All language subtitles for HITLERS LAST STAND - 3 - Forest of Death (2018)

December 1944.

U.S. Rangers capture a Nazi
stronghold on the German border.

But a series of counterattacks
and artillery tree bursts

leave just a handful of men
to defend their critical capture.

In their extreme vulnerability

the Rangers must consider
an unthinkable plan

to ward of the next attack.

It's that desperate.

They have to call the artillery
strike on their own position

and hope to survive.

On June 6th, 1944,

Allied forces finally land troops
in Normandy,

to open the Western Front.

But Nazi fanatics and diehards

continue to fight ruthlessly
for survival.

D-Day was a battle.

The Allies still need
to win the war.

December 7th, 1944.

Bergstein, Germany.

Members of the American
2nd Ranger Battalion

go behind enemy lines

to reconnoitre the German
stronghold of Hill 400.

As second in command,

Lieutenant Len Lomell
scouts for Dog Company.

The Rangers are not here to fight.

They creep through the darkness
to identify the German bunkers

and machine gun nests
they will need to capture,

when they launch their assault
on Hill 400 in the morning.

After the rapid collapse of Nazi
forces in France over the summer,

the fight moves towards
the German border.

In autumn 1944,

the entire situation

for the German soldier changes.

It's a first time now in this war
that he's fighting on home ground.

This is something that gives him
a new motivation to continue.

Adolph Hitler orders defenses
to be strengthened

along Germany's borderlands,

which run through
the Hurtgen Forest.

The Allies call the 390 mile
series of fortifications

the Siegfried Line.

By December 1944,

German forces have bogged down
the Allies in the Hurtgen Forest

for nearly three months,

and Allied armies have pushed
the Western Front

up to the German border

and to the base of Hill 400.

Hill 400 to some extent is the key
to the Hurtgen Forest.

The hill is a natural fortress.

Rocky, tree-covered and
45 degrees on its steepest slope.

To these natural defenses German
troops have added bunkers

and machine gun nests.

Holding the hill
permits its occupier

to observe troop movements
for miles around,

including the Cologne Plain.

If you get Hill 400,

you immediately can put
artillery observers atop that hill.

At that stage then you can
call down U.S. Artillery

upon any German movement
in the area.

Hill 400 emerges as this like,

solid gold real estate

that both sides understand
they have to have.

The Rangers now have orders
to seize the hill.

Lomell's scout is the first step.

He went up Hill 400 and scouted
out the different positions

and then was able to bring back
that crucial intelligence,

which helps shape the attack
on December 7th.

Lomell and the other scouts

slip into the town of Bergstein
at the base of the hill.

Just before 6 am,

Lomell's men of 2nd Ranger
Battalion's Dog Company,

prepare to jump-off.

We've got an MG on the left side.

And there's one on the right.

Most have arrived just in time
to move into the line.

The men have had little
or no sleep.

There's one right at the end
of the road.

Suppressing fire!

At 0600 hours the Rangers
charge from their positions.

They must fight their way through
Bergstein to their first objective.

As they move from the cellars

they're receiving incoming
artillery fire from the Germans

and men are being shredded
by these artillery shells.

They're also being sniped at.

American forces hold
just a sliver of the village.

They are surrounded
on three sides.

And they can easily be cut off
by the Germans

and annihilated.

The Germans wanted it back
at all costs.

They only need to advance
a few hundred yards,

but combat in built up areas
like towns is a challenge.

The walls provide shelter
to both sides.

It is also easy to get disoriented.

Urban combat is some
of the most difficult combat

that any soldier can encounter.

It's not a situation
where you're firing at somebody

a hundred yards away.

You're firing at them
at point blank range

and in many cases
it's hand to hand.

Move, move, move!

Men from Fox Company
join Dog Company,

as the American Rangers continue
to fight to the edge of town.

Medic! Medic!

The battle for Bergstein will rage

even after the attack
on the hill begins.

The Germans are relentless

in their attempts
to drive out U.S. Forces

and the Americans equally
determined to hang on.

Lomell and the two companies

finally close in
on their first objective.

They converge in front of the hill
in front of the field

and it's been described
as a sunken road

where there's a little bit of cover

from the defenders
on top of Hill 400

as well as the machine guns

that are arrayed
at the base of the hill.

Lomell has fought with many
of these men for a long time.

Six months earlier, on D-Day,

Lomell, along with
Staff Sergeant Jack Kuhn,

destroyed five of the Germans'
main artillery guns

at Utah and Omaha beaches.

