The Down Payment

The battle for Hürtgen Forest had been bitter, cold, and deadly. Every tree and shrub, every fold in the terrain concealed death. The area generally know as the Hürtgen Forest was not all forest. South of the divisional boundary between the 9th and 83rd Divisions lay both forest and plain. …

1944-12-10

S088

The battle for Hürtgen Forest had been bitter, cold, and deadly. Every tree and shrub, every fold in the terrain concealed death. The area generally know as the Hürtgen Forest was not all forest. South of the divisional boundary between the 9th and 83rd Divisions lay both forest and plain. Dense forest gave way reluctantly to plowed fields and frequent clearings. Yet death was no less abundant. Previous down payments in blood had been paid by the Allied forces to secure decent road supply networks up to this point and another installment was due as the 83rd Division squarely faced the twin villages of Strass and Gey, both surrounded by flat fields but both also part of the greater road network needed to sustain the drive to finish the war. The 83rd Division commander ordered attacks on both villages at the same time each by one regiment with attached tanks.

Gey, Germany

The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was a series of fierce battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944, between American and German forces on the Western Front during World War II, in the Hürtgen Forest, a 140 km2 (54 sq mi) area about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the Belgian–German border. It was the longest battle on German ground during World War II and is the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought. The U.S. commanders' initial goal was to pin down German forces in the area to keep them from reinforcing the front lines farther north in the Battle of Aachen, where the US forces were fighting against the Siegfried Line network of fortified industrial towns and villages speckled with pillboxes, tank traps, and minefields. A secondary objective may have been to outflank the front line. The Americans' initial tactical objectives were to take Schmidt and clear Monschau. In a second phase the Allies wanted to advance to the Rur River as part of Operation Queen.

American

German

Scenario Type = Starter Kit