Huertgenwald 1944 Museum - Vossenack (Germany)

The context

Museum road panel

Stretching north-east from the Belgian-German border, the Hürtgen Forest covers an area of about fifty square miles within the triangle formed by the towns of Aachen, Duren and Monschau. From September to December 1944, 120,000 American soldiers advanced upon the Germans through this forest. Other battles in World War II have been more dramatically decisive, but none was tougher or bloodier.

Close-ranked fir trees, towering 75-100 feet made the Hürtgen Forest a gloomy, mysterious world where the brightness of noon was muted to an eerie twilight filtering through dark trees onto spongy brown needles and rotted logs.

In the winter of 1944, the ground was alternately frozen hard and then slushy. Snow covered it in deceiving peacefulness. Beneath the snow lay a network of ingenious booby traps and mines. The infantry had to take it. It was simply American men against German steel, and the cold, bitter weather.

There was no more deadly fire, from the viewpoint of the infantryman, than that which burst in treetops and exploded with all its hot steel fury downward to the ground, shattering minds and bodies. Men quickly learned that the safest place when mortar or artillery fire hit treetops, was to "hug a tree".

The following American infantry divisions - the 1st, 4th, 8th, 9th, 28th, 3rd Armored, 78th and the 83rd - fought in the forest. The 9th Division, in effect, fought there twice. Numbers of supporting tank, tank-destroyer, cavalry, chemical, medical, and artillery units, also fought in the forest.

Approximately 120,000 Americans, plus individual replacements augmenting that number by many thousands fought in the battle. More than 24,000 Americans were killed, missing, captured and wounded. Another 9,000 succumbed to the misery of trench foot, respiratory diseases and combat fatigue. In addition, some 80,000 Germans fought in this battle and an estimated 28,000 of them became casualties.

What was gained in this battle? The Americans conquered 50 square miles of real estate of no real tactical value to future operations, and they had destroyed enemy troops and reserves, which the other side could ill afford to lose. The Germans, on the other hand, with meager resources, had slowed down a major Allied advance for 3 months. At the end of November, vital targets, dams along the Roer River, the importance of which were not realized until late in the fighting in the the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, were still in German hands.

Had the First Army gone for the Roer River Dams early in the fighting, there would have been no battle of Hürtgen Forest. That men must die in battle is accepted, and some fighting will always be more miserable and difficult than others. If there had been a push directly from the south to take the Roer River Dams, the cost of lives could have been just as costly. However, if that had been done, at least the objective would have been clear and accepted as important.

Those who fought in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest fought a misconceived and basically fruitless battle that could have, and should have been avoided. That is the real tragedy of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest..

The following spreadsheet will give you an overview of all units which took part in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest:

American Divisions

German Divisions

1st Infantry

3rd Armored

4th Infantry

8th Infantry

9th Infantry

28th Infantry

78th Infantry

83rd Infantry

5th Armored

7th Armored

366th Fighter Group

82nd Airborne.

3rd Fallschirmjäger

12th Volksgrenadier

47th Volksgrenadier

89th Infanterie

116th Panzer

272nd Volksgrenadier

275th Infanterie

344th Infanterie

353rd Infanterie

Following their successful landing in Normandy the Allied troops rushed to the German border. By mid september 1944 they had made a first incursion in Germany south of Aachen on the Belgian border in a stronghold of the Siegfried Line. Lack of wise tactical decisions and stretched supply lines would make the battle of Hürtgenwald a fiasco for the US army: 33,000 casualties on a 50sq. mile battlefield with no military gain.

In his reassessment of a tragic World War II battle, General Gavin concludes that, for the Germans, holding the Huertgen Forest was phase one of the Battle of the Bulge. For the Americans, trying to occupy the forest was an awful mistake.

The forest is slowly recovering and still bears many scars from the battle, here a pillbox blown in the combats deep in the woods.

Ernest Hemingway compared the Hurtgen forest to the British offensive in Passendaele during World War I. Many of the opposing German generals also compared the battle to those of 1917-18 and von Gersdorf said it was more horrendous than any he experienced on the Russian Front.

Because the battlefield was partly abandoned during the German offensive in the winter of 1944, the dead on both sides were left behind, buried in common graves by whoever was left alive, or to be swallowed by the forest.

What to do in the Hürtgen Forest Today ?

There are a few monuments, memorials and German military cemeteries in the area. The German military cemetery "Der Soldatenfriedhof Vossenack" holds the grave of Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model as well as a memorial to the 116th Panzer Division. "Der Soldatenfriedhof Hürtgen" is also nearby and has a memorial honoring German Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld, who was killed while trying to save the life of a wounded American G.I. The memorial was placed by the U.S. 22nd Infantry Regiment. There is also a memorial near the Raffelsbrand road junction placed on the location where 3 remains (2 Americans, 1 German) were recovered in 1976.

