34:44,450 --> 00:34:46,818 that it renders bombers and war planes 744 00:34:46,918 --> 00:34:49,121 completely ineffective. 745 00:34:49,221 --> 00:34:51,056 - [Narrator] With no end in sight, 746 00:34:51,157 --> 00:34:52,758 {\an8}the situation is reported on 747 00:34:52,858 --> 00:34:56,495 {\an8}by one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century. 748 00:34:57,729 --> 00:34:59,865 - Ernest Hemingway is reporting from the front 749 00:34:59,965 --> 00:35:01,133 for Collier's Magazine, 750 00:35:01,233 --> 00:35:02,868 witnesses some of this fighting 751 00:35:02,968 --> 00:35:05,103 and he's completely horrified. 752 00:35:06,272 --> 00:35:08,807 - [Narrator] Ernest Hemingway spent 18 days 753 00:35:08,907 --> 00:35:12,578 embedded with the 3000 men of the Fourth Division. 754 00:35:12,678 --> 00:35:15,214 {\an8}- You have a kind of chronicler of the madness 755 00:35:15,314 --> 00:35:16,782 {\an8}on a very personal level. 756 00:35:16,882 --> 00:35:19,885 - One of the grimmest actions is in late November, 757 00:35:19,985 --> 00:35:21,553 {\an8}when a regiment is sent to take 758 00:35:21,653 --> 00:35:25,391 {\an8}the village of Grössau and in attempting to do so, 759 00:35:25,491 --> 00:35:30,128 it loses almost 2,700 of its 3000 troops. 760 00:35:30,229 --> 00:35:32,164 That's over 90% casualties. 761 00:35:32,264 --> 00:35:35,701 - And of the futility of the tactics 762 00:35:35,801 --> 00:35:37,068 being used by the Americans, 763 00:35:37,169 --> 00:35:40,071 Hemingway quipped that it would save everybody 764 00:35:40,172 --> 00:35:41,973 a lot of trouble if they just shot them 765 00:35:42,073 --> 00:35:43,842 as soon as they got out of the trucks. 766 00:35:43,942 --> 00:35:46,845 - And describes it as passion dale with tree bursts. 767 00:35:46,945 --> 00:35:49,715 That pretty much says it all. 768 00:35:49,815 --> 00:35:52,651 - You got shrapnel starting off the branches 769 00:35:52,751 --> 00:35:54,220 {\an8}above your head so if you're not hit directly, 770 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,755 {\an8}you're gonna be hit with something raining down on you 771 00:35:56,855 --> 00:35:59,991 {\an8}that's not just freezing wintry water from God's skies. 772 00:36:00,091 --> 00:36:00,892 I mean, it's a nightmare. 773 00:36:00,992 --> 00:36:02,228 It's a hell on Earth. 774 00:36:02,328 --> 00:36:04,496 He's reminding people back in America 775 00:36:04,596 --> 00:36:06,232 that this ain't just headlines. 776 00:36:06,332 --> 00:36:09,167 Oh, Paris, Antwerp, Brussels, Aachen. 777 00:36:10,902 --> 00:36:13,405 - [Newscaster] The city of Aachen was so well restored 778 00:36:13,505 --> 00:36:15,707 that refugees from the nearby internment camp 779 00:36:15,807 --> 00:36:18,076 were allowed to return to their homes in the city. 780 00:36:18,176 --> 00:36:20,379 The military government section went to work 781 00:36:20,479 --> 00:36:21,680 establishing order. 782 00:36:23,349 --> 00:36:25,417 - No, passion there were tree busts. 783 00:36:25,517 --> 00:36:27,919 You know, let's break up that narrative, 784 00:36:28,019 --> 00:36:32,624 that success story, and remind people success at a cost. 785 00:36:32,724 --> 00:36:34,192 Hemingway will eventually write a novel 786 00:36:34,293 --> 00:36:35,861 about what he witnesses. 787 00:36:35,961 --> 00:36:38,230 "Across the River and Into the Trees" it's called. 