Len was shot in the side

as he was scaling the cliff.

But despite this wound,
this gaping wound kept climbing

and completed the mission.

He fought through the maze
of fortifications on the top

and found the guns on top
of Pointe du Hoc

and disabled them
with thermite grenades.

This action had a profound
impact on D-Day,

saving countless lives.

Lomell would earn citations

from the American, British
and French governments.

Lomell now eyes
their next objective.

The U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion
must take Hill 400

and hold it for twenty-four hours,
until relieved.

By 0700,

120 men from Dog
and Fox Companies

have made it
to the base of the hill.

Between them and the treeline
is a field 100 yards wide.

The Rangers know once
they begin they cannot stop.

Cross an open field

under machine gun fire

from MG 42s,

what was called
Hitler's Bone Saw,

because it, it rattled off

over 1200 rounds per minute.

The entire field itself was mined

with bouncing Betty mines

and these are mines that,
that would shoot up into the air

and then detonate
around the area of your groin

and sever legs and body parts.

The odds were definitely stacked
against the Rangers

on December 7th.

German artillery and mortars begin
targeting the Rangers' position.

The first shells fall 75 yards
behind the Americans.

The German gunners fine tune.

The shells start to drop closer.

Meanwhile, U.S. artillery responds

and shells German positions
in the treeline.

Basically what's known as a rolling
barrage or a creeping barrage.

This is American artillery
that's creeping in front of

the Rangers.

As the German shells drop closer

to Dog and Fox companies
from behind,

the Rangers are pinned between
the two artillery barrages.

Among the artillery weapons
aimed at the Rangers

is the Nebelwerfer 41.

The German rocket launcher
fires five point nine inch shells.

Each salvo fires six rockets
one second apart.

Concussive force alone can kill,

even if the high explosive
fragments miss.

As the rockets close in
on the American Rangers,

an unexpected order is given.

These are very
battle hardened troops

but somehow in the mix of this

there was a unseasoned,
untrained officer

that ordered a scout to go out

and reconnoiter the field.

Fox Company's Sergeant
Herman Stein

is one of several Ranger NCO's
to question the order

given to one of the enlisted men.

And they universally said,

"Don't go out there. Don't go."

They said it several times

and they tried to stop
the man from going.

Stein and the others

knew the order meant
certain death for whoever went.

Can the weight of their experience
force the officer to back down?

No. Don't go!

December 1944.

The American
2nd Ranger Battalion

prepares to attack a key position.

They must take Hill 400, which
overlooks the town of Bergstein

just inside the German border.

As they wait to jump off,

a newly assigned officer orders
a man to scout the field out front.

The non-commissioned officers
argue it is too dangerous.

The officer then looked at the man

and said this is a direct order,
go out into the field.

And he actually did,

and as he went into the field
he was shot in the gut.

What might have triggered
a court martial in another unit,

is a hallmark
of the 2nd Ranger psyche.

In 1942 the United States

didn't have special operation
forces or commandos.

The Rangers were a new thing.

They were all volunteers

and they had
a very tough weed out process.

These men had to march
and climb and shoot and fight.

Very few people

were able to make it through
the actual training.

It moulded men who could think
outside the box,

question orders
and take initiative

if they thought it was in the best
interest of the mission.

That mindset would prompt

Fox Company Sergeant
William McHugh to action.

McHugh realizes that the
German mortars are closing in

and would strike them
before their jump off time.

Sergeant McHugh shouts:
"Let's get the bastards!"

And then he raises
his tommy gun over his head

and they charge across the field.

And it's been described
as like a tsunami.

A band of screaming,
shooting Rangers

descending on these
German machine gun nests

crossing this open field.

McHugh spurs
Dog and Fox Company

to charge straight towards
the German guns.

Because they jumped off early,

some of the incoming artillery
they dodge is American.

There's a real danger

of being hit by their own
friendly fire from this artillery,

but the fact that they leave
only a few minutes early

saves many of their lives.

Men were being hit by the artillery,
by the German bullets

and then even by mines
as they're crossing the field.

They didn't have chance
to look back

or even help anybody,
they were just moving forward.

Standing in the Rangers' way

is a regiment of the 272nd
Volksgrenadier Division,

commanded
by Captain Adolf Thomae.

The Volksgrenadier Divisions
are formed

after the assassination attempt
on Adolf Hitler

by senior officers in July 1944.

The idea behind
the Volksgrenadier Divisions,

you can already see
this in the name Volks,

which means people

kind of grass root formation

inspired with Nazi ideology,

with a belief of one community

serving for a common cause.

