The Hurtgen Forest

The Hürtgen Forest lies just inside Germany, south of Aachen — about fifty square miles of dense fir, steep ravines and firebreaks the Germans had mined and covered with machine guns. American divisions went into it in September 1944 and were still there in February 1945. It was the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought.

Artillery shells burst in the treetops and came down as splinters of steel and wood, so digging in did no good. Tanks could not use the tracks. The wounded were carried out by hand, over roots and through mud, for miles. The 28th Division alone lost more than 6,000 men in November around the village of Schmidt.

The forest was fought for its own sake. The dams on the Roer beyond it were not taken until February.

The stretcher crosses the picture at walking pace and the whole composition leans with it. The bearers' faces are set, not dramatic — this is the third mile, not the first. Behind them the firs close ranks in every direction with no sky above and no horizon between, and the standing water underfoot repeats their shapes in mud-colored reflections. Other men sit at the edges, waiting their turn or too tired to move. The light comes from nowhere in particular.