The Huertgen forest is situated near the Belgian boundary in the distant West of Germany in the Eifel national park near the Belgian national park. In the world war II, the battle of the Huertgen forest was the goriest and prolonged battle that the US army ever fought. The ditch warfare element of this contest is what made it referred to as “the verdun of world war II” (McIntyre, 2014) Charles B. MacDonald described the battle as inappropriate and really unproductive. He wrote many of the World War II authorised antiquities since he was United States’ ex assistant leading historian. MacDonald was appointed as a US military captain through the military’s ROTC and sent to Europe after he had graduated from Presbyterian college (McIntyre, 2014) . When he was 21 years old that was in September 1944, he ordered the 23rd infantry troop’s ransack company and was later awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star.
During the Second World War, various battles were fought between the Germans and the Americans. One of these battles is the battle of the Huertgen Forest (Clayton & Barnes, 2015). This war is described by Charles MacDonald in his book entitled The Battle of the Huertgen Forest. This paper is an analysis of the author and the book.
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MacDonald writes this book using the experience of situations he faced during the war. In 1944, MacDonald was a commander in the army of the United States. He was the commander of a rifle company, and this company had the mandate of aiding in the capturing of the Huertgen Forest (Previdi, 2012). This was meant to stop the Germans from advancing. MacDonald was conversant with the harsh conditions that the soldiers endured in the war and also the mindset that the leaders utilized during one the battlefields of the Europeans. In 1945, he was wounded on the battlefield when leading his army. These factors make MacDonald the most suited person to talk about the battle at the Huertgen Forest. Based on the experiences about combat MacDonald is able to show the armies of the Americans and Germans with empathy and also point out the mistakes in the strategy that the American army applied during the battle (McIntyre, 2014).
Another aspect that makes this book written by MacDonald effective and referred to is because MacDonald also wrote other stories about the Second World War. He, therefore, understood the war well and gave accurate information about the war. Some of his other books include The Mighty Endeavor: American Armed Forces in the European Theater in World War II, On a Field of Red: The Communist International and the Coming of World War II and Company Commander (McIntyre, 2014) .
MacDonald performs an excellent job in explaining the various events during the battle between the army of the United States and that of the Germans. He writes this book to demonstrate how the terrain of the land affected the logistics, tactics and the battle. He states how the terrain of the Huertgen Forest posed a great challenge for the Americans who were on the Western Front (Previdi, 2012). The book portrays how, the first army of the United States, between September and December 1944, was faced with a continuous obstacle to conducting its offensive operations. MacDonald also depicts how the Germans, who were thought to be weak, defeated the Americans Irrespective of them having many soldiers, improved equipment and a good mastery of the air as compared to the Germans who did not have enough equipment and also lacked enough soldiers (Previdi, 2012).
MacDonald also explains how the first army had many veteran units and how it faced many challenges during the negotiation of the terrain of the forest. Through this book, the various techniques that the Germans used to win the battle are illustrated (Cho, Shen & Wilson, 2014). The Germans hid in thick vegetation thus shielding themselves from the weapons that were being used by the Americans.
MacDonald describes a subject that most United States historians do not write about since the country lost the war. Moreover, the book illustrates how the remains of the Siegfried Line, which were fortifications of concrete that were constructed by Adolf Hitler, acted as measures of defense for the Germans (Nulton, 2015). He lays out the facts for each person to read and make an informed decision about whether the war was necessary or whether it could have been prevented. In explaining the defeat of the U.S army, MacDonald explains how the many divisions in the Americans were overpowered. The divisions include the 4 th infantry, 1 st infantry, 9 th infantry, 28 th division and 83 rd division (O'Sullivan, 2013). Through the death of soldiers as a result of these divisions, historians are able to account for the large number of the United States soldiers who died during the Second World War (Nash, 2015).
The effectiveness of the author is seen through the way that he presents the book. First, the cover of the book gives the reader an idea of what the book talks about since it shows soldiers and weapons that are used in the war (Cho, Shen & Wilson, 2014). Second, he begins the book by explaining the Huertgen forest so that every reader is able to build the story from the start. Thereafter, MacDonald explains subsequent events. Therefore, the book has well laid out structure.
In this book, MacDonald seems to support the idea that many soldiers die without a particular cause for going to war or they are forgotten after the war. In the book, 4,500 soldiers are killed during this war was the longest continuous battle (Meyers, 2015). However, many people up to date do not know about it because historians and the media intentionally ignored it since the United States army lost.
This book is an effective narrative since it gives a chronological order of events as they occurred during the battle (Cho, Shen & Wilson, 2014). The book begins by talking about the forest and thereafter proceeds to talk about the unrest that was present in the German camp. Thereafter, it describes the war between the Americans and the Germans. MacDonald goes ahead to illustrate how this war led to the 9 th division and thereafter the 28 th division (Groove, 2015). After these events, it describes the 4 th division and finally ends up illustrating the consequences that resulted from the war. Therefore, the order of the events in this book makes the events appears a narrative.
There are a number of conclusions that MacDonald comes up in the book. He believes that a war that can be prevented should not be allowed to start since the effects will be tragic. Dialogue and treaties should be used to solve conflicts between different countries and societies (Clayton & Barnes, 2015). MacDonald determines that in war, it is not wise to underestimate one's opponents since this is what led to the defeat of the United States Army by the Germans. MacDonald also concludes that the irresponsibility and pride of commanders and army leaders are responsible for the death of many soldiers since these leaders believe that their strategies will always work. In the war, it is the commanders who led the soldiers from each division through the fifty square mile forest (Passmore, Harrison & Tunwell, 2014). Even after observing that the Germans were killing them since they had surrounded that area, the leaders still continued to lead their troops there with no change of strategy at all. Another conclusion is that soldiers need to be remembered since they dedicated their lives to their countries irrespective of whether they won or lost the war (Clayton & Barnes, 2015). In addition, MacDonald strongly affirms that unity is necessary for victory in a war irrespective of the number of individuals and weapons that are present.
However, in the quest of giving the readers a clear picture of the occurrences during the battle of the Huertgen Forest, MacDonald used an approach which is difficult for most readers. In the book, MacDonald identifies many places where the battle was taking place but fails to include maps to make the readers conversant with the places (Cho, Shen & Wilson, 2014). The failure to use maps when explaining the about different battalions, divisions and regiments make it difficult to follow the story. In addition, though some maps have been placed, these maps are in the wrong places, therefore, interfering with the flow of the story (Clayton & Barnes, 2015). In addition, even though MacDonald repeats some of the paragraphs and sentences to emphasize certain facts and ideas, some people misinterpret this as lack of writing skills and are therefore discouraged to continue reading the book (Cho, Shen & Wilson, 2014). A common phrase that is repeated in the book is “Top Brass” to refer to the army commanders. In the story, MacDonald also digresses and begins to talk about the American politicians a factor that distorts the flow of the story. It is also depicted that t he opponents underrated the German militaries’ remaining fortitude and will power considering their strength and power completely reduced as a result of the Normandy escape and the decrease of the Falaise (Clayton & Barnes, 2015) . The American soldiers were not distributed in Schmidt area appropriately nor did they attempt to own the Rur Dams and identify the function of Hill 400 until a later period of the battle. The Germans used almost 30 divisions but still did not achieve their main objectives in the arctic zone of their attack when they pushed a big strike in the American marks nearly sixty feet deep to its endpoint. The 6th Panzer Army was assigned to work harder in opening the paths for the Germans to proceed straight to Antwerp through the Rollbahns (Clayton & Barnes, 2015) . At the Hurtgen Army Graveyard is a stone monument containing a bronze wave. It was bestowed by the U.S experts in remembrance of Friedrich Lengfield who was a German deputy whose death was caused by stern injuries as he saved an American military who had been injured at the Wild Sow.
Through this Charles MacDonald book, a crucial part of history that is often ignored is understood by many people. The occurrence and consequences of the battle of the Huertgen forest are well understood. Even though the story has a few hitches, the author is able to pass his intended message, based on the real happenings in the war. The descriptions are clear and even helps a reader to relate to the events of that time. The book is quite fascinating and intriguing and it can be a good fit for any person who is interested in learning about the battle of the Huertgen forest and what it means to the history of the wars that have taken place.
References
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