The Bloody Forest: The Battle for the Huertgen, September 1944 - January 1945

by Gerald Astor

Participants in the battle for the Huertgen Forest recount their experiences, describing a poorly conceived and directed campaign that turned out to be one of the deadliest of the war.

Genres: History, World War II, Military History

480 pages, Hardcover

First published July 11, 2000

About the author

Gerald Morton Astor, a native of New Haven, grew up in Mount Vernon, N.Y. After his Army service in the Second World War, he received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton. He was the picture editor of Sports Illustrated in its early years and worked as an editor for Sport magazine, Look, The Saturday Evening Post and Time.

Besides his accounts of the Battle of the Bulge and the air war in Europe, Mr. Astor wrote of World War II in books including “The Greatest War: Americans in Combat, 1941-1945,” “June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day,” “Operation Iceberg: The Invasion and Conquest of Okinawa in World War II” and biographies of Maj. Gen. Terry Allen, a leading combat commander in both North Africa and Europe, and the Nazi medical experimenter Dr. Josef Mengele.

He also wrote “The Right to Fight: A History of African Americans in the Military” and “Presidents at War,” an account of presidents’ evolving assertion of authority to take military action in the absence of a Congressional declaration of war.

Mr. Astor edited “The Baseball Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book” and wrote a biography of the heavyweight champion Joe Louis, “And a Credit to His Race.” He collaborated with Anthony Villano, a former F.B.I. agent who recruited informants from the Mafia, in “Brick Agent.”

Reviews

[John Nellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good oral history of the battle of the Hurtgen forest. It gave a good overview of the campaign with lots of first hand accounts. The author has written many oral histories of American troops in world war two. I have read several of his other works. I liked thisbook in particular, because it dealt with a battle not a lot of books have covered.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hard read for many reasons. The sad waste of 24,000 GI's lives, for nothing. The way the top Brass get away with slaughtering thousands of lives, to move pins on a map, without ever going to see the hell the troops were going through.
The book itself is made up of amazing first hand knowledge from the soldiers themselves. But I just couldn't work out what was going on and where and who. Reading "About a mile northeast of Gressenich was the objective of 1st Division 16th Infantry..." I needed maps showing troop movements and who they are.
But I'm glad I have read this, it has given me and understanding and appreciation of the sacrifice of these men.

[Corky · Rating 4 out of 5]

another great account of the horror that was the Hurtgen.

[Carsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a mess! Not only the battle(s) but also the book. It's poorly stitched together first-hand accounts. And while these accounts are certainly very interesting, the rest of the book does them a disservice. Not a single useful map, the formatting makes it virtually impossible to distinguish where one story ends and the next starts, and the author's rare commentary is not helping either. It's a pity, for the men whose stories are being told deserve better.

[Ivan Liska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely worth a read if you are interested in the military operations of U.S. Army during Second World War. However, one should note, that the book is focused primarily on personal experiences of individual soldiers and if this is your first book about the Hurtgen forest campaign, you might get a bit lost in it. I read a number of articles and books about this battle before and all the locations, units and actions were very familiar to me. Simply, it was easy for me to paint the whole picture. If you are also familiar with the battle, this is must read.

The final chapter is dedicated to the after-war lives of men from both sides, who took part in the battle and are mentioned in the previous chapters. Some of these men from the opposing sides have met in the forest again, this time during the time of peace. A number is decribed as already deceased. It's sad that now in 2024 that number is probably far greater, since the book was written in 2000. The author, too, has died around 2008. May he rest in peace and thank you for bringing us such an important peace of war literature.

[Matt Peterson]

Amazing book about a forgotten battle. First-hand accounts of the batttle make it hit a personal note and give you a feeling of actually being there.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good account of the battle told with lots of first person accounts in the author's style. It's toward the top of the list of the Hurtgen Forrest books I've read.

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent oral account of the Hurtgen forest and the various debacles that cost the US more casualties than the Germans. Raw, honest, and moving par for the course for Astor.

[Lake County Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Interesting."
-Vera/Munster

[Jeffrey Edick · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book with lots of details, including Army Units and individuals, dates and locations of battles and skirmishes. The battle details are amazing and makes one wonder how anyone survived. The one thing I missed is a series of maps to follow along the ebbs and flows of the battles. I highly recommend this book as a base of info into the US Army's longest defeat.