Understanding Hurtgen with Google Earth

[JasonC]

The idea is simple - go look at the area of the most famous bits of the Hurtgen fighting on Google Earth.

If you have the US army green books, Charles MacDonald's volume "the Siegfried line campaign" covers this in the chapter on the 2nd attack on Schmidt. This is the period when the 28th Infantry division attacked, and put two battalions across the Kall river including the town of Schmidt. The fighting is covered in chapter XV, and the best single map in the chapter is on page 344. There is a supplimental, smaller scale map of the immediate Kall river crossing area on page 345.

There are also two useful photographs on pages 354 and 356, which give a vivid idea what an unimproved hiker's footpath led from the Vossenack ridge, through the Kall river valley, up again to the Kommerscheidt and Schmidt ridge. A jeep along that is a nightmare, and a tank along that is a miracle.

Now load up Google Earth. To get in the right ballpark, fly to Hurtgen, Germany. You want to center your view around 50 degrees, 40 minutes north, by 6 degrees, 22 minutes east. Zoom in to an eye altitude of 20000 feet. Now, with the view facing north, tilt the view until the eye altitude drops to 5000 feet.

You immediately see the farm and village plateau, cut up by wooded valleys. Scanning with the mouse you can read the heights. The valley floors are around 1000 feet above sea level, while the plateaus are 1250 or so. Some areas are 1350 amd the highest points reach 1700. The lowest reservoirs behind dams are 850 feet.

The famous Kall river crossing area is around 50-40-20 north by 6-23-7 east, at around 1000 feet. It is overlooked from the northwest by the Vossenack ridge at 1250 feet. The Schmidt side to the southeast is 1350 feet high. You can also see a ridge off to the north of the Vossenack ridge, ranging from a low of 1100 to heights around 1270, long and relatively low, arcing around from east-south-east to due west. That is where the principle German artillery observors were e.g. around 50-42-25 by 6-24-28. You can see how they were able to continually pound the north slopes of the bare Vossenack - shelling which broke the entire US 109th regiment and sent it running.

Not at all the usual picture one is presented, of an endless forest of mountainous terrain. In fact, most of the Hurtgen forest proper is well off to the northwest, between this area and Aachen, and the Americans were basically through it by the time of the hard fighting.

The part of the second Schmidt battle that most closely approximates the usual report, was the utterly nonsensical frontal battering by the 110th regiment, on the south and west corner of the 28th Division. In Google Earth, you can see that region around 50-40-0 north by 6-19-0 east. Wooded heights in that area, controlled by the Germans, reach 1800 feet. More importantly, you can see a thin arc of farmland (elevation about 1575 feet) around the wooded high ground. The Germans had concrete pillboxes in the woods just on their side of that region, heavily wired.

It is noteworthy that the US had not difficulty turning that position from its eastern side, by heading south from Vossenack in a night move by on battalion, after punching east a bit on the 2nd and 3rd. What was criminal is, the 110th infantry was ordered to batter that position frontally for 3 days, nearly destroying itself in the process.

Reading the chapter it is also noteworthy how dissipated the American effort was. The 28th division essentially attacked in 3 different directions, one for each regiment. Only the eastern thrust succeeded - beyond expectations in fact - while the northern one made limited gains. Despite what MacDonald says in the chapter, there is no sign the eastern direction was the "main effort" of the division. It got no more troops than the others, for instance. It was just called that because it succeeded.

The 28th division wrecked 2 of its battalions pointlessly in the southern frontal attack on the fortified area described above. Two battalions made the big gains to Schmidt. Vossenack was taken in the process, and held to the north by the remaining regiment. They were out on a limb because the division was not attacking along a single axis of advance.

Commitment of reserves was piecemeal, reactive, and stupid. The 110th sent the divisional reserve in a flanking move around the fortified area, which should have been the only attack made on that area. Instead it was made after 2 battalions were wrecked, so it could not be followed up. One battalion (-) was then scrapped out of the remnants of the southern suicide push as the core of TF Ripple, with 200 rifle and 100 weapons men. Sent to try to hold open the route to Schmidt.

The regiment holding on the Vossenack ridge was in the open and subject to continual artillery fire, observed from the north. The Germans built up a massive park. The Americans were also green, and their commanders made them hold in field entrenchments at the military crest, rather than back in the cellars of Vossenack village. They broke under arty alone, before German infantry closed with them. Most US reinforcements, armor, engineers etc just managed to restore that situation, hold Vossenack, and drive off German counterattacks from the north.

One battalion of engineers got forward to the Vall crossing. They were trying to turn a hiker's path into something fit for tanks, rather than trying to exploit along the wooded gorge, or even serious defend the bridge area. The Germans counterattacked along the gorge bottom with the recon battalion of the 116th Panzer and cut the trail.

