75th anniversary of D-Day...

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Tidewater

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November 7, 1944: ...Marcus Dillard, a mortar gunner with the 12th Infantry's Company M (still six weeks shy of his 19th birthday) who had stepped onto Utah Beach on D-Day, shared the following:
________
“As it got brighter, what I saw scared me. Shell holes all over, the trees, most of them looked like shredded matchsticks with points. Half of the trees standing, the bark was torn off by shrapnel. Just utter devastation. It was cold, rainy, foggy. Just plain miserable. No hot food, just K rations. Our positions must have been the only open area around because we had to have clearance overhead in order to fire our 81s. The Germans had to know our positions because of that. We could not see our targets but were told what they were.”

“The artillery fire on us was very intense. The Germans started a barrage that lasted over three hours. We had cut logs and put them over the slit trenches that had mounds of dirt around them. We could not even get out to our mortar positions, which were about 20 to 30 feet out in the clearing. The telephone line to the company CP was cut by the barrage, and we had no communication. We could not give supporting fire until we fixed the cut lines.”
Not sure if many on the board understand mortars.
Leaving mortars in place means that the baseplates remain set.
The accuracy of a mortar relies on firing one round, to "set" the baseplate (i.e. drives it into the ground) and subsequent rounds are very accurate. Mortars do not have to see their targets to be accurate. Once the baseplate is set, the crew uses aiming stakes driven into the ground near the mortar pit. Aiming using the aiming stakes, plus deflection (left and right), elevation (up and down), and charge (how much propellant to put behind the round when firing) make the mortar fire very accurately. I am not surprised the two units would swap mortar tubes. That was actually pretty smart.
 
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Tidewater

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Also, although I'm sure most following this closely know it, Hitler was enforcing strict radio silence, prior to Wacht am Rhein. They managed it communicating via courier. He had become suspicious that his Enigma encryption had been compromised (he was correct). Some historians have speculated that he feared that some of the assassination conspirators had compromised the code, although there's no evidence of that. Without that, it's doubtful that the Ardennes offensive would have gotten off the ground...
If the Allies had followed my Monday morning QB advice and attacked down the Moselle towards Koblenz by early December, I wonder how far that attack would have gotten before the Germans would have been forced to peel Wacht-am-Rhein forces out of the plan to deal with the penetration.

There is another Situation Map coming up on Tuesday and, as far as the Allies knew, the German 353rd Infantry Division was all that stood between the the U.S. VIII Corps and Koblenz. Push hard enough on that division (we now know), and it would turn into a German hornets nest.
 
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crimsonaudio

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November 8, 1944: German resistance on Walcharen Island ceases and the garrison survivors surrender to the forces of the Canadian 1st Army. The US 3rd Army begins a new offensive around Metz and to the south. During the day, the Seille River is crossed, and Nomony captured. Allied troops capture Veere and Koudekerke in the Netherlands.

The fight for Vossenack is described as "savage as was the struggle for Aachen - and one of much greater scope." It is said that fighting of "unexcelled bitterness" is raging continuously over all the Hurtgen Forest region. The Town of Schmidt, which the Germans recaptured in a counter-attack two days ago, is still in enemy hands. Despite the house-to-house nature of the fighting in Vossenack, American artillery continues blasting away at German positions in the upper part of the town and fighter-bombers (389 sorties flown) pinpoint targets along the main street. Special dynamite units are used to blow up enemy pillboxes. "In the Schmidt area alone there are up to 50 German tanks. The enemy is holding on all over this front, which covers the approaches to Duren and to Cologne itself, as he has rarely held on to any local area in this campaign,” according to Associated Press Correspondent William S. White.

A German counter-attack is repulsed west of Hurtgen, and fighter-bombers bomb and strafe military buildings northeast of Gelsenkirchen and hit targets at Juelich, and fuel and ammunition dumps at Dueren. US 1st Army continues withdrawing from Kall brideghead.

Over Germany, US 8th Air Force attacks Merseburg with 193 bombers, Rheine with 77 bombers, and targets of opportunity with 19 bombers. RAF Bomber Command sends 136 aircraft to attack Homberg during the day, 59 aircraft to attack Herford overnight, and 50 aircraft to attack Hannover overnight. Luftwaffe ace Major Walter Nowotny claims his 258th victory after shooting down a B-24 Liberator bomber over Hesepe near Osnabrück, Germany - moments later, his Me 262 jet fighter is hit by a US P-51 fighter (possibly the one piloted by 1st Lieutenant Richard Stevens). Nowotny does not survive the crash.

