517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team - Battle of Hurtgen Forest

Battle of Hurtgen Forest

The 78th was to attack east on 6 February to seize Schmidt and the Schwammenauel Dam. The 517th RCT was to move north to the Kleinhau-Bergstein area, relieve elements of the 8th Infantry and attack south from Bergstein during darkness on 5 February to seize the Schmidt-Nideggen Ridge. The Germans had prepared the strongest defenses of the western front in this area.

By 0600 on the morning of 5 February, all units had closed at Kleinhau. The German line ran from Zerkall west and South of Hill 400 to the Kall River.

After dark the 2nd and 3rd Battalions moved into attack positions. Five to six hundred yards below Bergstein, both battalions hit minefields and concertina wire. The troopers attempted to move forward by crawling and probing, but all efforts proved futile. Men were blown up by Schu mines, Teller mines and "Bouncing Bettys." In Bergstein the troopers found some protection from small-arms fire but little else.

In mid-morning the 596th Engineers began working in relays to clear a lane through the largest minefield encountered by the Allies in World War II while under direct enemy observation and fire. For 36 hours the 596th continued this genuinely heroic effort. In the 1st Battalion area, Company A sent a patrol from Hill 400 to Zerkall.

In the early afternoon of 7 February, Colonel Graves was informed that the 517th was released from the 78th Infantry Division and attached to the 82nd Airborne in place. Task Force A had been formed, consisting of the 517th and the 505th Parachute Infantry. The 517th was to continue its planned attack.

During darkness on 7 February, the 1st and 2nd Battalions prepared to go on the attack. At 2145 the 2nd Battalion moved down the lane through the minefields. By 0100 Company E and the remains of Company F were at the edge of the Kall Ravine. At 0145 the 1st Battalion was 400 yards (370 m) southeast of Hill 400. North of the Kall, the 2nd Battalion troopers came under savage machine gun and mortar fire. The 1st Battalion rearranged to Hill 400. At noon a 3rd Battalion patrol was sent west to contact the 505th at the predesignated point on the Kall. Three efforts to reach the point were turned back by machine gun fire.

The rifle strengths of the 517th Battalions, now reduced to company size, would be relieved by the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment that night.

December and January casualties were 653: 565 wounded and 78 killed. February casualties in Germany were 287: 235 wounded and 52 killed. These numbers, do not include evacuations attributable to disease and frozen extremities.