788 00:36:39,365 --> 00:36:40,699 - [Narrator] A more direct literary account 789 00:36:40,799 --> 00:36:42,234 comes from a former professional wrestler, 790 00:36:43,369 --> 00:36:46,838 the machine gun platoon leader of Company G 791 00:36:46,938 --> 00:36:48,874 of the 121st Infantry. 792 00:36:50,409 --> 00:36:52,244 - That amazing character, Leftenant Paul Boesch, 793 00:36:52,344 --> 00:36:53,412 writes a great book about it after. 794 00:36:53,512 --> 00:36:55,547 It's incredibly visceral descriptions 795 00:36:55,647 --> 00:36:59,285 of what he'd gone through, what his men were going through. 796 00:36:59,385 --> 00:37:02,053 - [Narrator] Lieutenant Boesch's memoir captures the horror 797 00:37:02,153 --> 00:37:05,257 as he leads the 121st Infantry Regiment 798 00:37:05,357 --> 00:37:06,892 through the thick forest. 799 00:37:08,994 --> 00:37:11,763 Boesch sets up a command post and a carrying party 800 00:37:11,863 --> 00:37:15,934 to move rations, water, and ammunition for the regiment. 801 00:37:16,034 --> 00:37:18,437 (machine gun firing) 802 00:37:18,537 --> 00:37:21,873 German machine gunners catch them in a brutal crossfire, 803 00:37:21,973 --> 00:37:23,975 raining mortars and artillery. 804 00:37:24,075 --> 00:37:26,512 (bombs exploding) 805 00:37:26,612 --> 00:37:28,314 Bearing witness to the horrors of the forest, 806 00:37:28,414 --> 00:37:32,984 the 121st spends Thanksgiving in hell. 807 00:37:33,084 --> 00:37:34,386 (bombs exploding) 808 00:37:34,486 --> 00:37:35,954 {\an8}- Thanksgiving in the Hurtgen is a lot different 809 00:37:36,054 --> 00:37:38,390 {\an8}than what you see on any other part of the line. 810 00:37:38,490 --> 00:37:40,426 {\an8}It is business as usual. 811 00:37:40,526 --> 00:37:42,193 {\an8}- [Narrator] On November 23rd, 812 00:37:42,294 --> 00:37:44,195 {\an8}Lieutenant Boesch receives a message 813 00:37:44,296 --> 00:37:46,231 {\an8}that a hot turkey dinner is on its way 814 00:37:46,332 --> 00:37:48,166 {\an8}to every man in the outfit. 815 00:37:48,266 --> 00:37:50,135 - They were looking to build morale, 816 00:37:50,235 --> 00:37:51,570 but it's also way to remind people 817 00:37:51,670 --> 00:37:53,038 what they're fighting for. 818 00:37:53,138 --> 00:37:55,741 The world is gonna be safe and your family and friends 819 00:37:55,841 --> 00:37:57,809 are gonna be able to have Thanksgivings 820 00:37:57,909 --> 00:37:59,978 because of what you're doing here. 821 00:38:00,078 --> 00:38:02,080 - [Narrator] Boesch objects. 822 00:38:02,180 --> 00:38:04,850 The positions they are in are nearly right on top 823 00:38:04,950 --> 00:38:08,954 of the Germans, a terrible time to eat a hot meal. 824 00:38:09,054 --> 00:38:10,188 - And they'll know where we are 825 00:38:10,288 --> 00:38:11,723 and they're gonna shoot at us. 826 00:38:11,823 --> 00:38:15,126 And let's, you know, let's stay low and keep safe. 827 00:38:15,226 --> 00:38:18,229 - [Narrator] Despite his protests and appeal to reason, 828 00:38:18,330 --> 00:38:20,231 the Thanksgiving dinners are sent in 829 00:38:20,332 --> 00:38:22,434 on orders from headquarters. 830 00:38:22,534 --> 00:38:25,804 Privates are called back to distribute the meals. 831 00:38:25,904 --> 00:38:28,507 {\an8}- Hodges is playing for a headline game, really. 832 00:38:28,607 --> 00:38:30,108 {\an8}You know, the men were fed on Thanksgiving. 