As Germany grapples
with manpower shortages

older men and teenaged boys

are conscripted from civilian life

to form a replacement army
loyal to Hitler.

Members of the Luftwaffe
and Kreigsmarine

report for combat service.

Injured soldiers
also return to the lines, faster.

Heinrich Himmler

mobilizes forty-nine
new Volksgrenadier Divisions

in about eight weeks.

Himmler ensures
that they are well armed,

but hurries them into battle.

While overall results
have been mixed,

the 272nd has fought well
in the Hurtgen Forest.

At Thomae's disposal

are 36 pieces
of direct artillery support.

Just that morning, his troops
had planned to retake Bergstein.

But the U.S. Rangers
were the first ones to attack

and this puts Thomae very quickly
into a defensive position.

The Rangers' premature attack

gives them a slight advantage
over the Volksgrenadier.

The artillery is actually coming
in right as they're crossing

and it keeps the German's
machine gunner's heads down.

The Rangers who make it
across the field

capture the German
outer positions.

The Germans that are overrun

are either bayonetted
in many cases

or they're fleeing for their lives

up the top of Hill 400.

The U.S. Rangers press on.

Speed and surprise
add to their arsenal.

Both Allied and German artillery

continue to fall
on the base of the hill.

The Rangers have no choice

but to continue to the next line
of German defenses.

Fighting is heavy

as two companies of the
American 2nd Ranger Battalion

charge up Hill 400,
a stronghold on Germany's border.

Rangers try to clear
German bunkers

and machine gun nests
as they move uphill.

This is close quarters combat.
This is personal.

In some cases it's directly
hand to hand fighting.

With bayonets and knives.
Pistols.

That's the level of intensity

that these men had to go through
just to get up that hill.

Lieutenant Len Lomell, second
in command of Dog Company,

is amongst the first Rangers
to reach the summit.

Others quickly catch up.

Their ascent
has taken less an hour.

Members of Fox Company
use grenades and gunfire

to force the surrender
of the German hilltop bunker.

By 0830 the Rangers
have claimed Hill 400.

To that point in the war,

it is one of the deepest
incursions into Germany

by U.S. or other Western Allies.

These men were all running
on adrenaline.

Their nerves were taunt

from the charge itself.

The artillery that was falling,
the close in combat.

Get these bodies outta here
right now.

They get to the top of the hill
that was an exhilarating feeling.

That's what they told me.

The capture of Hill 400
is a remarkable achievement.

But it was just the beginning.

Lieutenant Lomell
orders the Rangers to dig in.

On the exposed hillside
security is elusive.

The only real refuge that they had
was the command bunker,

an observation bunker
on the top of Hill 400.

Some Rangers take shelter

in positions captured
from the Germans,

but that is not always possible.

The German fox holes that were
facing the American lines,

they weren't facing the sides
or flanks of the hill

where the Germans
were going to be coming from.

New fox holes prove difficult
to dig in the rocky soil.

The ground is frozen solid.

They're barely able
to claw through it

and some of the men
actually use their fingernails

and they're bloody
as they claw through the dirt

the best they can
to dig this shallow hole

with their trench knives
and their bayonets.

Anything that they can to just
get a little semblance of cover.

Fox holes are a critical
perimeter defense

against the inevitable
German counterattack.

German doctrine very much
cherishes the idea

of offensive action.

So even if you lose a position,

you are supposed to attack,

counterattack,
as quickly as possible.

German high command
considers Hill 400

to be of vital importance
for a top secret reason.

Seventeen German divisions,
totaling over 200,000 men,

amass in the nearby
Ardennes Forest.

Hitler has been planning
a surprise offensive

in a bid to turn the tide of war.

Their leaders go to great effort

to conceal the build up
from Allied reconnaissance.

If the Americans sit on Hill 400,

they can spot German
assembly areas in the rear.

Captain Adolf Thomae
receives a battalion

of the 6th Fallschirmjager
Regiment,

an elite group of paratroopers
as reinforcements.

Generalfeldmarschall
Walter Model

offers Thomae's men
an added incentive.

Field Marshal Model
promises the German unit,

re-seizing Hill 400,

an Iron Cross for each individual
soldier and a seven-day leave.

Having pre-ranged all of the
positions on the hill with his guns,

Thomae begins to shell
the Rangers.

When the Germans
attack Hill 400,

the infantry attacks
along the slopes towards the hill

and the German artillery
is putting fire

onto the U.S. soldiers
sitting on top of the mountain.

