The Bloody Battle of the Hürtgen Forest | The American Meat Grinder

We find ourselves in the Hurtgen Forest in mid-September 1944. While Montgomery was launching one of his most ambitious operations in the Netherlands known as Market Garden, the Americans began further south one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles in the world. western front. This battle would be fought for a total of 4 months, and would cause some 50,000 casualties in the US army. This even caused the battle to be known to Americans as the meat grinder. Next in this program we are going to analyze how this battle developed.
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[@waracademy128]

👉👉Do you want to support the channel? You just have to watch another video. This will help You Tube to recommend them more to new users. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🔴📣Other videos of interest: - ✅This was the Most Effective Miracle Weapon (Wunderwaffe) of the Third Reich: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqnEl3yImMqomqs

[@PurpleCat9794]

Another brilliant defensive victory by Walter Model and his troops.

[@bevinboulder5039]

I had never heard of this battle until I discovered your channel and Dr. Mark Felton's. You have both increased my knowledge of WWII exponentially in your well researched and presented videos. I thank you very much for this.

[@xkshottzz5578]

What happened to the US in the Hurtgen Forrest was probably the reason that the US left Berlin to the Soviets

[@JDDC-tq7qm]

Americans are less hungry than the Soviets

[@robertonavarro7713]

Gen. Eisenhower did not allow Gen. Patton to beat the Soviets to Berlin. Eisenhower was more a political officer than a military one. IMO, that was a big blunder on the allied (US & UK) side.

[@xkshottzz5578]

@@robertonavarro7713 The losses sustained in the Hurtgen Forest were unacceptable for the US military and public alike. An attack on Berlin would of been just as costly, if not more so. The Russians were more willing and able to send their troops into the meat grinder that Berlin turned into.

[@franc9111]

It had already been decided between the politicians and the Allied military leaders that the Red Army would take Berlin. Stalin had always insisted on that and was becoming increasingly suspicious and paranoid that the Americans and the British wouldn't keep their side of the bargain. He was also unhappy about how the Nazis were trying at the last minute to play the British and Americans off against the Soviets. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I still wonder why the Americans didn't just surround the Forest and let the Air Force carpet-bomb the Nazi tanks and troops stuck in there into oblivion.

[@pko_2.0_pop7]

​​@@xkshottzz5578 yeah, even though US and Soviet soldier had met at the Elbe River prior to the Berlin events. Should have make a deal and went together since they already established their friendship there

[@nzmonsterman]

I think the end comments are spot on. Well done. Great video and a very hard fought series of battles.

[@waracademy128]

ty

[@nordicson2835]

I guess the axiom , " Never underestimate your enemy"... and even more so, when they are defending their homeland.

[@opoxious1592]

I wonder how long the war would have lasted, if all German troops for the battle of the Bulge were used strictly for the defense of the Hurtgen forest. I thought this was also what "Model" wanted to do initially until Hitler offcourse decided otherwise Keep fighting a defensive war at this part of the front with all German troops, in an attempt to bleed the Allies out, and stall them al long as possible This would also give the Germans time to train and deploy even more troops, and enabled them to protect the Ruhr industrial area to keep full production of weapons and ammo going. But i don't know for sure if this is correct information. What i know is that every important and able officer like "Model" rejected this idea to go on the offensive.

[@lonepine1970]

Better off sending them east

[@robertonavarro7713]

Good thing for the allies the Corporal outranked the general field marshal. Model was a brilliant defensive general.

[@xkshottzz5578]

The Hurtgen Forrest was a proper meat grinder. Great video, you have a new subscriber

[@waracademy128]

Ty

[@tkoking420]

One of my favourite channels on KZbin

[@waracademy128]

Ty

[@ElizabethII-1952]

I remind Americans of this disaster whenever they bring up Operation Market Garden

[@Venezolano410]

55, 000 US casualties. 😁👍

[@robertonavarro7713]

@@Venezolano410 What? You mean more than Normandy?

[@joeguzman3558]

By 1944 the German military were using younger soldiers mixed with older more experienced ones the result is the young ones were more eager to fight and have more energy and take more chances the more experienced ones knew how to fight more effectively and in their Land in the dark forest.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Most wonderful introduces of Hurtgen forest battles... Field American commanders underestimate German resistance upon their fathers' land & US Field commanders harvested too many casualties with many slow 🐌 advantages that proven their underestimated was wrong evaluation. Many history records were labeled to difficulties without such details explained in this video shared by excellent, respective & accurate acknowledge( War Academy) channel.. for that too much, thank

[@patrickcalabro8718]

Pennsylvania National Guardsmen under George Washington attacked the barracks at Trenton. Pennsylvania Cavalry under General Meade broke up Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg!

[@joangratzer2101]

BRADLEYS SCREW UP; THE BATTLE NEED NOT HAVE BEEN FOUGHT.

[@patrickcalabro8718]

The Hurtgen Forest is commonly known as The Black Forest. It is part of The Ardennes but the trees grow closer together and wrap around each other. Also, the same kind of hedgerows like the ones in Normandy had to be conquered here. But this time in snow and sub- freezing conditions! You see tanks climbing through. The Germans made this area part of the Seigfried Line. American and English Bombing raids could not stop Hitler's underground tank production in the Ruhr Basin. Actual breakthrough was made by Pennsylvania National Guardsmen of The 28th Infantry Division! These American Soldiers were basically coal miners and used to cold Pennsylvania winters. Of the 170 Guardsmen who went into the woods, only 20 walked out!