833 00:38:30,208 --> 00:38:32,878 You know, as a note home to mom, you know, had hot Turkey 834 00:38:32,978 --> 00:38:34,980 or whatever it is you eat, cranberry sauce. 835 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:36,314 You know, there's a kind of, 836 00:38:37,516 --> 00:38:40,486 there's a superficiality to his thinking there. 837 00:38:40,586 --> 00:38:44,022 Did he really think a gimmick like that was worth any life? 838 00:38:44,122 --> 00:38:46,458 (suspenseful music) 839 00:38:50,028 --> 00:38:52,431 - [Narrator] The Germans are lurking closely 840 00:38:52,531 --> 00:38:56,101 and the hot meal service draws attention to Boesch's men. 841 00:38:56,201 --> 00:38:58,737 (rapid gunfire) 842 00:39:10,382 --> 00:39:14,219 Seven men are wounded and three killed 843 00:39:14,319 --> 00:39:15,487 for a dinner no one wanted to eat. 844 00:39:20,225 --> 00:39:24,463 The 121st must move on after Thanksgiving in hell 845 00:39:24,563 --> 00:39:26,965 but their journey deeper into the woods 846 00:39:27,065 --> 00:39:28,767 proves even more deadly. 847 00:39:29,568 --> 00:39:30,936 In only three days, 848 00:39:31,036 --> 00:39:35,407 the 121st Regiment loses 20% of their manpower, 849 00:39:35,507 --> 00:39:38,410 50 killed, 600 wounded. 850 00:39:41,513 --> 00:39:42,714 - You've got mines going off. 851 00:39:42,814 --> 00:39:44,483 You've got trees exploding. 852 00:39:44,583 --> 00:39:46,518 {\an8}How many times can you jump? 853 00:39:46,618 --> 00:39:49,054 {\an8}How many times can you have that adrenaline rush 854 00:39:49,154 --> 00:39:51,089 before you've wiped it out? 855 00:39:51,189 --> 00:39:55,527 You just don't have the resources anymore to engage with it. 856 00:39:57,863 --> 00:40:00,065 - [Narrator] But throughout this vicious string 857 00:40:00,165 --> 00:40:01,467 of close-range fire fights, 858 00:40:01,567 --> 00:40:04,536 Lieutenant Boesch leads his platoon 859 00:40:04,636 --> 00:40:08,306 in the Village of Hurtgen amidst heavy enemy fire. 860 00:40:08,406 --> 00:40:11,109 (rapid gunfire) 861 00:40:12,578 --> 00:40:15,581 He and his men take cover in abandoned houses 862 00:40:15,681 --> 00:40:19,384 while automatic weapons clatter and buildings explode. 863 00:40:19,485 --> 00:40:21,520 (dramatic music) 864 00:40:38,804 --> 00:40:41,707 In a brutal struggle, Lieutenant Boesch and Company G 865 00:40:41,807 --> 00:40:44,209 managed to take the town of Hurtgen, 866 00:40:44,309 --> 00:40:46,878 taking 350 German POWs. 867 00:40:50,682 --> 00:40:53,184 Bodies of both American and German soldiers 868 00:40:53,284 --> 00:40:54,853 littered the streets. 869 00:40:56,622 --> 00:40:59,290 For his role in the strategic victory, 870 00:40:59,390 --> 00:41:02,127 Lieutenant Boesch is awarded the silver star, 871 00:41:02,227 --> 00:41:02,460 his second one. 872 00:41:04,663 --> 00:41:07,098 The victory at Hurtgen allows American troops 873 00:41:07,198 --> 00:41:10,435 to begin to make their way to the Village of Kleinhau, 874 00:41:10,536 --> 00:41:12,203 the next objective. 