The Hürtgen Forest still retains the scars and debris of battle, even after all these years. It is easy to locate foxholes, trenches, bunkers and "Dragon's Teeth" all over the area. Most of the bunkers were blown up during the battle, but the mangled concrete and steel from some of these bunkers remain. There are several intact bunkers in the area known as Buhlert, and the Brandenburg-Bergstein ridge also houses several relatively intact bunkers. The Raffelsbrand road junction is a good area to locate trenches and foxholes, although recently some have been covered by forestry work. Good examples of "Dragons Teeth" can be found near Roetgen and Paustenbach. A dominant part of the battle was the Kall trail and you can still hike it today. Noteworthy sights include the remains of a medical dugout where medics of both sides worked on the wounded. There are American tank tracks embedded in the trail that are still visible today as you head toward Schmidt. At the bottom of the gorge is the Mestrenger Mühle, a mill that saw intense fighting in the vicinity.

It is hard to imagine the hellish fighting that occurred in the area, as it is so peaceful and idyllic today. Most of the forest is post-war as it was largely destroyed during the battle and suffered several fires after the war. Always be careful while exploring the area as live ordnance is still pulled out of the ground, even today!

In the Middle of the Night Does a New Day Break: Huertgen Forest, 1944

The call for peace requires without any doubt the remembrance of the last World War and its devastating consequences. A concrete example of this war is the so-called All Souls' Day Battle of 1944 in the Huertgen Forest, which brought about death, suffering and damage beyond measure and which -- by not only ruining the villages and the landscape, but also by taking the precious lives of about 70,000 human beings -- devastated the Huertgen Forest.

The museum "Huertgen Forest in 1944 and in Peacetime" owned and operated by the Huertgen Forest Registered Historical Association provides documentation of the battles fought in the region in a vivid, factual and unpolitical way and without raising a "moral finger," with the military items displayed serving only as contemporary materiel witnesses but not being the center of attraction. The museum's ultimate goal is to remind the visitors of the atrocities of war and thus make them aware of the importance of peace.

The "Trail of Remembrance" is a way passing the few relics of that ill-fated time and pursuing the same goal as the museum.

The museum "Huertgen Forest in 1944 and in Peacetime"

BACKGROUND

In 1959/1960, Mr. Koni Schall from Winden near Kreuzau began to collect documents, leaflets, maps and newspaper articles from the years 1944 and 1945. Later, he supplemented this collection by military items found and secured in the Huertgen Forest by relatives and explosive ordnance clearance personnel, respectively.

The collection allowed him to organize an exhibition on the Huertgen Forest battles which he presented to the public during the Kreuzau Culture Festival of 1977. It attracted so much attention and won so much approval that he decided to turn it into a permanent museum. This museum he opened in 1984; it was housed in a former barn in Kleinhau. For personal reasons (e.g., overburdening by the presence in the museum on virtually all weekends) he closed the museum and sold the exhibits -- exclusive of the military vehicles -- in 1992 to the town of Huertgenwald. The town council's purchase decision, while reached not by a unanimous vote, was based on the reasonable conviction that the items found in the Huertgen Forest were an impressive and moving illustration of the disastrous battles which devastated villages, woods and fields; they were to be contemporary materiel witnesses serving as a reminder.

In August 1994, the town handed over the exhibits to a newly established museum association for an exhibition taking place on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1944 All Souls' Day Battle. Having fulfilled its purpose, the exhibition was closed shortly after the event. In December 1995, the Huertgenwald town council decided to cede the exhibits to the Huertgen Forest Registered Historical Association to establish a new, this time permanent exhibition. It was opened on 4 July 1996 and was housed inside the large attic of the hotel "Zum Alten Forsthaus" in Vossenack. At the end of 2000, however, this room had to be vacated. With great financial and material assistance from the town of Vossenack, two pavilions were built in the town center on Pfarrer-Dickmann-Strasse: the present museum "Huertgen Forest in 1944 and in Peacetime." (It is open from March through mid-December every Sunday between 1100 and 1700 hours; visits are also possible on working days upon advance notification under the phone number (+49-2429) 902613).

The new museum's official dedication took place on 15 September 2001 in the presence of the administrator of the Dueren district, Wolfgang Spelthahn, and the mayor of the town of Huertgenwald, Axel Buch, with musical support provided by the 7th Army Band from Duesseldorf.

The general response to the museum has up to date been very positive.
Visitors come not only from Germany, but from many countries as far away as Australia. German and American veterans who fought in the Huertgen Forest in 1944 came to not only bring back the memory of that time of their lives, but also to meet on friendly terms with former enemies. And many relatives of soldiers killed in the Huertgen Forest visit this place. Apart from them, groups of German, American and Dutch military personnel come to both the museum and the surrounding area on an almost regular basis to learn in the context of tactical training from the miscalculations and faults then made in the pursuance of a senseless strategy.

