Zapotoczny Jr., Walter S. The 28th Infantry Division in the Hürtgen Forest

Forgotten Sacrifice

The five-month Battle of Hürtgen Forest (September 1944 February 1945) exacted a toll of more than 34,000 US Army casualtiesan enormous figure. Yet historians have rarely accorded it the attention it deserves, leading it to be frequently described as a "forgotten sacrifice." The reasons for this are obvious. Not only was it one of the bloodiest and most disastrous US campaigns of the war, but its strategic significance was also overshadowed on two fronts: first by Field Marshal Montgomerys Operation Market Gardenintended to pave the way for an advance into Germany through the capture of several Dutch bridgesand second by the surprise German offensive through the Ardennes in mid-December (the Battle of the Bulge). This hard-won and well-deserved Allied victory eclipsed the debacle unfolding less than twenty miles north of the Ardennes. The 28th Infantry Division bore the brunt of the fighting in Hürtgen Forest, suffering 6,840 casualtieskilled, wounded, and missing. Despite these losses, however, the division played a pivotal role in the broader Allied effort to drive back German forces in the region. Drawing on numerous eyewitness accounts, this book chronicles the story of what was arguably the most grueling and costly chapter of that massive undertaking.