Meanwhile out at the tip, Schmidt was beyond serious reinforcement distance, only a handful of tanks managing to traverse the Kall trail. The Germans had most of an infantry division (being relieved it is true, 6 battalions with the strength of perhaps 4) and ~30 tanks from the 116th Panzer division.

They clamped the front of the US columnar penetration and destroyed the lead battalion. The second at Kommerscheidt held a bit longer, because more armor had reached them and because corps level US arty ringed them with 155mm fire. But gradually lost their armor and saw the infantry dribble away under constant direct fire from the German armor etc.

German counterattacks in the north at the Vossenack ridge were less successful, degenerating into brawling. Their strong arms there were excellent arty and observation for it, and poor US morale. The drawback they faced was trying to follow those up with infantry attack, running into US arty and armor holding on the bare farm and village ridgetops. Result stalemate.

All in all, this phase of the fighting was far less dominated by terrain than the usual story depicts. The US failure was primarily the result of a criminally stupid plan (attack in three different directions with a single infantry division), which left them unable to exploit their initial success.

The Americans also (1) reinforced failure rather than success (2) misunderstood the nature of the route trying to hold the forward penetrations and did nothing effective to improve it (3) failed to exploit along the Kall river low ground to widen the penetration, due to lack of infantry used up stupidly elsewhere (4) committed tactical deployment crimes on the Vossenack ridge under arty fire, that cost them most of a regiment.

They also did not have overall odds, once the Germans reacted to the initial penetration. The US failed to reinforce with any higher level units, while the Germans added the 116th Panzer division, and used the 89th infantry division (being relieved) as a local counterattack reserve. While the terrain presented tactical issues, none were insurmountable, and each one being successively flubbed had more to do with the snowballing effects of a stupid initial plan, than any essential unsuitability of the ground.

[JonS]

Thanks Jason. Good use of a new tool. Have you seen the Google Earth overlay for Pointe du Hoc? Perhaps you would consider doing something similar for Hurtegen ... ?

[Michael Dorosh]

It's a neat tool; above are an aerial photo image from THE BRIGADE by Terry Copp, and a current view via Google Earth. (Sorry, this isn't Hürtgen but the Second Canadian Division front near Caen).

Pretty neat stuff.

[JonS]

... which incidentally highlights one of the probelms with using GE for this. Manmade features and ground cover (trees, woods, forests, etc) can change a lot in 60-odd years. When I read Jasons post I wondered if this comment ...

That is where the principle German artillery observors were e.g. around 50-42-25 by 6-24-28. You can see how they were able to continually pound the north slopes of the bare Vossenack - shelling which broke the entire US 109th regiment and sent it running.

Not at all the usual picture one is presented, of an endless forest of mountainous terrain. In fact, most of the Hurtgen forest proper is well off to the northwest, between this area and Aachen, and the Americans were basically through it by the time of the hard fighting.

... was an example of it. I.e, the Vossenack is bare now, per GE, but was it bare then?

That seems a bit of a n00b mistake, though, which I'd be surprised for Jason to have made.

*shrug*

GE is still useful for contours and elevations though.

Jon

[ September 25, 2005, 07:34 PM: Message edited by: JonS ]

[Michael Dorosh]

Or just getting an idea of scope and distance; here is the same area, tilted and rotated, now looking north to Juno Beach....

[JasonC]

JonS - I describe a method that includes Google earth and maps and narrative from MacDonald's Siegfried Line Campaign. The Vossenack ridge most certainly was bare in 1944, as the narrative describes. Moreover, the pattern of farmland and villages up on the plateau with forested valleys dividing them, is clearly described in his narrative and rather central to the events he relates.

So the land use pattern has not changed. The forest edges may have moved a bit in some places, but can't have changed much. It is easy to see why if you actually go look at the Google Earth area. The slopes - which are created by rivers "cutting" channels betwen the high areas - are not used for farmland because they are too steep. The "ridgetops" are a large portion of the overall area and are better described as "plateau". The relief hasn't changed, and the land use pattern follows the relief - farming the ground level enough for it, leaving the steep slopes forested.

The only place there may have been some change at the margins is in the forested high ground to the southwest, where 110th infantry went. It is pretty forested now. MacDonald describes it as thickly forested. But the exact margins may have changed. This area isn't low valley, it is higher than the (1250-1400 foot) plateau, rising to 1700 feet in a gradual "glacis", climbing as you go south.

[Sergei]

Dorosh,

whose grass mod is that? :confused:

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by Sergei:

Dorosh,

whose grass mod is that? :confused:

The copyright notice is on the image you Oik. :mad: