The Battle of the Huertgen Forest

The Battle of the Huertgen Forest, first published in 1963 and written by Official Department of the Army Historian Charles B. MacDonald, recounts the story of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. In September 1944, three months after the invasion of Normandy, Allied armies prepared to push German forces back into their homeland. Just south of the Belgian city of Aachen, elements of the U.S. First Army began an advance through the nearly impenetrable Huertgen Forest. Instead of retreating, as the Allied command anticipated, the German troops prepared an elaborate defense of Huertgen, resulting in intense battles involving tanks, infantry, and artillery. The battle for the forest ended in December, when a sudden German offensive through the Ardennes to the south forced Allied armies to fall back, regroup, and start their attack again (“The Battle of the Bulge”), and which eventually culminated in the collapse of the Nazi regime in May 1945.

The Battle of the Huertgen Forest provides a well-documented overview of the disposition, strengths, and weaknesses of American and German forces, as well as personal vignettes from both officers and foot-soldiers. With a depth of knowledge based on his own combat experiences, MacDonald portrays the American and German troops with empathy and demonstrates flaws in the American strategy and how the costly battles of Huertgen Forest could have been avoided altogether.