875 00:41:12,303 --> 00:41:14,706 The 121st gains in Hurtgen 876 00:41:14,806 --> 00:41:17,609 finally place the troops in decent proximity 877 00:41:17,709 --> 00:41:18,476 to the Roer River dams, 878 00:41:20,712 --> 00:41:24,583 the objective all along of Supreme Commander Eisenhower, 879 00:41:24,683 --> 00:41:28,920 but the horrible cost to get there is barely reflected upon. 880 00:41:29,020 --> 00:41:30,756 {\an8}- You've got this command structure, 881 00:41:30,856 --> 00:41:34,526 {\an8}so there's this distributed lack of accountability 882 00:41:34,626 --> 00:41:36,161 {\an8}for what's going on here. 883 00:41:36,261 --> 00:41:39,598 Nobody is saying, why are you doing this this way? 884 00:41:39,698 --> 00:41:42,868 Even Eisenhower who wants the dams protected 885 00:41:42,968 --> 00:41:45,336 doesn't seem to get involved in how to get there. 886 00:41:45,436 --> 00:41:47,739 And maybe that's not part of his command, 887 00:41:47,839 --> 00:41:51,677 but somebody should have been tracking 888 00:41:51,777 --> 00:41:54,045 just how many lives were lost. 889 00:41:54,145 --> 00:41:56,648 - [Narrator] Instead of dwelling on the casualties, 890 00:41:56,748 --> 00:42:00,151 {\an8}the First Army commanders seize on this momentum. 891 00:42:00,251 --> 00:42:04,455 {\an8}November 29th, orders from General Hodges come in 892 00:42:04,556 --> 00:42:07,158 to take the Brandenburg Burstein Ridge, 893 00:42:07,258 --> 00:42:10,395 securing a launch position for the US First Army 894 00:42:10,495 --> 00:42:13,632 to make a direct attack and secure the Roer River dams. 895 00:42:16,968 --> 00:42:19,504 After enduring weeks of heavy fighting, 896 00:42:19,605 --> 00:42:22,473 the 28th and 121st Regiments clear the approach 897 00:42:22,574 --> 00:42:25,476 {\an8}for the tanks to begin their advance 898 00:42:25,577 --> 00:42:27,312 {\an8}toward Brandenburg Burstein. 899 00:42:28,714 --> 00:42:32,183 The 28th and 121st Infantry reached the ridge, 900 00:42:32,283 --> 00:42:35,553 but the Germans have a major defensive advantage, 901 00:42:35,654 --> 00:42:37,856 {\an8}positions on Castle Hill. 902 00:42:37,956 --> 00:42:41,192 {\an8}- Castle Hill is one of the high points of the fight 903 00:42:41,292 --> 00:42:43,629 and that's with no pun intended because Castle Hill is high 904 00:42:43,729 --> 00:42:45,296 and it's a great vantage point. 905 00:42:45,396 --> 00:42:47,966 (rapid gunfire) 906 00:42:49,367 --> 00:42:53,304 - [Narrator] With only 11 tanks and 140 infantrymen left, 907 00:42:53,404 --> 00:42:54,640 reinforcements are needed 908 00:42:54,740 --> 00:42:57,575 to protect hard-won American gains. 909 00:42:58,777 --> 00:43:01,146 - The second ranger battalion shows up, very good, 910 00:43:01,246 --> 00:43:03,048 well-trained troops. 911 00:43:03,148 --> 00:43:04,549 - And this is where you get into differences 912 00:43:04,650 --> 00:43:07,118 between Special Forces and general infantry, 913 00:43:07,218 --> 00:43:10,722 where there is more independence and decision making 914 00:43:10,822 --> 00:43:13,692 where you can adjust on the fly to meet a goal or objective 915 00:43:13,792 --> 00:43:16,127 without a very clear plan necessarily on how to get there. 916 00:43:16,227 --> 00:43:17,863 And so you find that Special Forces training 917 00:43:17,963 --> 00:43:20,598 tends to be very different in terms of initiative. 918 00:43:23,034 --> 00:43:25,603 - The Second Rangers begin their advance. 