Product Description

This work examines the ominous prelude to the Battle of the Bulge and reveals one of the US Army's bloodiest nightmares of World War II. In late 1944, the American army had pushed through Belgium almost unopposed. As small units advanced into the hilly woods south-east of Aachen, Germany, they encountered a forest bristling with German troops. The face-off took place in some of Germany's most rugged territory and in rain, sleet and freezing temperatures. For weeks US commanders ordered units of as many as seven divisions into the woods to be chewed up by German infantry and artillery. The book's description of the battle is based on government records, a large selection of first-hand accounts from veterans of both sides, and the author's visits to the battlefields.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #295373 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 270 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781585442584
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
This tale of the disaster suffered by U.S. forces in Germany near the end of WWII is based on government records, veterans' accounts and the author's visits to the battlefield. Assigned to clear Germany's Hurtgen Forest of enemy troops, the U.S. 7th Corps high command concentrated on terrain features, road junctions and towns, failing to realize that the more important objectives were the nearby dams controlling the level of the water obstacle standing between the Americans and the Rhine, i.e., the Roer. Miller vividly describes the bloody confrontation in the forest near Aachen from late 1944 into early '45, with the Germans conducting a well-executed delaying action that bought time for a buildup of forces for their last-ditch Ardennes campaign. The ferocity of the fighting was typified by the experience of the 22nd Infantry, which lost 108 officers and 2575 enlisted men in exchange for four miles of tactically useless woods. Miller's detailed account of the climactic assault on the Schwammenauel Dam by the 78th Division drives home the theme of this well-researched study: the overriding importance of defining a clear and logical objective at the beginning of a military campaign. Major Miller is on active duty with the U.S. Army in Germany as an ordnance officer. Illustrations.

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A Dark and Bloody Ground is the best telling of the bloody H�rtgen Forest campaign I''ve read. It''s gritty, hard-hitting, and explodes like a hand grenade. . . . This is a compelling and incredibly detailed account�a must read for professional soldiers, and a good, exciting read for anyone interested in one of the most costly blunders of World War II."--David H. Hackworth, author of About Face and Brave Men (David H. Hackworth, author of About Face and Brave Men )

About the Author

Customer Reviews

If you want the facts, this is it!
My father was a combat engineer in World War II and served north of Aachen at the time of the Huertgen Forest battles. He has always wanted to go see the forest and, thus, this past father's day I invited him on a self-guided 'Normandy-to-the-Rhine' visit to europe. In preparation for the trip, we found plenty of information on Normandy, the Bulge, Remagen and many other better-known battles and battlegrounds, but found very little useful information on one of WWII's bloodiest battles: The Battle of the Huertgen Forest. That is, until I came across Edward Miller's, 'A Dark and Bloody Ground'. The book, while somewhat dry reading, is a must for anyone who really wants to know about the initiation, escalation and ultimate conclusion of this battle. While citing facts and figures which seem well authenticated and footnoted, Miller avoids editorializing for the most part. Where he does opine, it is seemingly not without sound military reasoning. From a personal standpoint, I used the book in order to pinpoint very specific locations within the forest. If you've ever visited there, you won't find many historical markers to guide you. You better come with some sort of roadmap and knowledge of the battle or your trip will be worthless! The maps that are contained in the book, and the anecdotal descriptions that are provided, gave us excellent references with which to locate places which were strategically important during the battle. In one instance, my father and I ventured down an old logging road (probably 'Road W' as Miller described it) and ventured by foot off the path toward the Wieser Weh creek. The east bank of this creek was the sight of numerous assaults by the americans in an effort to take the Duren-Simerath road and the town of Huertgen. My dad and I located foxhole after foxhole with some bunker remnants along this incline that were just as we imagined they would have been installed there by the germans. They had obviously been a bit weathered over the course of 55 years, but if you've ever seen this forest, the sight of so many ordered impressions in this otherwise dark, smooth ground definitely left you with the impression that something significant happened there. We visited Hill 400, the Wilde Sau minefield and the town of Schmidt. We saw remnants of the 'dragons teeth' associated with the Siegfried line. Almost all of this was due to having read Miller's account of this battle and the excellent detail provided therein. After reading this book, I have two recommendations for anyone interested in the subject of the Huertgen Forest battle: (1)read this book and dog-ear any pages which describe locations & events in detail and, (2)go visit the forest for yourself. You will get the feeling of accomplishment associated with the fact that you did your homework and saw something historic that few people have taken the time to see. For that, I salute the work that Mr. Miller has done on this bloody part of US military history.

