Battle of Hurtgen Forest

The Battle of Hurtgen Forest: Rur Dam is the sixth Battle in the Allied Campaign.

Preface
Initially aiming at cutting off German supply lines through the Hurtgen Forest towards the North where both Allies and Germans were dug in at Aachen, the offensive by the US forces led into a long series of cruel battles that spanned months between September 1944 and February 1945. Defenders under Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model managed to stop the American attack in its tracks and denied Allied forces the opportunity to attack and occupy the great dam at the head of the Rur Reservoir. Allied command feared that given the chance, the Germans would open the flood gates and swamp the downstream areas to halt the American advance. As the Battle of Hurtgen Forest raged on into the new year, the Ardennes Offensive came to a halt in Belgium in January, and the dam was finally taken over by American forces on 10 February, but not before the defenders flooded the whole valley the night before, delaying advance for several weeks.