So there is a danger
that German shells

will also kill German infantry men.

The Artillery proves persistent.

This is every minute.

This is every hour.

It's coming in.

And there's no place
to run or hide

and it's random death
from above.

Along with standard
artillery rounds,

part of Thomae's strategy
is to create tree bursts.

The Hurtgen Forest
had conifer trees

that were over a hundred feet
high in some places

and the Germans designed
their artillery barrages

to strike above the canopy

so that not only would
deadly shrapnel

rain down on the Americans,

but also splinters
that were razor sharp

that could slice through the body.

Standard Allied training
was to drop to the ground

in the face of incoming artilery.

During a tree burst,
such a move would prove fatal.

Soldiers had to overcome
their instincts and stay upright

to let their helmets protect them.

If there was a tree nearby
they'd actually hug the tree

because it would prevent
the shrapnel

and splinters from the wood
wouldn't be able to hit them.

As the Germans
start to counterattack

Lieutenant Len Lomell
and his fellow Rangers

are dangerously exposed.

Captain Adolf Thomae rallies
more than 100 German troops

against the American
2nd Ranger Battalion

who have just captured Hill 400.

The German Volksgrenadier
and the Fallschirmjager

attack in small groups.

The result is brutal,
close in fighting.

The Volksgrenadiers possess
an extremely effective weapon

for this kind of battle.

The MP-44.

The world's first assault rifle.

Equipped with a thirty-round
magazine,

the gun can switch
from single-shot to rapid fire,

with the flick of a lever.

The MP-44 has an effective range
of 164 yards

in the full-automatic position.

And 437 yards
in single-shot mode.

Armed with both MP-44's
and its precursor, the MP-40,

some German forces
approach a location

defended by Dog Company
Sergeant, Ed Secor.

When the Germans counterattack,

they are not running
into open fire,

they're trying to infiltrate
the enemy positions

and try to circumvent
the strong points.

Secor and a private
had secured good coverage.

Sergeant Secor was positioned
under an overhanging boulder

in a shallow fox hole.

But a German bullet renders
Secor's weapon inoperable.

In response, the usually
mild mannered Secor

charges out to recover guns from
dead German soldiers nearby.

He immediately grabbed

two MP40 machine pistols

and then with both hands

fired into the mass
of oncoming Germans.

When they are empty

he then pulls out his pistol
and continues to fire.

Sergeant Secor's daring actions
thwart the German counterattack.

Captain Thomae and his men
retreat to regroup and try again.

During the German attack,

Lieutenant Len Lommel's
hand is injured by shrapnel.

Despite his own wound,

he must devise a defensive
strategy for the Rangers,

now down to about
40 able-bodied men,

he has Herm Stein
from Fox Company

bring his men closer
to Dog Company.

He also needs more information.

Len Lomell really
understood reconnaissance

so he sent out two man scouts

to sort of probe
portions of the hill

to find out where the enemy was.

So many of the Ranger radios
have been damaged.

Communication is difficult.

It was hand signals

or a runner would run up

to a position
and say what is going on.

In response, Lomell then
has the Rangers concentrate

in front of the German build up,

so they can meet the attack
with full force.

When Captain Thomae
leads his troops back up the hill,

Lomell, Stein and their fellow
Rangers are ready for them.

The Germans, however,
do not attack on a single front.

They probe the Ranger line
for weaknesses.

Lomell counters
by constantly shifting his men.

This is a situation
of very scarce resources.

The resource being
the GI or Ranger.

So they had to be very smart
at how they defended the hill

and that's what they did,

they moved his men around
according to the threat.

Lomell's mobile tactics
lead the Germans to believe

that the Rangers
occupy the hill in great numbers.

Had the Germans realized,

they could have easily
overwhelmed the American forces.

But as the Rangers repel the
second German counterattack,

they suffer further casualties.

Just after 1600 hours

Lomell sends a message
to his superiors in Bergstein,

that he's down to 25 men,

who remain surrounded
by German troops.

It is like king of the castle.

They're holding a perimeter
on the top of the hill.

The Rangers bring the wounded
they can reach,

to the observation bunker
at the crest of Hill 400.

And that becomes
the field hospital.

They don't have any real medical
equipment or anything like that.

They just have some bandages

if they're lucky they might
even have a morphine syrette

but that's scarce, too.

There's very little
in terms of medical supplies.

But many others lay out of reach

and remain exposed
to incoming shrapnel.

In daylight there was no way
for the Rangers

to evacuate their casualties.