INTENTION AND RELEVANCE

The museum "Huertgen Forest in 1944 and in Peacetime" is at least to the town of Huertgenwald of major importance.

Its intention is to provide remembrance. It is intended to remind the visitors of the 1944 All Souls' Day Battle which brought about death, suffering and damage beyond measure and which -- by not only ruining the villages and the landscape, but also by injuring and killing a very large number of people -- devastated the Huertgen Forest. -Having been forced into evacuation all over Germany where they had to be accommodated by the populations there and were therefore much disliked, the local residents returned home in 1945, only to find their houses which they had built over many years and under great efforts completely destroyed.

The museum is also intended to remind the visitors of the fact that there was once a terrible period in local history through which the Huertgen Forest put itself on the map, but which is pushed more and more into the background. The World War II period is certainly a highly sensitive topic as it brings back old, painful memories and reminds people of gloomy, miserable years. These years, however, must not be allowed to sink into oblivion, but must be preserved in the public's mind, not least to show that the present state of peace should not be taken for granted but is also shaky. One cannot help feeling that some part of the local population would like the year 1946 follow immediately that of 1933, the year of Hitler and the Nazi party's accession to power, as if the fateful intervening period did not belong to the region's history. But whichever way one looks at it: the All Souls' Day Battle did take place. It is therefore without reservation part of our past as any other event.
Beyond that, we need to remain conscious of the fact that tens of thousands of young soldiers lost in this area their only precious lives before they were able to fully live and enjoy it. Also, neither the large number of civilians who died in the fighting nor the members of the explosive ordnance clearance teams who were killed in the fulfillment of their duties must be forgotten.

It was clear right at the beginning that the museum had to provide documentation of the 1944 Huertgen Forest battles in a factual and unpolitical way and without raising a "moral finger," with the military items displayed, even though they were found in the Huertgen Forest, serving only as contemporary materiel witnesses but not being the center of attraction. A central element is the collection of photos, television reports and films, newspaper articles, poems, etc. It needs to be expanded in the future by reports and anecdotes of contemporary witnesses to provide a comprehensive illustration of the Huertgen Forest region in those days.

What can the events of that period teach us in terms of planning our course of life? The major lesson is without doubt the imperative that such a time must never repeat itself. We can certainly contribute to this by achieving peace in ourselves, our families and our neighborhoods. Another important lesson we can learn from the generation then living should we happen to be in a desperate situation is to never lose optimism. Having returned home, these men and women were left with nothing. In an admirably courageous and undaunted manner they set to remove the ruins left by the war, to rebuild their homes and to redesign the landscape so that today it presents itself as if it had never seen devastating fighting. Their optimism is the motto of the exhibition: "In the Middle of the Night Does a New Day Break."

RELICS OF THE ALL SOULS' DAY BATTLE

The museum's stock -- exhibits both acquired by the town of Huertgenwald from the formerly existing "1944 Museum" in Kleinhau and handed over to the Huertgen Forest Historical Association until now -- comprises items of the German and American troops from the years 1944 and 1945. They were all found in the Huertgen Forest region and thus constitute a direct link to the town's local history.

These items include battle dresses and other garments as well as equipment used on a daily basis, such as jackets, coats, shoes, mess kits, water bottles, cutlery, backpacks, tent sheets, spades and carbide lamps. Also included in the collection is optical and communications equipment, such as periscopic binoculars, direct-fire telescopes, range finders, field telephones, radio sets and appropriate auxiliary power units.

Apart from that, the collection comprises .45 caliber colts, various "Browning" machine guns, antitank guns (bazookas), hand grenades and artillery grenades in terms of American weapons and munitions, and machine guns, carbines, pistols, flare guns of various types, grenade launchers, shoulder-fired antitank weapons, hand grenades, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines as well as artillery grenades in terms of German equipment.

As far as documents are concerned, the museum displays newspapers articles, postcards, weapon manuals, maps, German and American propaganda leaflets, ID cards and passports. Photo walls show how the streets in various villages of the region looked before the war and immediately after the fighting and what they look like in present times.

In addition, the museum displays:

* models of the Siegfried Line and the western air-defense zone;

* models of military vehicles;

* a farm model showing the medical treatment of a wounded soldier;

* a jeep from this time and a fire engine which was the only vehicle available right after the war for fire fighting in the Huertgen Forest (only two vehicles of this type still exist);

* a pillbox model in original size.

The fact that despite all enmity there existed humanity between the opposing forces is illustrated by the picture entitled "A Time for Healing." It shows the humanitarian collaboration between German and American physicians during the fighting in the vicinity of the Mestrenger Mill in the Kall River valley near Simonskall. German and American veterans commissioned an artist to paint the picture based on authentic data. It was unveiled with all due ceremony in Pennsylvania in 1996, and in 1997 American officers handed over a copy to the Huertgen Forest Historical Association.

