Battle of Hürtgen Forest
1944 CE.
Shown on the map at 50.709°, 6.363°.
The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) was a series of 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 mi2) area about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the Belgian–German border. Lasting 88 days, it was the longest battle on German ground during World War II and it is the second longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought after the three-month-long Battle of Bataan. 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. The Americans' initial tactical objectives were to take the village of Schmidt and clear Monschau. In a second phase the Allies wanted to advance to the Rur River as part of Operation Queen. Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model intended to bring the Allied thrust to a standstill.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Hürtgen Forest, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.