Вальтеру Моделю удалось связать в позиционных боях в районе Аахен - лес Хуртген - дамбы на реке Рур 1-ю и 9-ю американские армии. Американцы несли катострофические потери, что очень негативно сказывалось на их "боевом" духе (у Кросса в книге "Последние дни Третьего Рейха" описаны реабилитационные центры для американцов прошедших бои в лесах). Так в боях за Аахен американские 1-я и 30-я пехотные дивизии потеряли менее чем за 3 недели практически 5000 человек. Во время так называемой первой битвы за лес (6 октября - 13 ноября) американская 9-я пехотная дивизия потеряла 4500 человек за 10 дней, 28-я пехотная - 6148 человек, далее перечислять бессмысленно, обо всём этом можно достаточно много написано... Из немецких частей стоит отметить 47-ю фолькс-гренадёрскую дивизию генерал-лейтенанта Макса Борка, которая личным примером доказала, что немецкие части даже последних волн оставались боеспособными формированиями, способными продержать союзников на одном месте вплоть до 10 февраля.
Это так называемое сражение в Хуртгенском лесу, начавшееся 19 сентября 1944 г., когда в лес вошли 3-я танковая и 9-я пехотная дивизия США. Хуртгенский лес представлял собой большой лесной массив на границе Франции и Германии. Американские войска вскоре познали прелести сражения в глухом, темном лесу с высоченными деревьями, нашпигованном минами и жалящими в упор "88 Флак", без артиллерийской и авиационной поддержки. В сентябрьских боях 3-я танковая и 9-я пехотная дивизии потеряли до 80% личного состава своих боевых подразделений, не достигнув никаких результатов. 2 ноября 1944 г. в мясорубку была брошена 28-я пехотная дивизия, сформированная из Пенсильванской национальной гвардии. Дивизия понесла тяжелые потери. К 13 ноября все офицеры пехотных рот были убиты или ранены. Но генерал Бредли упорствовал в захвате Хуртгенского леса. В бой вступила еще одна дивизия, 4-я пехотная. Это также не принесло желаемых результатов. С 7 ноября по 3 декабря 1944 г. 4-я дивизия потеряла свыше 7 тысяч человек. Один из командиров рот этой дивизии, лейтенант Вильсон докладывал, что он потерял за время сражений в лесу 167% списочного состава: "Мы начали с полнокровной ротой из 162 бойцов, а потеряли 287 человек". Когда закончилась 4-я пехотная дивизия, наступила очередь 8-й пд. К декабрю потери американских войск в этом районе достигли 24 тысяч человек. По Исаев..
Battle of Hürtgen Forest 19 Sep 1944 - 10 Feb 1945 Contributor: C. Peter Chen Located at the border of Germany and Belgium, the Hürtgen Forest was a wooded area 50 square miles wide that provided another possible corridor for the Allies to thrust into Germany. It was also at the southern tip of the German West Wall defenses (referred to as the Siegfried Line by the Allies). Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges' First Army, charged with taking the densely wooded terrain, quickly saw the advance becoming a standstill as the American material advantage were taken away by the fierce shelling from well defended German positions. "The enemy had all the advantages of strong defensive country, and the attacking Americans had to depend almost exclusive upon infantry weapons because of the thickness of the forest", said Dwight Eisenhower. After nearly a month of fighting, the Americans suffered 4,500 casualties after pushing only a few kilometers into the forest. Had the Americans advanced further, the German defenders also had the option of opening the dams nearby and flood the entire forest. Meanwhile, elements of Hodges' army besieged the city of Aachen a short distance north of the forest; Aachen became the first large German city to fall under Allied control when it fell on 21 Oct 1944. Instead of enveloping Hürtgen Forest and move the bulk of his forces eastwards into the heart of Germany, Hodges decided to eliminate the German forces in the forest to secure his southern flank. Early in Nov, the Allies launched a new offensive into the forest. The elements of the First Army encountered exploding trees, a technique deployed by the German defenders where shells exploded 80 to 100 feet above the ground, and the explosion at the treetops sent a rain of shrapnel and wood splinters of wood down at the American troops who uselessly proned at the first sound of explosion. The American troops, however, quickly learned to "hug a tree" in which they stood flat against large tree trunks to minimize body area exposed upwards. Replacement troops flowed into the forest constantly, but not at a rate that replaced the mounting number of casualties; many units had over 100% casualty rate with the fierce fighting. "It was brutal," said Jacob Pennegar, an Army private who went into the forest as a replacement. "You'd look around, you couldn't see far because the forest was so dark. But you could make out medics scurrying around. Sometimes you'd hear the wounded yelling for a medic. Sometimes you'd hear their buddies. If it was their buddies, there wasn't much need for a medic." The Germans also booby trapped a three-mile wide zone in the forest with mines planted every eight paces to slow any possible American advance. To top it all off, on top of potential death delivered by shelling and mines, German snipers dotted the forest, taking out unsuspecting American soldiers who became lost in the directionless snow-covered landscape. The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was the longest battle the Americans had ever fought in the history of the United States military. The American forces suffered 33,000 casualties (though 9,000 of which were attributed to non-combat causes such as illness and friendly fire), while the Germans suffered 28,000 casualty (12,000 of them died). Despite the eventual American victory achieved with the "Yankee doggedness" as described by Eisenhower, many historians argue that the lives spent at Hürtgen was in vain for that the forest was of little strategic value. While the American troops fought the extended battle, dams on the Roer River remained under German control. "One way or another, they got you. You froze to death or you got sick or you got blown to bits." Said Leonard Lomell, an Army lieutenant and a survivor of Hürtgen. Sources: Brutal Battle in the Forest, Crusade in Europe, University of San Diego History Department, Wikipedia.
Battle of Hurtgen Forest is name given to series of battles fought in the Hurtgen Forest, afterwards known to both Americans and Germans simply as the Hurtgenwald. The American High Command was flush with success after the breakout at Normandy and the race to Germany, and therefore overconfident. The battles took place between September 13, 1944, through February 10, 1945, in a corridor barely 50 square miles (129 km²) on the border of Germany. They were characterized by the American High Command not recognizing the true objectives of the forest, the dams that controlled the height of the Roer River, until December. Had the Germans blown the dams, they could have flooded a region far to the south, delaying American advances. Multiple divisions were sent in, only to be wrecked and replaced by still more divisions. Air, artillery, and armor, all advantages of the Americans at this time were nullified because of the terrain, and the Germans were able to delay the stronger force using smaller numbers and good defensive positions.
The Battle of Hurtgen Forest. http://depositfiles.com/files/e16o1u7oc Пароль на архив:www.megamagzone.com
Тема очень интерестная,за этот лес до этого ничего не слышал.Была бы ещё интерестней,если писали посты на русском...
