The Battle of Hurtgen Forest (West Wall Series)

Rating:
Summary: Great Personal Accounts, Suspect Leadership Analysis
Review: As someone who has read a decent number of books on WWII history, I found Whiting's working commendable for his inclsuion of so many personal accounts--they really helped to make the history come alive. I also appreciated his respect for the common soldier and evident respect for their sacrifice and heroism. Unfortunately, I felt the book fell short in a number of ways that damage Whiting's credibility.
First of all, one gets the feeling that he feels pretty much any soldier beyond the rank of Capt is a fool, motivated only by personal ambition. In addition, he slams the character of several senior, senior flag officers with no real cited evidence. For instance, he paints Eisenhower as some sort of philandering, out of touch, comfort-seeking oaf.
Second, Whiting's overall attitude makes him come off as an arrogant know-it-all Monday morning quarterback type. The kind of person you occasionally meet that acts like the answer to every difficult issue is disgustingly simple and those in charge are just complete idiots. Whether or not Whiting is this kind of person or not, I have no idea. However, his writing comes across this way.
Finally, add the first two criticisms to a relatively weak bibliography and I can only conclude that it would be dangerous to put too much faith in Whiting's work. I fear Whiting may use some of the Hurtgen history as a backdrop for his own personal opinions without being honest enough to identify it as his opinion versus known fact.
I cannot for a minute recommend buying the book.

Rating:
Summary: Supermarket Tabloid at its Worst!
Review: Charles Whiting's _Battle for Hurtgen Forest_ begins harmlessly enough by openly questioning the legitimacy of the Huertgen operation and describing the brutality of the fighting and the harshness of the unforgiving terrain. In spite of the hardships of life at the front, Whiting quickly describes the efforts that were made to provide some rest and recreation for the American infantrymen. Whiting tells of Red Cross club mobiles set up in the Rear where ladies would hand out doughnuts and free coffee to the tired troops. There were also United Service Organization (USO) Shows that included such celebrities as German-born actress Marlene Dietrich. From this point on, however, this informative account takes a bitter turn for the worse."But for young men whose life expectancy in the infantry was exceedingly limited," contends Whiting, "something else was needed - women." The author rants on how soldiers were routinely rotated out of the line for seventy-two-hour passes to Paris. Like a writer of bad pulp fiction, the author digresses into the city's famous red-light district the Americans all too commonly referred to as "Pig Alley." There, explains Whiting, "whores" who had serviced Germans for the previous four years were now infecting Americans by the hundreds with venereal disease. "That fall," observes Whiting, "the United States Army sent 606 men, the equivalent of a battalion daily to the 'pox doctor.'" Unfortunately, the author fails to cite a single source and provides no evidence for this claim.Whiting jabs that while Americans were dying in combat, carousing in Paris, or deserting by the thousands (again no citation), Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower was living comfortably in a French Chateau. Whiting takes every opportunity to discredit anyone close to Ike, especially his British "chauffer-cum-mistress" Kaye Summersby. Similarly, he refers to General Everett S. Hughes as Ike's "card-playing, hard drinking womanizing crony" who once called a WAC [Women's Army Corps] "a double breasted GI with a built in foxhole." Whiting, once again, fails to cite a source or give evidence for this last sexist remark.Whiting goes beyond the Huertgen time-frame into The Battle of the Bulge, not to illustrate its correlation to the Huertgen Campaign, but rather to exemplify the social gaiety at Eisenhower's Headquarters. As the author explains, while the German Panzer spearheads were roaring through the Ardennes, General Eisenhower was attending a wedding and champagne reception for two junior members of his staff. In yet another effort of tabloid journalism Whitingrecounts the delicacies being served:Eisenhower's 'darkies' as he called his black mess servants, were preparing oysters on the half shell, followed by oyster stew, with fried oysters concluding the festive pre-Christmas meal. And on-and-on!Whiting's sarcasm is evident-his message is clear, his evidence is severely lacking. Obviously, the author's purpose for writing this sensationalism is to sell books. In fairness, Whiting makes some legitimate points concerning the Huertgen Forest battles and it is safe to assume that few readers are naive enough to think that high-ranking officers did not enjoy considerable more creature comforts than the combat rifleman sweating it out in a foxhole in the Huertgen Forest. It is the sardonic style in which he chose to present this view, however, that greatly lessens his credibility as a serious historian, something the opening paragraphs of the book initially suggest. The telling of the love affairs of generals may sell books but is of little importance in the thorough analysis of a significant battle such as the Huertgen Forest. Read MacDonald, Miller, Astor, or Rush, and leave this tabloid on the supermarket check-out stand.

Rating:
Summary: The "Death Factory" in a dark forest
Review: I thought the book was well written although the maps included never seem to show the places and landmarks described in the chapter it is placed.

I feel the author does an excellent job of communicating the conditions in which the fighting took place: the dreary, dark, forest that seemed to close in on the soldiers, the dampness and the cold, the difficult terrain of ridges and canyons.

