Thousands of soldiers were killed in the last battles of World War II. US troops who fought in the Hürtgen Forest nicknamed it the “Death Factory.” This documentary features original film from US archives that bring the battle back to life.
It’s estimated that as many as 30 thousand US and German soldiers were killed in fighting in the northern Eifel region of Germany in the autumn and winter of 1944 and 1945. Traces of the battle – old bunkers, munitions, trenches and tank tracks – are still visible even today. The scarred landscape bears witness to a little-known chapter of World War Two. The “Hürtgen Forest” was the last obstacle standing between US forces and the Rhine River and Ruhr. Yet the decision to advance into the thick forest in September 1944 proved to be a fatal mistake. The Americans completely miscalculated North Eifel region’s rugged terrain. They became disoriented in an area the German forces, the Wehrmacht, had crisscrossed with trenches and peppered with anti-personnel mines, making the wood into a veritable fortress. Continual rain and fog, followed by snow and frigid temperatures, turned the battle into a scene of dystopian butchery. Author Ernest Hemingway spent 18 days on the front in the Hürtgen Forest. He wrote later, “It was a place where it was extremely difficult for a man to stay alive even if all he did was be there.”
This documentary reconstructs the stages of the battle using commentary from survivors of the clash. Among them are the well-known US photographer Tony Vaccaro, US Army veteran James K. Cullen and former Wehrmacht soldier Paul Verbeek. In addition, Hürtgen Forest residents tell of the legacy of the battle, including the threat posed by countless unexploded munitions left in the ground 75 years after the conflict in Europe ended.
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Just to think if German, American, or Brit, to die in the final stages of ww2 when the war is as good as over, how you would feel as an American or German parent or romantic couple here when the war is decided and now you will never see them again. My mother-in-law lost her boyfriend and boy it does you no good at all. I think of Britain in ww1 when so many wonderful people were senselessly sacrificed on the war alter. How this must make others watching us from the outside our world what chance they give us when Russia is saying complete bunk about removing an American city. Do they think anything at all would be left of Moscow? They think their population could hide in the subway. What happens next winter when it gets cold and their are no homes. More deaths than ww1 or ww2 by far. A time of starvation and freezing never to waken again. Rediculous.
My uncle, Alexander Easton, Pfc in the 28th Infantry Division, was killed in November, 1944, in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. He was born in Gillespie, Illinois, and was survived by his wife, Marie. I was able to visit his grave in the American Cemetery near Liege, Belgium, a few years ago, and leave flowers on his grave. I was only a year and a half old when he died, and only remember seeing him once or twice.
Stuff like raising a flag durning a world war say's enough and shouldn't have to say anything about why the war is even going on. Look at us
Karola Fings- needs to state what exactly would be acceptable to her. What does she want? If she thinks there’s ‘not enough documentation’ I’d seriously question her intellect. No, she is annoyed at something else and expects others to read her mind. Perhaps she thinks her nation’s soldiers should not be commemorated, they should be dumped in a mass grave? We will never know because of Ms. Fings’ passive aggressive statements do not give us any basis to solve her problem. She seems like a real sourpuss
Goebels is very similar to your government to the last. They would rather destroy their own country rather than give in to save their own people. This is a different kind of war but with the same outcome. The people lose and the winners are influence and money.
God Bless OUR BOYS! USA
Excellent and comprehensive documentary. Thank you for recording this.
Wow! Just, wow.
As an American I agree with that teacher. No one should be replaying war battles in the forest! Personally I think it’s disrespectful on all levels. We are all humans and should be all friends at this point.
Thousands of lives could be saved if the Allied High Command chose to encircle the Hurtgen Forest instead of sending troops through…
Letting world war 2 sink in a minute ..scary stuff ..cant imagine being there..can americans go there now ??
The older I get, the more recent WWII seems.
All because some people listened to a mass murderer. Just like now that some are listening to Putin.
this is the history of humanity
the massive military movements of war make life impossible for anyone
worse, in the past, resupply meant stripping the land and families of their stored supplies which would have supported their own lives
war meant many many more than soldiers dies, often in the following winter
and now xi thinks i will make my name i will expand my territory i will RULE THE WORLD
good luck it wil be a terrifyingly sad experience for all
in retrospect it is so clear, better the western democracies than the bolsheviks
what might we be missing today?
improvements are not clear
then – kill any not-us
now (replacements from middle east) kill any not-us
when will it change? the cycle of tragedy continues
if only we could have known the cost of those western battles
every western european killed was another russian mile into germany
they did everything in their power to prevent western democracy from winning
and they succeeded east germans can thank them today
then three generations later they would do the same thing,
mobilize opposition to western democracy
seccumb to any enemy no matter how brutal and terrifying and anti-democratic
nice job where is europe now and why why why is the hun so anti-democratic across the generations?
The photographer at the end is 100% right. We’re all humans. One love 💕 #humans
5:49…
“I take a critical view”. Says he who never fought there. Doesn’t like people who are just trying to cope with the war they had to fight. He can take his critical view on down the road.
the book "the road to the hurtgen forest" by Lt Boeche was really good for anyone wanting to know what an infantry man felt thought saw experienced during this battle
Both armies fought bravely with conviction.
Sadly now the Germans of today are cowards and have been de-sexed by Merkel's pseudo-sciece 'renewable' energy policy which made Germany keep sucking Pootin's member for energy….bad taste!
Merkel a physicist doctorate? Must have also been bogus.
I really don't care how nazis felt about being bombed
Amazing documentary I was mesmerized
Nationality is just another bankrupt idea making people kill one another. Like the last interviewee stated, only when everyone speaks the same language and feels part of the same species, will we be able to say we're in a paradise of great beauty.
While stationed in Baumholder, Germany from 2002-2007 I visited various battlefields while there and the Hurtgen forest was an eery place to visit. It’s very quiet there, you don’t hear many birds and it’s clear that a lot of fighting took place. As an Infantryman, I can recognize fighting positions and impact craters. The Germans used artillery shells with air burst fuses which made the shell explode near tree height sending the shrapnel downwards from above and sadly, it was very effective. The Germans would mix up the fuses so some would detonate a couple seconds after burrowing a couple feet into the forest floor which would heave the dirt and make huge craters.
I spoke with both American and German Veterans about the war and learned a lot of things you won’t find in history books. When the jewish council publicly proclaimed “Germany must perish” in 1933, they weren’t kidding.
Mr. Vaccaro seems to have been an amazing human being!
Would they have left tinned food if they won the war.
i still don t like when i hear the opinion of these Fake Germans not supporting their own soldiers, fighting for there own country and most did not know about kamps and such. Probably these fake germans do have a Canandese or a Russian or Us father.
If only Tony Vaccaro's words at the end of this film could be an epitaph for war – before this barbarism becomes ours as humans.
WHO CARES IF THEY PLAY ??
No matter how bad wwII was. Ukraine today is worse..