In this video, I will take you on a short tour through the Hürtgenwald museum in Vossenack.
This excellent, privately owned museum, is open on Sundays from 11:00 to 17:00h from March to November.
Vossenack was one of the towns that the Americans were able to capture with relative ease after which they went into the woods where the carnage that became the Battle of the Hürtgenwald really started. The battle lasted from 19 September 1944 to 16 December 1944, the day the Germans launched the Ardennes offensive. Unfortunately, the battle here was only paused and in early January 1945 the Americans resumed the offensive. It wasn’t until the end of February that the fighting here was over, the cost in men killed in that period is staggering. The Americans lost 33,000 to 55,000 men killed, wounded and missing while the Germans suffered 28,000 casualties.
The saddest part of this battle is that it was needless, pointless and useless. This bit of extremely hilly woodland could have easily been outflanked on both sides but instead, the Americans from the First Army choose to attack it frontally. It became the longest battle the Americans ever fought.
In the museum are artifacts that were found in the woods as well as weapons, gear, medals etc, there even is wreckage from a crashed bomber on display but I did not have time to film that.
For more information about the museum, please visit their website: https://www.museum-huertgenwald.de/