919 00:43:25,704 --> 00:43:28,840 They quickly overwhelm parts of the German defenses 920 00:43:30,341 --> 00:43:33,679 and they will engage very violently and quickly 921 00:43:33,779 --> 00:43:36,581 with the Germans who are trying to defend Castle Hill. 922 00:43:36,682 --> 00:43:38,583 - [Narrator] The Germans fire on the rangers 923 00:43:38,684 --> 00:43:40,852 with increasing intensity, 924 00:43:40,952 --> 00:43:43,288 but Company D takes the top of a hill. 925 00:43:43,388 --> 00:43:46,057 - The Germans were utilizing it to rain fire down 926 00:43:46,157 --> 00:43:47,392 on the Americans and now it's in the hands 927 00:43:47,492 --> 00:43:49,560 of the Second Ranger Battalion. 928 00:43:49,661 --> 00:43:51,596 - [Narrator] Of the ranger reinforcements, 929 00:43:51,697 --> 00:43:54,499 only 22 are still able to walk on their own 930 00:43:54,599 --> 00:43:56,434 after this battle. 931 00:43:56,534 --> 00:44:01,139 Nineteen are killed, 107 wounded, and four men are missing. 932 00:44:02,340 --> 00:44:05,076 But due to their sacrifice from Castle Hill, 933 00:44:05,176 --> 00:44:07,779 the Americans concede the Roer River dams. 934 00:44:08,613 --> 00:44:09,815 {\an8}On December 16th, 935 00:44:09,915 --> 00:44:12,617 {\an8}the battered rangers on Castle Hill 936 00:44:12,718 --> 00:44:15,320 are relieved by the 13th Regiment. 937 00:44:15,420 --> 00:44:18,790 But swapping Special Forces back to regular troops 938 00:44:18,890 --> 00:44:20,258 will prove costly. 939 00:44:20,358 --> 00:44:22,593 - And then they weren't using Special Forces. 940 00:44:22,694 --> 00:44:25,764 They were using standard infantry troopers 941 00:44:25,864 --> 00:44:28,466 who were trained to do what they were told, 942 00:44:28,566 --> 00:44:30,435 but they're doing it in an environment 943 00:44:30,535 --> 00:44:31,703 that is really biased against them. 944 00:44:33,939 --> 00:44:35,807 - [Narrator] The 13th are unable to hold onto this victory, 945 00:44:38,009 --> 00:44:40,245 but the struggle to control the Hurtgen Forest 946 00:44:40,345 --> 00:44:43,749 is about to be eclipsed by an even bigger challenge 947 00:44:43,849 --> 00:44:46,284 and the Americans won't retake the hill 948 00:44:46,384 --> 00:44:48,619 {\an8}until February of 1945. 949 00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:50,789 {\an8}- One of the reasons the Germans fight 950 00:44:50,889 --> 00:44:53,759 as effectively as they do is because they are prepping 951 00:44:53,859 --> 00:44:56,762 for what will become the Battle of the Bulge, 952 00:44:56,862 --> 00:44:59,765 a position to the south of the Hurtgen Forest. 953 00:44:59,865 --> 00:45:01,499 - Of course the bigger story 954 00:45:01,599 --> 00:45:03,368 {\an8}is gonna be the center of attention. 955 00:45:03,468 --> 00:45:06,805 {\an8}The Battle of the Bulge became that center of attention. 956 00:45:07,638 --> 00:45:09,074 - [Narrator] December 16th, 957 00:45:09,174 --> 00:45:11,843 the Germans launched their last ditch offensive 958 00:45:11,943 --> 00:45:13,411 into the Ardennes. 959 00:45:13,511 --> 00:45:15,814 - The allied planners are completely caught off guard. 960 00:45:15,914 --> 00:45:20,185 They were not expecting this overwhelming German regrouping. 961 00:45:20,285 --> 00:45:21,953 - When Hitler orders the counterattack, 962 00:45:22,053 --> 00:45:23,588 {\an8}the tanks concentrate their power 963 00:45:23,688 --> 00:45:24,722 {\an8}in just one section of the line, 964 00:45:24,823 --> 00:45:27,893 which is an age old military tactic. 