The story of this place
In the dense, misty forest south of Aachen, the US First Army fought from September 1944 to February 1945 in the longest single battle in American army history — and one of its costliest defeats on the Western Front. Steep ravines and thick pines neutralised American armour and air power, while German artillery air-bursts in the treetops rained lethal splinters; GIs called it the 'death factory' and the 'meat grinder'. Around 33,000 American casualties bought only small gains, and Ernest Hemingway, reporting from the front, called it 'Passchendaele with tree bursts'. The battle drew off forces that might have shortened the war and helped set the stage for the German Ardennes offensive. Quiet trails and cemeteries now trace the front through the regrown woods.