The Siegfried Line 1944-45
by Steven J Zaloga
Battle on the German Frontier
Format: Paperback
Date of publication: March 2007
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 9781846031212
The campaign on the German frontier in late 1944 was one of the most frustrating and costly efforts by the US Army in the ETO. The Allies first encountered the Siegfried Line (Westwall) fortifications in September 1944, having pursued the retreating Wehrmacht through Belgium and the Netherlands. The border area around Aachen had been fortified with a double line of bunkers, and both the terrain and the weather made things difficult for the Allies. This book focuses on the involvement of the US First and Ninth armies in the six-month fighting, including the hellish fighting for the Hürtgen forest.
Contents
Introduction
Chronology
The strategic situation
Opposing commanders
Opposing armies
Opposing plans
The campaign
The campaign in retrospect
The battlefields today
Further reading