965 00:45:27,993 --> 00:45:29,761 And if you can bust through that one section, 966 00:45:29,861 --> 00:45:32,097 it compromises the entire line. 967 00:45:32,197 --> 00:45:35,533 They pushed a bulge out roughly 60 miles 968 00:45:35,633 --> 00:45:38,469 in the American line, thus giving it the nickname, 969 00:45:38,569 --> 00:45:40,505 the Battle of the Bulge. 970 00:45:41,606 --> 00:45:43,041 - [Narrator] On December 27th, 971 00:45:43,141 --> 00:45:45,510 the 83rd Division in Hurtgen Forest 972 00:45:45,610 --> 00:45:47,678 enters the Battle of the Bulge. 973 00:45:47,779 --> 00:45:51,182 - Both sides sustain horrific casualties. 974 00:45:51,282 --> 00:45:55,686 It's also one of the coldest periods of the entire war. 975 00:45:55,787 --> 00:45:57,989 The weather claims lives also. 976 00:45:59,424 --> 00:46:01,860 - [Narrator] But in contrast to the Hurtgen Forest debacle, 977 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:06,197 Allied Forces are now well organized and well supported. 978 00:46:07,565 --> 00:46:09,434 - By Christmas, you know, we've got our act together. 979 00:46:09,534 --> 00:46:11,669 You're even seeing a change in the law in Britain 980 00:46:11,769 --> 00:46:13,872 where women are drafted overseas. 981 00:46:13,972 --> 00:46:15,606 We need to back up the boys. 982 00:46:15,706 --> 00:46:16,607 You need to feed the boys. 983 00:46:16,707 --> 00:46:17,642 You need to supply the boys. 984 00:46:17,742 --> 00:46:19,310 You need to administer the boys. 985 00:46:19,410 --> 00:46:22,080 And that's what wins the Battle of the Bulge 986 00:46:22,180 --> 00:46:24,983 is this extra manpower, this oomph. 987 00:46:25,083 --> 00:46:26,517 Eisenhower comes up to the front, you know, 988 00:46:26,617 --> 00:46:29,554 there's another 200,000 men. 989 00:46:29,654 --> 00:46:30,655 How can the Germans fight that? 990 00:46:30,755 --> 00:46:32,090 (bombs exploding) 991 00:46:32,190 --> 00:46:34,926 - Ultimately, Hitler's last ditch gamble fails. 992 00:46:35,026 --> 00:46:36,461 The Americans win. 993 00:46:36,561 --> 00:46:40,098 That's really one of the last ditch efforts by Hitler 994 00:46:40,198 --> 00:46:43,168 and the Germans to hold the American line. 995 00:46:43,268 --> 00:46:45,971 {\an8}- [Narrator] The Battle of the Bulge is officially won 996 00:46:46,071 --> 00:46:49,474 {\an8}on January 25th, 1945, 997 00:46:49,574 --> 00:46:51,776 but it comes at a high cost. 998 00:46:51,877 --> 00:46:54,712 Of the 500,000 Americans who fight, 999 00:46:54,812 --> 00:46:59,817 19,000 are killed in action, 47,500 wounded, 1000 00:47:00,585 --> 00:47:02,220 {\an8}and 23,000 or more are missing. 1001 00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:04,555 {\an8}- The Battle of the Bulge is a major turning point 1002 00:47:04,655 --> 00:47:05,656 {\an8}and it is heroic. 1003 00:47:05,756 --> 00:47:07,993 Churchill's right to call it a great victory. 1004 00:47:08,093 --> 00:47:10,228 But you can't help but to think that at least in part 1005 00:47:10,328 --> 00:47:12,563 there's that horrible moment of Hurtgen Forest 1006 00:47:12,663 --> 00:47:13,999 that kind of haunts them. 1007 00:47:15,566 --> 00:47:18,569 {\an8}- [Narrator] Finally, after five grueling months, 1008 00:47:18,669 --> 00:47:21,873 {\an8}there is still unfinished business in the Hurtgen Forest. 