During the Spring and Summer of 1944 the US 9th Infantry Division had covered 450 miles, in a rapid, victorious march through France and Belgium. On a cold, hazy morning, September 13th, they crossed into the Reich. The men were eager and confident as befits a veteran outfit, besides, opposition had been light, even non existent. Within 24 hours they had penetrated the out defenses of the Siegfried Line to a depth of six miles. On Friday 15th the German defense started to thicken, the 47th Regiment of the 9th Division was camped at the edge of a forest. Staff Sgt Le Barr was manning a road block when men marching in columns 3 abreast appeared through the early morning haze. Unable to identify them, La Barr trained his carbine on the officer in the front. Seeing the Americans the officer reached for the MP40 slung around his neck, it was the last thing he ever did as La Barr's bullet hit him square between the eyes. The columns of Germans scattered into the forest on either side of the road and returned fire. The Americans began to give ground as the Germans called up tank support. In the American camp, cook T/4 Clarence Ed Coombs was preparing breakfast when the 60 ton bulk of a Tiger tank came to a halt right outside his field kitchen. Coombs put down his meat cleaver and picked up a bazooka, even a cook couldn't miss at that range, the side of the tank caved in as the bazooka round struck with a great ringing clang. The 5 man crew dragged themselves, dazed and smoke blackened from the tank, Coombs had discarded the bazooka and picked up a Thompson SMG, and he mercilessly cut them down. One of Coombs' NCO's would later sigh to a reporter from Stars and Stripes, "What a soldier, it's just a shame he can't cook worth a damn"! What now followed was possibly the greatest mistake of the Americans 11 month campaign in Europe, for this was not 'a' forest, this was The Hurtgen Forest. Honeycombed with trenches and fortified positions, manned by heavily armed Germans. Entire Divisions were sent into the tightly packed trees, air superiority was useless, tanks and artillery barely made themselves felt. On average a Division lasted 2 weeks and was withdrawn, decimated, only to be replaced by another Division. Week in week out, month in month out, the blood bath continued, through 1944 into 1945 for six months the 'Green Hell of The Hurtgen' was the greatest 'bloodletting' in the history of the U.S Army in Europe. What was so vital that made this worthwhile?....nothing. The forest had no strategic value, it could have been bye-passed, burned, bombed out of existence but instead commanding officers dutifully sent their men to their death. Not one Senior officer registered a complaint about what General 'Slim' Jim Gavin would later call 'The Battle That Should Not Have Been Fought'........ And you thought Gordon Ramsey was a 'bad ass'..... Tiger tank by Ranman38, GI from ThunderR's Eagle1, Field kitchen 'borrowed' from The Plant..... Info from 'Battle of the Hurgen Forest' by Charles Whiting... (well worth a read).