Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hurtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-1945

  • By: Edward G. Miller
  • Narrated by: Peter Hassinger
  • Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hurtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-1945 cover art

A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hurtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-1945

By: Edward G. Miller
Narrated by: Peter Hassinger
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Liri Valley cover art
Bloody Verrieres cover art
Blood, Dust and Snow cover art
Battle Hardened cover art
The Gothic Line cover art
On to Victory cover art
Brave Battalion cover art
About Face cover art
Tank Action cover art
Okinawa cover art
No Greater Valor cover art
Meat Grinder cover art
Twilight of the Gods cover art
The Winds of War cover art
The Reckoning cover art
When Titans Clashed cover art

Summary

A victorious American army, having driven through Belgium almost unopposed, ran head-on into German soldiers on their own home ground, in some of the most rugged country in western Germany - and at the beginning of the worst fall and winter weather in decades.

In late 1944, American forces advanced into the hilly, heavily wooded Hürtgen Forest southeast of Aachen, Germany. For weeks, without a clear-cut reason for attacking through the forest, US commanders nevertheless ordered units of as many as seven divisions into the woods to be chewed up by German infantry and artillery. Many companies suffered huge numbers of casualties.

The Battle of the Bulge interrupted the Hürtgen Forest battles but did not end them. The Bulge provided a hiatus for the wartorn countryside around the forest and the Roer River dams. Then, beginning in January 1945, American forces resumed their offensive and were finally able to break through after one of the bloodiest and, for the US Army, most disastrous campaigns of World War II.

The book examines uncertainty of command at the army, corps, and division levels and emphasizes the confusion and fear of ground combat at the level of company and battalion - "where they do the dying." Its gripping description of the battle is based on government records and a rich selection of first-person accounts.

Forrest C. Pogue Award, presented by the Eisenhower Center for American Studies. The book is published by Texas A&M University Press.

©1995 Edward G. Miller (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"This is a thorough, interesting study, which every student of World War II operations in northwest Europe should read." ( Army History) "This educational and informative book is worth reading by anyone wanting to know more about the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest." ( The Journal of America's Military Past)

More from the same

What listeners say about A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hurtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-1945

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

detailed

Very detailed account of the battle with glimpses of personal experiences but mainly a historical account of what happened as a whole, army to army.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Hurtgen review

Didn't enjoy the book, couldn't get into it at all. very well researched and lots of information but just couldn't get pictures in my head of the story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!