1009 00:47:23,741 --> 00:47:27,913 On February 10th, 1945, at long last, 1010 00:47:28,013 --> 00:47:30,916 the Roer Dam is taken by the American forces. 1011 00:47:31,016 --> 00:47:33,584 This gives them control of the Urft Dam 1012 00:47:33,684 --> 00:47:36,321 and 20 billion gallons of water. 1013 00:47:36,421 --> 00:47:40,158 However, the Germans rally around the Schwammenauel Dam 1014 00:47:40,258 --> 00:47:43,294 and blow the valves open to flood the area. 1015 00:47:43,394 --> 00:47:45,696 - The Germans do exactly what intel 1016 00:47:45,796 --> 00:47:48,599 was hoping they wouldn't do. 1017 00:47:48,699 --> 00:47:50,335 They blew the dam. 1018 00:47:50,435 --> 00:47:53,371 (suspenseful music) 1019 00:47:54,439 --> 00:47:57,142 (dams exploding) 1020 00:48:00,578 --> 00:48:01,679 But when the dams blew, 1021 00:48:01,779 --> 00:48:04,515 it wasn't this overwhelming tidal wave of water coming down 1022 00:48:04,615 --> 00:48:07,785 through the area like intel thought it would be. 1023 00:48:07,885 --> 00:48:10,088 It caused localized flooding. 1024 00:48:10,188 --> 00:48:12,623 It slowed down some of the movements of divisions 1025 00:48:12,723 --> 00:48:14,159 through the area, 1026 00:48:14,259 --> 00:48:17,628 but it didn't cause this huge tidal wave of water. 1027 00:48:17,728 --> 00:48:20,932 It was much ado about nothing for many of the planners. 1028 00:48:21,899 --> 00:48:24,035 - [Narrator] On February 17th, 1029 00:48:24,135 --> 00:48:27,538 the forest is cleared by the 82nd Airborne Division 1030 00:48:27,638 --> 00:48:29,640 when they reach the Roer River. 1031 00:48:29,740 --> 00:48:34,045 The Americans are finally finished in the forest of hell, 1032 00:48:34,145 --> 00:48:38,916 which claims between 35,000 and 60,000 soldiers missing, 1033 00:48:39,017 --> 00:48:40,451 wounded, or dead. 1034 00:48:41,586 --> 00:48:43,688 The Americans use their position at the Roer 1035 00:48:43,788 --> 00:48:47,092 to support an allied attack on city of Cologne. 1036 00:48:48,393 --> 00:48:51,963 {\an8}On March 7th, the Americans crossed the Rhine 1037 00:48:52,063 --> 00:48:54,332 {\an8}as their troops pushed forward to Berlin. 1038 00:48:55,533 --> 00:48:58,036 Two months later, the war in Europe ends. 1039 00:49:00,271 --> 00:49:04,875 On May 8th, 1945, the war in Europe is officially over 1040 00:49:04,976 --> 00:49:08,179 as Berlin is captured and Germany surrenders. 1041 00:49:09,147 --> 00:49:10,681 - Hurtgen Forest is difficult 1042 00:49:10,781 --> 00:49:13,684 when you think about the sacrifices made by the soldiers. 1043 00:49:13,784 --> 00:49:15,486 (rapid gunfire) 1044 00:49:15,586 --> 00:49:18,556 On one hand, men died seemingly for nothing. 1045 00:49:18,656 --> 00:49:19,957 (loud explosions) 1046 00:49:20,058 --> 00:49:21,559 But all this fighting, 1047 00:49:21,659 --> 00:49:24,829 it did serve a role in the larger scheme 1048 00:49:24,929 --> 00:49:26,064 of the Second World War. 1049 00:49:26,164 --> 00:49:29,434 And ultimately, the Allies made it to Berlin 1050 00:49:29,534 --> 00:49:30,801 and won the war. 1051 00:49:30,901 --> 00:49:32,703 - What's most telling about this battle 1052 00:49:32,803 --> 00:49:34,739 in terms of the embarrassment 1053 00:49:34,839 --> 00:49:36,507 in the way in which it was fought 1054 00:49:36,607 --> 00:49:38,576 is the amount of space that Eisenhower, 1055 00:49:38,676 --> 00:49:41,379 the Supreme Commander, gave it in his memoirs. 