The author also does an excellent job of explaining how personal pride and reputation led to feeding division after division, regiment after regiment into a meat grinder that made no strategic difference to the overall campaign. The book shows the complacency of allied "Top Brass" - as he continually refers to them - who thought the war was as good as won. It also shows a detachment of the generals from the guy with a rifle getting shot at every day that is appalling - Ike and the generals living it up in Paris while the average riflemen is trying to stay dry and warm in a foxhole half-filled with water.

On the other side of the fence, in spite of repeated decimation of their ranks, the Germans were still able to put up a deadly defense. One of the most important points of this book is the complete reliance by American infantry on support weapons such as artillery and air power. When those assets were missing, such as in the dense forest, American troops were less effective than the Germans who focused on tactics, unit cohesion, and individual initiative.

There are a lot of lessons for military professionals and historians in the Hurtgen Forest - and they should be learned.

Rating:
Summary: Good battle review, difficult to read
Review: Mr. Whiting gives a perfect recollection of the different divsions' struggles in that (otherwise beautiful) part of Germany. I have but two remarks. The first the popular reference to the commanding officers as 'Top Brass'. If you use it too much it just gets annoying! Then there is little graphical support of the text. Small situational drawings would have done miracles here. But considering all its a good book.

Rating:
Summary: SHAEF asleep in the Death Factory
Review: The battle of the Hurtgen Forest has been long ignored by historians and the armed forces because it was a defeat of the first order for the United States. The infantry that fought there called it the Death Factory. Whiting's book delves into the details of the battle itself and the decisions that fed so many young men into a meat grinder. The allied (particularly the American) high command was ignorant of the conditions at the Front and willingly sacrificed the advantages of air power, armored mobility, artillery superiority (the German defenders were well bunkered) and resorted to the bloodiest of methods, the infantry assault through dense vegetation. Whiting's book provides details from the front line troops to underscore the horrid conditions, battle statistics to emphasis the slaughter that was occurring, and accounts of what the top brass was doing simultaneously. The argument is sufficient to convince me that SHAEF was driving with its eyes closed. The butcher's bill ran higher and higher, the Generals thought surely the Germans would break at any time. Tactical and strategic thinking was thrown aside in favor of a "kill Germans where ever you find them" philosophy.

The American Generals were caught up in their own glorification and didn't consider the possibility that they could be making a mistake, if enough man power was committed, the Wehrmacht and Field Marshal Model would break. The Germans couldn't understand why the Americans were attacking in such force through the forest but were more than happy to deal with the unfortunate attackers slogging unprotected through the dense woods. It became personal to the American Command, their reputation and the reputation of the Army were at stake. A price was even put on Field Marshal Model's head, how dare he slow up the glorious Americans and their Generals. Interestingly enough, 30 odd years later, the junior officers who survived the Hurtgen fed young men into the meat grinder known as Vietnam where the logic of "body counts" reappeared.

The Anglo-American allies certainly had their shining moments in the second world war, they also had their low points. The Battle of the Bulge has long been studied as the point where SHAEF was caught asleep but still managed to "win". The battle of the Hurtgen forest was where they dozed off. Sadly they were counting divisions of young men that they sent into Death Factory as they slept.

Rating:
Summary: SHAEF asleep in the Death Factory
Review: The battle of the Hurtgen Forest has been long ignored by historians and the armed forces because it was a defeat of the first order for the United States. The infantry that fought there called it the Death Factory. Whiting's book delves into the details of the battle itself and the decisions that fed so many young men into a meat grinder. The allied (particularly the American) high command was ignorant of the conditions at the Front and willingly sacrificed the advantages of air power, armored mobility, artillery superiority (the German defenders were well bunkered) and resorted to the bloodiest of methods, the infantry assault through dense vegetation. Whiting's book provides details from the front line troops to underscore the horrid conditions, battle statistics to emphasis the slaughter that was occurring, and accounts of what the top brass was doing simultaneously. The argument is sufficient to convince me that SHAEF was driving with its eyes closed. The butcher's bill ran higher and higher, the Generals thought surely the Germans would break at any time. Tactical and strategic thinking was thrown aside in favor of a "kill Germans where ever you find them" philosophy.

The American Generals were caught up in their own glorification and didn't consider the possibility that they could be making a mistake, if enough man power was committed, the Wehrmacht and Field Marshal Model would break. The Germans couldn't understand why the Americans were attacking in such force through the forest but were more than happy to deal with the unfortunate attackers slogging unprotected through the dense woods. It became personal to the American Command, their reputation and the reputation of the Army were at stake. A price was even put on Field Marshal Model's head, how dare he slow up the glorious Americans and their Generals. Interestingly enough, 30 odd years later, the junior officers who survived the Hurtgen fed young men into the meat grinder known as Vietnam where the logic of "body counts" reappeared.

The Anglo-American allies certainly had their shining moments in the second world war, they also had their low points. The Battle of the Bulge has long been studied as the point where SHAEF was caught asleep but still managed to "win". The battle of the Hurtgen forest was where they dozed off. Sadly they were counting divisions of young men that they sent into Death Factory as they slept.