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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.54213551
EAN num: 9780700613601
ISBN number: 0700613609
Label: University Press of Kansas
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 403
Printing Date: 2004-09
Publishing house: University Press of Kansas
Sale Popularity Level: 288512
Studio: University Press of Kansas
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Some of the most brutally intense infantry combat in World War II occurred within Germany's Hürtgen Forest. Focusing on the bitterly fought battle between the American 22d Infantry Regiment and elements of the German LXXIV Korps around Grosshau, Rush chronicles small-unit combat at its most extreme and shows why, despite enormous losses, the Americans persevered in the Hürtgenwald 'meat grinder.'
On 16 November 1944, the 22d Infantry entered the Hürtgen Forest as part of the U.S. Army's drive to cross the Roer River. During the subsequent eighteen days, the 22d suffered more than 2,800 casualties--or about 86 percent of its normal strength of about 3,250 officers and men. After three days of fighting, the regiment had lost all three battalion commanders. After seven days, rifle company strengths stood at 50 percent and by battle's end each had suffered nearly 140 percent casualties.
Despite these horrendous losses, the 22d Regiment survived and fought on, due in part to army personnel policies that ensured that unit strengths remained high even during extreme combat. Previously wounded soldiers returned to their units and new replacements, purple to battle, arrived to follow the remaining battle-hardened cadre.
The German units in the Hürtgenwald suffered the same horrendous attrition, with one telling difference. German replacement policy detracted from rather than enhanced German combat effectiveness. Organizations had high paper strength but low manpower, and commanders consolidated decimated units time after time until these ever-dwindling bands of soldiers disappeared forever: killed, wounded, captured, or surrendered. The performance of American and German forces during this harrowing eighteen days of combat was largely a product of their respective backgrounds, training, and organization.
Rush's work underscores both the horrors of combat and the resiliency of American organizations. While honoring the sacrifice and triumph of the common soldier, it also compels us to reexamine our views on the requisites for victory on the battlefield.
This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
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Rated by buyers 
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A great book if you have an extensive military history background. If you are looking for very first accounts of the battle of the hurtgen Forrest this is not the book for you. Stick to authors like Astor, he has one of the best very first accounts I have ever read. I have noticed that English historians have no idea what happened in Hurtgen, probably because it was an American only battle. I guess it helps to be there to write about it.
Rated by buyers 
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My father was a replacement in the 22nd infantry regiment while it was engaged in the Hurtgen Forest.
If you are interested in a detailed account of this regiment's actions in that battle, this is a book you will definitely want to read.
Extraordinarily detailed with wonderful maps. I'm a student of the Civil War and my main complaint about books I've read about Civil War battles is that they contain a paucity of maps.
This book doesn't have that deficiency.
Rated by buyers -
Robert Rush does a good job in detailing the story of the 22nd Regiment in the Hürtgen Forest. At times very dry reading, he none the less is able to give a day by day, blow by blow account of the companies of the 22nd Regiment in the meat grinder called Hürtgen. His comparisons between the American G.I.s and his German counterparts are also very interesting.
The statistical part of the book are less enjoyable, but very enlightening, if you can struggle through them. I can't fault the author on his use of statistics to establish and present his facts, but the meat of the book, the actual combat narrative is much more enjoyable.
An excellent book to add to any collection.
Rated by buyers -
Hell in the Hürtgen Forest examines the performance of the American 22nd Infantry Regiment (4th Infantry Division), which engaged elements of the German LXXIV Corps during what the book's author identifies as "some of the most brutally intense infantry combat in World War II". The purpose of this book, however, is not merely to relate the story of the 22nd Infantry, but in addition to determine why the regiment survived and fought on while its German counterparts eventually disintegrated during the battle. Rush concludes that the personnel replacement systems of the opposing armies were directly responsible for the outcome of the battle.
The author, Robert Sterling Rush, is a retired U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major and holds a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Following the introduction chapter, he organizes the fourteen remaining chapters of his book into three distinct parts - the Environment, the Hürtgenwald (Hürtgen Forest), and Analysis. Within the five chapters of Part I (The Environment), Rush discusses not only the terrain and weather of the Hürtgen Forest, but also deals with the induction, training, leadership, and organization of the opposing forces. The six chapters of Part II (The Hürtgenwald) deal with the details of the battle itself. Lastly, the three chapters of Part III (Analysis) include Rush's discusion of organizational effectiveness, an endeavor to answer the question of `What kept the soldiers fighting?', and his conclusions.
During the eighteen days of the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, the 22nd Infantry suffered more than 2,800 casualties, which is about 86% of its normal strength of 3,250. Despite these terrible losses, the 22nd Infantry survived and continued to fight. Why? Rush believes that the regiment's survival was due, in part, to U.S. Army personnel policies that ensured that troop strengths remained high (i.e., the individual replacement system). The German units in the battle suffered from similar rates of attrition, but Rush believes that the German replacement system, which was based on regional recruitment and unit rather than individual replacement, hurt German combat effectiveness.
Rush has produced a well-written and meticulously researched volume, which includes numerous maps, graphs, and charts. He certainly challenges conventional wisdom by praising the individual replacement system that has been so widely criticized by other military historians for the last 25+ years. I do, however, have three problems regarding Rush's conclusions. First, drawing conclusions regarding the American and German replacement systems based only on the experiences of particular units in a single battle seems to be a bit of a stretch. Second, by late 1944 the Germans had been at war for more than five years and their systems of men and material supply had suffered greatly in comparison with the relatively fresh U.S. Army, which might account for some of the apparent sucess or failure of the American and German replacement systems. Third, though Rush does not mention the Vietnam War, I am curious how he would explain the disintegration of the individual replacement system during that conflict, since he has concluded that the system worked so well during World War II. Despite the problems that I have identified, I recommend this book and believe that it will spark some interesting debate.
Rated by buyers 
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This is a day-by-day account of the struggle by the 22nd Infantry Regiment to battle through the infamous H?rtgen Forest. I was looking more for a description of the appalling human experience in this battle. Robert Rush's book is (as the subtitle admittedly makes clear) a military textbook and it reads like one. So this review and rating is intended more as warning to those who are looking for a memoir-like work. This isn't it.
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