[@thenevadadesertrat2713]

Black Forest? Nonsense. That forest is much farther south.

[@jean6872]

Poor leadership is infuriating to watch.

[@pko_2.0_pop7]

So basically, the Western Front version of Battle of Narva (1944). Meanwhile on the other side, at Eastern Front, there was also a meat grinder at Narva that was well-defended by the Germany & Estonia against the Soviet

[@JosipRadnik1]

If you enjoy great superiority in tanks and airplanes - what battleground do you choose? open flat terrain with wide roads and high visibility or a web of hills with narrow valleys, steep, narrow tracks and lots of dark woods that cover everything? 🤔

[@asdbagdadalubaidey1342]

You can see this meat grinder in when trumps fade movie

[@brendonbre8745]

What happened to the forest? The forest is small and thin in the satellite imagery, Did the germans cut it down at the end of the war?

[@opoxious1592]

I think a large part of the forest was destroyed due the fearsome batttle that took place. I think what we see on the sattelite image are the remnants of the forest.

[@brendonbre8745]

@@opoxious1592 maybe the forest destruction is what allowed the allies to steamroll through in feb 1945?

[@opoxious1592]

@@brendonbre8745 No, i think not. All the troops that were used in the "Battle of the Bulge", should have been used for the defense of Germany. When those troops were lost (250.000 men, tanks, guns etc), that basically took away the oppertunity to build up a considerable defefense (in my opinion) Having that said, the war would go on untill May 1945, were the battles between the Allies and Gemany would be ferocious untill the very last day of the war. inflicting terrible losses on both sides.

[@brendonbre8745]

@@opoxious1592 maybe the germans thought the german troops stationed in the newly captured territories in the ardennes would be able to mount as good a defence in these newly captured areas of the ardennes as in the area of hurtgruten, since the terrain is very similar, hence any defence of hurtgruten would've been pointless?

[@opoxious1592]

@@brendonbre8745 Unfortunally i couldn't give you an answer to that. One thing i do know was that Model, the German Field Marshall strongly adviced Hitler not to go in the offensive. But to use all the troops instead for a "In depth" defense. I also think that the Germans could have been able to fight for much longer if they would have fought a defensive war at that time in this particuair area. I think that would enable the Germans to inflict such heavy losses to the Americans and other Allies (like they already did in the Hurtgenforest), that in the best scenario the Americans could be (maybe) forced into a stalemate. That would give Germany a much bigger oppertunity for a cease fire, and negotiations about a surrender on German terms instead of an unconditional surrender dictated by the Allies. But again, this is just me speculating.

[@johnsamuels4038]

Like the background music very much.

[@scotttyson7970]

All the reading,and having the priceless gift of growing up It Eastern N.C.U.S.A. in between Marine Braces Air force Bases,Coast Guard Braces,I got to listen to alot of WW2First hand story's.And One of them was how scary that Hurtgan Forrest was.evan without SS troupers shooting at you.They were young and scared,not getting any sleep will drive anybody crazy

[@antoniasorianoperez2746]

Good history Channel

[@johnparsons1573]

Another awesome video

[@jpmtlhead39]

Like on the Rzhev salient..!!! Man,in Rzhev there were Hundreds of thousands of troops fighting till death in -20 celsious. A common Eastern Front affair.

[@outlet6989]

It would have been a cakewalk if the army had a few thousand Audie Murphys.

[@alexanderflo1554]

talk about the war crime bombing of Düren andJülich ,16 November 44

[@raymondmoore2707]

A bad place to find your self.

[@Shergill2525]

Model the lion 🦁

[@KangarooDude69]

first

[@AndyNE1979]

"We fought the wrong enemy"

[@danielnavarro537]

We did not. Nazism was the enemy. Communism would be the next enemy and it would destroy itself inside out.

[@charlesbullghost5491]

I actually heard the nazi Germany soldiers commanders had two walking war machines during this fierce fighting battlefield! Inspired the star wars director George Lucas to use the two walking machines in the empire strikes back movie later. Looked very ironic the same kind of nazi machines the nazi war steel machines! My information for today. Have a great fabulous wonderful day.

[@CLARKE176]

Compared to costly battles like Stalingrad, the Somme, Rzhev, Passchendaele, Verdun etc which cost the allies 100s of thousands of casualties, this battle wouldn’t be considered a meat grinder. Yes it was bloody and terrible but doesn’t apply as a meat grinder, compared to the bombing campaign against Britain in 1940/41 where about 150,000 casualties were suffered on the allied side. The real meat grinders were on the Eastern Front where both Axis and Allied losses utterly dwarfed those on the western front.

[@arym1108]

There are varying scales of meet grinder

[@CLARKE176]

@@arym1108 This battle wasn't, not compared to Kiev, Moscow, Smolensk etc.

[@ElizabethII-1952]

120,000 men went into the forest, 50,000 men never came out. Thats a meat grinder

[@CLARKE176]

@@ElizabethII-1952 compared to battles of the Somme, Passchendaele, verdun, Stalingrad etc this wasn’t a meat grinder.

[@ElizabethII-1952]

@@CLARKE176 learn what proportional losses means please besides vast majority of eastern front losses were from genocide, bad weather, starvation, little or no evacuation of wounded from battlefields, or dying in pow camps

[@yuzhuocao5663]

What’s up with your upper lip man??? Lol

[@ep5019]

The video is 9:11minuets long kek

[@sk8trryan1997]

At least you didn’t show your face till the end of it