1056 00:49:41,479 --> 00:49:44,782 - It is a starting of the Nazi defeat on the Western front. 1057 00:49:44,882 --> 00:49:47,685 - He devoted under 70 words to a battle 1058 00:49:47,785 --> 00:49:49,720 that went on for five months 1059 00:49:49,820 --> 00:49:54,225 and resulted in between 35,000 and 60,000 casualties. 1060 00:49:55,426 --> 00:49:57,128 - [Narrator] Supreme Commander Eisenhower 1061 00:49:57,228 --> 00:49:58,129 has political ambitions. 1062 00:50:00,231 --> 00:50:03,834 He becomes the 34th president of the United States 1063 00:50:03,934 --> 00:50:06,571 and lives to the age of 78. 1064 00:50:06,671 --> 00:50:10,541 General Courtney Hodges continues to be held in high regard 1065 00:50:10,641 --> 00:50:14,245 until he retires from the military in 1949. 1066 00:50:14,345 --> 00:50:16,681 - I think history has diminished his narrative 1067 00:50:16,781 --> 00:50:20,618 because he's not the hero that we've come to expect 1068 00:50:20,718 --> 00:50:23,421 of great American military leaders, 1069 00:50:23,521 --> 00:50:26,391 but I don't think we can put it all on Hodges' shoulders. 1070 00:50:27,158 --> 00:50:28,593 - [Narrator] J. Lawton Collins 1071 00:50:28,693 --> 00:50:31,129 continues in the military for another decade 1072 00:50:31,229 --> 00:50:34,732 and survives to the ripe old age of 91. 1073 00:50:34,832 --> 00:50:39,537 General Norman "Dutch" Cota is denied further promotions. 1074 00:50:39,637 --> 00:50:42,207 He's eventually pushed out of the military 1075 00:50:42,307 --> 00:50:44,442 due to failing health. 1076 00:50:44,542 --> 00:50:47,645 Lieutenant Paul Boesch survives the viciousness 1077 00:50:47,745 --> 00:50:49,347 of Hurtgen Forest. 1078 00:50:49,447 --> 00:50:51,782 His memoir and other written accounts 1079 00:50:51,882 --> 00:50:53,651 provides a tenuous connection 1080 00:50:53,751 --> 00:50:56,821 to this largely forgotten chapter of history. 1081 00:50:58,055 --> 00:51:00,591 - The entire history of the Second World War 1082 00:51:00,691 --> 00:51:02,327 has many omissions. 1083 00:51:02,427 --> 00:51:06,097 Hurtgen Forest is one of the most significant ones 1084 00:51:06,197 --> 00:51:09,100 and it should definitely be more studied 1085 00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:11,068 and more understood by everyone. 1086 00:51:12,303 --> 00:51:14,539 - For a lot of the men who came out of Hurtgen, 1087 00:51:14,639 --> 00:51:17,175 it impacted them for years afterwards, 1088 00:51:17,275 --> 00:51:20,010 where they would talk about the bursting trees. 1089 00:51:20,111 --> 00:51:22,447 They would talk about the mine fields, 1090 00:51:22,547 --> 00:51:24,715 or talk about losing a friend in Hurtgen. 1091 00:51:24,815 --> 00:51:26,217 Why is that important? 1092 00:51:26,317 --> 00:51:30,087 Why should we learn from this defeat of the US Army? 1093 00:51:32,290 --> 00:51:34,459 Look at the men who were on the ground. 1094 00:51:36,060 --> 00:51:37,295 I think it would shed a lot of light 1095 00:51:37,395 --> 00:51:41,866 on what warfare was like, how destructive it could be 1096 00:51:43,501 --> 00:51:45,170 and how, when you go into something 1097 00:51:45,270 --> 00:51:48,573 maybe with not as good a plan as you thought you had, 1098 00:51:48,673 --> 00:51:51,108 that it could have disastrous consequences. 1099 00:51:51,942 --> 00:51:54,545 (solemn music)