This should be a text nook at West Point
My comments on DARK AND BLOODY GROUND by LTC Edward Miller are lifted from a five page letter sent to then Major Miller 3.5 years ago.

Tom Clancy wrote in DEBT OF HONOR, "If it isn't written down, it never happened." Now with his book, we know the battle(s) in the Hürtgen Forest occurred. However, after battle reports etc. may be incomplete, inaccurate, and `sanitize and/or fictionalized' by rear echelon scribes. In some respect, reading this book is like reading about a war on another planet, and as in all the others I've read, hindsight is 20/20. This book is a monumental work, and Colonel David H. Hackworth (Ret) is right, he wrote; "***- a must for professional soldiers [members of Congress] and a good, exciting read for anyone interested [and survivors] in one of the most costly blunders of WW II." Those high echelon generals responsible for this debacle, unlike Robert McNamara, did not confess to their errors or say they were sorry. This book, and Colonel Hackworth's observation were too late for those 55,000 plus names listed on the Vietnam Memorial. LTC Miller indicted generals for their misdeeds like Colonel Hackworth indicted generals in his book ABOUT FACE for their misdeed in Vietnam.

I survived eight campaigns with the 45th Infntry Division in Europe.

Attrition warfare at its worse, chronicled at its best
Edward G. Miller's "A Dark and Bloody Ground" is a tour de force piece of academic-grade conflict history. Miller's research is solid and thorough and he covers a lot of ground in 200 or so pages, taking us from the initial commitment of American troops to the forest so oft referred to simply as "Hell" (by both sides!), through nearly three months of attrition fighting involving parts or all of TEN US Army divisions, to the final capture of the Roer River dams that lie on the other side of that seventy-odd square miles of Hell. Miller states up front that he wishes to provide a clear and concise overview of the Battles for the Hurtgen in a way previously not done. In this he is quite successful.

With respect to readability, Miller's writing style is quite easy to follow but it is made a bit choppy and (at least initially) hard to follow because he switches between American and German units frequently and unless/until the reader is familiar with which side of the line what unit numbers belong this can make the going tough. A simple use of italics to refer to German units (for example) would have gone a long way towards providing clarity for the reader. Robert Rush (or his publisher) used this tactic in his book on the Hurtgen (see comparison to Miller's book below) with great success.

The final chapter of Miller's book, entitled "Analysis" is worth the price of admission for its insights. Miller provides testimony from commanders who were there and can, looking back, see where problems arose and successes were achieved. The biggest "problem" with the battles of the Hurtgen forest, as Miller and his supporting players see it, was the lack of proper tactical goals, namely the Roer River dams. The dams were not in fact objectives until late in the game after many thousands of casualties were sustained on both sides. Until these proper objectives were articulated the US Army goal in the Hurtgen was to drive the enemy back and capture roads and settlements, as had been the case in Normandy and Brittany. Breaching the Westwall was important and laudable but the casualties were not. Hindsight is always clearer than foresight.

"A Dark and Bloody Ground" is, in the end, a solid piece of historical work worthy of a read. Despite some potential "readability" problems Miller has crafted a four star gem. Anyone interested in learning more about the Hurtgen Forest battles should check out Robert Rush's "Hell in the Hurtgen" which, unlike Miller's book which deals broadly with the whole campaign, focuses on a single 4th Division Regiment, the 22nd, and its time spent dying in the Hurtgen. In a literary sense Rush's book is superior, although both hold their own against each other on content!