The first room to enter in the museum holds the collection of Mr. Walter Strunk: items from the Neolithic and Roman periods found in the Huertgen Forest region. This room is followed by the Siegfried Line room showing models of the fortifications, items from and design plans of the pillboxes as well as pictures, e.g., from pillbox construction. Having passed two more rooms displaying maps and German military equipment, respectively, one reaches the wartime-type farm model showing the medical treatment of a wounded soldier. Next on display are American exhibits and items of equipment as well as a large photographic documentation of the landscape's devastation.

The museum will be left through a pillbox. Its walls are covered with photos taken by a Catholic youth group which hiked the Siegfried Line from Heinsberg north of Aachen to Saarbruecken, taking pictures of everything that attracted its attention, especially in regard to the present condition and use of both pillboxes and dragon's teeth. (The group wrote a very successful book about this trip: Hansen, Auf der Spurensuche des Westwalls, Helios-Verlag, Aachen.)

The "Trail of Remembrance"

The "Trail of Remembrance" is a 10 kilometer (approx. 6 miles) long way which takes the visitor along relics of and provides information on the 1944 All Souls' Day Battle around Vossenack which inflicted serious casualties on both sides. The trail, along with several hiking trails, was prepared and signposted by the Rureifel Tourism Registered Association to offer tourists the opportunity to combine hiking tours with the visiting of remarkable places.

Begining at the museum, the trail leads to the parish church and the cross in the graveyard. In the church, German and American soldiers confronted each other at the altar and the entrance and were soon involved in merciless close combat. The cross, erected in 1987, is not a cross of peace, even though it symbolizes the call for peace, but one of consolation.

From here, the trail continues along the Mestrenger Weg path, passes the old "Stumms Krüzche" ("Silent Cross") field cross and then runs into the ill-famed Kall Trail, which descends to the Mestrenger Mill and thus to a tract of terrain that saw severe fighting involving a high number of casualties. The way from the parish church to the Mestrenger Mill was a major route of advance during the American forces' attack on Schmidt. Walking towards that town, one can still see tracks -- remains of American A-10 tanks and of one "Weasel" armored carrier knocked out by the enemy -- as well as foxholes.

The Mestrenger Mill was frequently used by both the German and American troops as headquarters and as a dressing station. It was especially during pauses in combat that physicians and medics from both sides assisted each other in the provision of medical support to their wounded -- a piece of humanity in a bitter war.

The trail then runs over the dominating "Teufelsley" hill, from where the Germans commanded the Kall River valley against the attacking American infantry, and further to the town of Simonskall. Here, the well-preserved medical pillbox No. 347 can be inspected upon request in the museum. The pillbox is a regular type 32 construction built in 1938 and measuring 10.2 x 14.8 meters (33.5 x 48.5 feet); it was designed for 20 wounded and 4 medical personnel.

Immediately next to this medical pillbox lies a squad shelter which, however, is bare of a fighting compartment. The shelter was demolished during the war but is still in good condition. Designed to hold 15 soldiers, it offered protection against aircraft bombs and artillery shells and served as accommodation. The battle was fought outside the shelter in foxholes and trenches. It is a regular type 10 construction built in 1938 and measuring 8.8 x 8.4 meters (29.0 x 27.5 feet).

The Vossenack information center "Haus des Gastes" houses a documentation on the German 116th Armored Division, called the "Greyhound Division," which fought in the Huertgen Forest.

The trail then ascends to the town's war cemetery where about 2,400 German soldiers and 33 prisoners of war killed during the forced clearance of mines are buried. Among those buried here is Field Marshal Walter Model, in his last function commander of the German Army Group B. Next to the cemetery is a memorial established by former members of the 116th Armored Division in commemoration of all soldiers of this division who died in the Huertgen Forest: a soldier supports a dying comrade.

On the way back to the museum, one passes the peace cross erected by the Huertgen Forest Historical Association.

The "Trail of Remembrance" requires the company of an expert guide. The museum offers trail tours including a comprehensive overview of the All Souls' Day Battle.

You may contact museum authorities there.

The official website of the Museum stands here.

Infos about the battle (see also the links section) are available there.

Location information

The museum is located at Vossenack

Pfarrer Dickmann StraBe, 23
Hürtgenwald-Vossenack
D-52393
telephone - fax: 02429 - 902613

Personal note

This museum is located at 76 Km from Lüttich (in Belgium) and is focused on the German 116th Motorized Infantry Division "Greyhound" (which acquired its nickname from its stay in USSR).
It also displays the medical "installations" of both sides (German and American) and highlights the role of minefields in the Region.

Even if I speak German you will not have any difficulty to speak English there.
There are free toilets and entrance fee is limited (3 €).

An historical movie is presented but unfortunately not systematically.