That’s really one of the last ditch efforts by Hitler and the Germans to hold the American line.

The Battle of the Bulge is officially won on January 25th, 1945.

But it comes at a high cost.

Of the 500,000 Americans who fight, 19,000 are killed in action, 47,500 wounded and 23,000 or more are missing.

The Battle of the Bulge is a major turning point and it is heroic.

Churchill’s right to call it a great victory, but you can’t help but to think that at least in part there’s that horrible moment of Herkin Forest that that kind of haunts them.

Finally, after five grueling months, there is still unfinished business in the Hurricane forest.

On February 10th, 1945, at long last, the Roar Dam is taken by the American forces.

This gives them control of the Earth Dam and 20 billion gallons of water.

However, the Germans rally around the Schwabanel Dam and blow the valves open to flood the area.

The Germans do exactly what Intel was hoping they wouldn’t do.

They blew the [Music] dams.

But when the dams blew, it wasn’t this overwhelming tidal wave of water coming down through the area like Intel thought it would be.

It caused localized flooding.

It slowed down some of the movements of divisions through the area, but it didn’t cause this huge tidal wave of water.

It was much to do about nothing for many of the planners.

On February 17th, the forest is cleared by the 82nd Airborne Division when they reach the Roar River.

The Americans are finally finished in the forest of hell, which claims between 35,000 and 60,000 soldiers missing, wounded, or dead.

The Americans use their position at the roar to support an Allied attack on the city of Cologne.

On March 7th, the Americans cross the Rine as their troops pushed forward to Berlin.

Two months later, the war in Europe ends.

On May 8th, 1945, the war in Europe is officially over as Berlin is captured and Germany surrenders.

Hurricane Forest is difficult when you think about the sacrifices made by the soldiers.

On one hand, men died seemingly for nothing, but all this fighting, it did serve a role in the larger scheme of the Second World War.

and ultimately the allies made it to Berlin and won the war.

What’s most telling about this battle in terms of the embarrassment and the way which it was fought is the amount of space that Eisenhower, the supreme commander, gave it in his memoirs.

It is a story of the Nazi defeat on the Western Front.

He devoted under 70 words to a battle that went on for 5 months and resulted in between 35 and 60,000 casualties.

Supreme Commander Eisenhower has political ambitions.

He becomes the 34th President of the United States and lives to the age of 78.

General Courtney Hodgeges continues to be held in high regard until he retires from the military in 1949.

I think history has diminished his narrative because he he’s he’s not the hero that we’ve come to expect of great American military leaders.

But I don’t think we can put it all on Hodger’s shoulders.

Jay Lton Collins continues in the military for another decade and survives to the ripe old age of 91.

General Norman Dutch Kota is denied further promotions.

He’s eventually pushed out of the military due to failing health.

Lieutenant Paul Bosch survives the viciousness of Herkin Forest.

His memoir and other written accounts provides a tenuous connection to this largely forgotten chapter of history.

The entire history of the Second World War has many omissions.

Herden Forest is one of the most significant ones and it should definitely be more studied and more understood by everyone.

For a lot of the men who came out of Herkin, it impacted them for years afterwards where they would talk about the bursting trees or they would talk about the minefields or talk about losing a friend in Herkin.

Why is that important? Why should we learn from this defeat of the US Army? Look at the men who were on the ground.

I think it would shed a lot of light on what warfare was like, how destructive it could be, and how when you go into something maybe with not as good a plan as you thought you had, that it could have disastrous consequences.

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