If they had to bring
a wounded man down

they had to fight their way
down the hill.

The injured and dying Rangers
call out.

Help me!

Help me!

Finally, Lomell can't take
their cries any longer.

Len felt completely helpless
on that front,

and then he felt helpless
by the men

that were dying in the bunker.

And there was a real question
whether or not

they were going to be able
to hold out, I mean...

The whole hill was about
to be overrun at any moment.

Gather round.

I suggest that we leave.

Lomell proposes the unthinkable.

That the Rangers
abandon Hill 400.

After a series of German
counterattacks to retake Hill 400

Lieutenant Len Lomell
proposes a shocking plan

to the remaining members
of two U.S. Ranger Companies.

Desperate to help his injured men,

he suggests handing Hill 400
back to the Germans.

There was a real question

whether or not they had
enough men to hold that hill,

because of the constant artillery
and the counterattacks

and it was at this point
that he was

proposing a solution
to save his men.

Lomell explains based
on his experience,

the Germans would care
for the American wounded

if they surrendered the hill.

His willingness to do so
was an insight

into how bad the battle
was becoming

and how slim a chance
some of these guys had

of surviving their wounds.

It's an indicator into what kind
of crisis you're dealing with

at Hill 400.

Lomell believes it will be
the fastest way

to get Ranger casualties
treatment

and save the lives of the dying.

In World War II, American
and German soldiers generally,

treat each other's wounded
and prisoners

according
to the Geneva Convention.

German soldiers captured
by American and Western Allies

had a death rate
of less than one percent.

While four percent of U.S. soldiers
died in German captivity.

Relatively low numbers
by wartime standards.

But...

That would only be the case after
the intensive combat had ebbed.

If the hill fell in heavy combat,

the wounded would likely
be overrun, as well.

Lomell was at an inflection point
in the battle.

The men or the mission

and he floated the idea,

do we move off the hill

and leave the wounded

so that the German medics
can tend to them.

So, what do you think?

The Ranger response
is unanimous.

It's a no.

No. Absolutely not, no.

I say we stay, too.

They are outnumbered
and the wounded vulnerable,

but to abandon the hill,

would mean their sacrifices
have been in vain.

All right.

We'll stay.

At 1652 Lomell
sends an urgent call

to his superiors in Bergstein,

the town below the hill,
for reinforcements.

Another German counterattack

tries to break
the remaining Rangers.

The Americans hold them off

in hand to hand fighting
with fixed bayonets.

The forest is so black.

You're not able to see somebody
unless they're right on top of you

and it's close in and intimate

because you are face to face
with the enemy.

A platoon of reinforcements from
the 2nd Rangers' Easy Company

finally arrives
from the village below.

-It's good to see you.
-Good to see you, Sir.

And help Dog
and Fox Companies

fight off the next
German counterattack.

Move!

You all right?

Lomell sustains another injury,
this time in his upper thigh.

And is now one of the many
Ranger casualties

who needs medical care.

They hope that some can be
evacuated under the cover of dark.

Rangers from Charlie and Dog
Company's Mortar Battalion

climb the hill with litters
for the wounded.

The stretcher bearers
work silently.

German troops continue
to occupy the slopes.

And just picture the dead weight

of a wounded man on a stretcher

and you've gotta somehow
haul this person down.

It's a broken hill with tree roots
all over the place

and it's so easy to trip

or get caught by the enemy.

It's extremely perilous.

Though wounded,

Lomell oversees the evacuation
of the Ranger casualties.

At 2140 hours,

he is amongst the last of injured
to leave Hill 400.

Lomell was losing a lot of blood.

His finger was dangling
from his tendon.

He did not want to leave his men

but his wounds
basically forced him off the hill.

Sergeant Herm Stein is now
in charge of Fox Company.

The night is broken
by periodic shells and sniper fire.

If the few dozen Rangers
survive until morning,

they know that another German
counterattack will surely come.

The 2nd Ranger Battalion,

has kept Hill 400
out of German hands

for much
of December 7th, 1944.

And by 1700 hours
on December 8th,

they've withstood
two more counterattacks

coming from three sides
of the hill.

Hill 400, you can't think of it

as oh here's the Americans
controlling the whole hill.

It's more like,
here's a handful of guys

in little clumps here and there
on that hill

who control the ground
they stand on, kind of,

controlling the entry points,

the exit points, controlling
an area 30 yards away.

That's problematic.

Another heavy artillery
bombardment begins,

sign that the next counterattack
is imminent.

Sergeant Herm Stein
of Fox Company

endures the bombardment.

With an assortment of weapons
at the ready,

the Rangers
who remain on the hill

keep the weapons
of the killed and wounded.

And collect those abandoned
by the Germans

to prevent running out
of ammunition.

It's risky.

There's a real danger with using
captured German weapons

because they make
a distinct sound

and if you're
an American combatant,

hearing a German weapon,

you could potentially think it's
a German firing that weapon

and fire upon your own men.

As the artillery eases,
150 German troops

under the command of Captain
Adolph Thomae charge the hill.

The fifth counterattack
is the strongest yet.

German troops advance

to within 30 yards
of the observation bunker

on the top of the hill.

The Ranger numbers
continue to dwindle.

They resort to desperate
measures to hold their position.

They call in artillery support
virtually onto the hill top.

It's that desperate.

They have to call the artillery
strike on their own position

and hope to survive.

Blow!

It's a system the Rangers
have a lot of confidence in.

By December 1944,

US artillery is amongst
the best in the world,

very sophisticated forward
observation,

communications equipment,
accuracy.

It certainly is better
and available in more quantity

than German artillery.

American artillery rings
the Rangers' positions.

While dangerous for the Rangers,
it achieves the desired objective.

Many Germans are killed.

Those that are not
are forced to retreat.

But the battle still exacts its toll
from the Rangers.

Even with the reinforcements
from Easy Company

the Rangers are now down
to 22 able-bodied men.

Lieutenant Kinnard

went directly to the
commanding officer at Corps

to beg for reinforcements.

They're now,
it's way past 24 hours.

Corps comes back and says you
must hold that hill at all costs,

and he goes back
and reports back

that the reinforcements
weren't going to arrive.

Even worse, they start to run
critically low on ammunition.

As a second night falls, the
remaining Rangers dig in again.

What happens to most people

is that you don't think about
death or life.

You just think you're going to die
anyways, so it doesn't matter.

And I think that's what
a lot of those Rangers felt.

Then out of the darkness,
a relief force finally arrives.

A battalion from the U.S. 13th
Infantry, 8th Division, ascends.

Originally tasked to hold Hill 400
for 24 hours,

the Rangers have survived 40.

It was all about the collective
sacrifice that they had made

and all the men that had died
prior to that point in time.

They were, just said no.

Absolutely not.
We will not give an inch.

We will hold this hill.

At 2230 hours,

Sergeant Herm Stein
is one of the last Rangers

to walk off Hill 400.

In taking and holding the position,

the 2nd Rangers
suffer 23 men killed,

and 106 wounded,

four are missing in action.

450 German troops are killed

and 64 taken prisoner.

German Captain Adolf Thomae

would receive
the Knight's Cross

for his defense of Bergstein

and repeated attempts
to reclaim the hill.

Herm Stein,
from Ranger's Fox Company,

is later awarded
the Distinguished Service Cross,

for extraordinary heroism
on December 7th,

and serves out the rest of the war.

Len Lomell also survives the war

and was presented
with the Silver Star

for his heroic leadership
on Hill 400.

And I think in some ways
it represents

like the gold standard
of who we are as Americans.

These are individuals that are
willing to sacrifice their lives

for something larger
than themselves.

It's pretty extraordinary.

While Hill 400

is one of the deepest
penetrations into Germany

by American or British forces
to that point in the war,

the Allies fail to capitalize.

Depleted troops
cannot advance further

and do not discover
the massive German build up

in the Ardennes Forest.

Maybe the best term is that they
are now combat ineffective.

When you suffer thirty-three
thousand casualties

in the space of five weeks or so

and almost all them concentrated
in the rifle companies

among the forward
leaning combat troops,

this is definitely going
to have an effect.

So in most of those companies

you are talking about anything

from a fifty to a hundred percent
casualty rate,

and especially among the officers.

The Germans are able
to slow down significantly

the Allied advance
in the Hurtgen Forest.

However, at the same time

the Germans also suffer
drastically in these battles

and these are casualties that
Germans actually cannot afford.

Only eight days later,
on December 16th, 1944,

Germany launches its last major
offensive of the war,

which would come
to be known by the Allies as:

the Battle of the Bulge.

The Germans want to drive
a wedge between the Allies,

between the Americans
and the British.

Hitler's Army would take them
completely by surprise

and effectively end the fighting
in the Hurtgen Forest.

The Battle of the Bulge would
prove to be one of the largest

and bloodiest battles fought
by the U.S. during World War II.

The setbacks suffered

mean the war in Europe
will last another six months.