On the eastern front, 25,000 Jews are forced to walk over 100 miles in rain and snow from Budapest, Hungary to the Austrian border, followed by a second forced march of 50,000 persons, ending at Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Many die en route from starvation, cold, and exhaustion.

In Italy, British 8th Corps (part of British 8th Army) launches new attacks south of Forli as well as towards Modigliana, Dovadola, and Castrocaro. Meanwhile, US 12th Air Force aircraft provide ground support and attack transportation targets in northern Italy.

After the German propagandist Joseph Goebbels publicly announces the on-going V-2 rocket campaign against Britain to the world for the first time, Prime Minister Churchill admits that the mysterious explosions in southeast England, in recent weeks, are in fact the result of the missile strikes.

Pictured: 2nd Lt. Joseph Alter (B Company, 1340th) volunteered to assist in the evacuation of wounded in the Hurtgen Forest on November 8, 1944. As he was looking for a vehicle, he passed through the village of Vossenack where he found an M29 Weasel - perfect to travel over a foot a snow that had fallen.; Shattered remains of a church in Vossenack.; M4A3E8 Medium Tank with the 761st Tank Battalion outside of Nancy France on November 8, 1944.; An M4 Sherman tank of the 761st Tank Battalion, Company A crosses a bailey bridge over the river Seille in Vic-sur-Seille, France on November 8, 1944.

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crimsonaudio

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November 9, 1944: As the fight in ‘Green Hell’ (the Hurtgen Forest) continues, the attack has effectively been halted, with loss of most of the ground gained in its early phases. Kommerscheidt, the village between Vossenack and Schmidt taken by US 1st Army, is lost and American infantry is driven back 500 yards to high ground to the northwest. Considerable progress has been made in clearing Hurtgen Forest and the Germans have suffered severe casualties, primarily due to superior Allied artillery. Vossenack is still the scene of heavy house-to-house fighting, with each side holding approximately half the town.

In Hurtgen, 4th Infantry Division troops begin an attack designed to eliminate a salient that extended into the Weisser Wehe Valley. Companies I and K are designated as the main assault units, but a 500-yard-wide minefield separates them. The German gunners, mines and soldiers with small arms effectively break up the attack, inflicting severe losses. When some GIs try returning to their old foxholes, they find Germans in residence. Again, command and control breaks down - shortages of food and ammunition afflict the Americans. The splintered 12th Regiment reverts to the 4th Division. Only three days after being committed, it is in shambles, counting 562 casualties among its complement of 2,300.

Elements of US 3rd Army cross the Moselle River around Metz with support from US 8th Air Force (730 bombers attack Metz and 47 bombers attack Thionville) and US 9th Air Force (74 bombers attack Metz). Further south, US 12th Corps continues advancing beyond the Seille River, capturing Chateau Salins. US 7th Army clearing Rao-l'Etape sector.

After finishing clearing Walcharen Island yesterday, Canadian 1st Army is regrouping and clearing the sector along the Maas. German troops withdrew from the Moerdijk bridgehead in the Netherlands across the Meuse River.

Over Germany, RAF Bomber Command sends 277 aircraft to attack Wanne-Eickel during the day and launches a third raid on Homburg.

First Lieutenant Donald J. Gott (pilot) and Second Lieutenant William E. Metzger, Jr.(co-pilot), both serving on a B-17 Flying Fortress in the 729th Bomb Squadron, 452nd Bombardment Group, earn the Medal of Honor. On that day, during a bombing mission over Saarbrücken, Germany, his plane was severely damaged and several of the crew wounded by enemy fire. Knowing that the most seriously injured crewman needed immediate medical aid, and fearing that he would not receive such aid if he was dropped by parachute into enemy territory, Gott and the co-pilot, William E. Metzger, Jr., decided to try to fly the crippled aircraft back into Allied territory. Once reaching friendly airspace, the two stayed behind with the seriously injured man while the other crewman parachuted to safety. Gott and his co-pilot attempted a crash landing, but the aircraft exploded before touching down, killing all three on board. For their actions, both Gott and Metzger were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor six months later, on May 16, 1945. Gott, aged 21 at his death, was buried in Harmon Cemetery, Harmon, Oklahoma and Metzger, aged 22 at his death, was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in his hometown of Lima, Ohio.
Here is Gott’s medal of Honor citation (Metzger’s is identical, only the name and rank are changed).
“On a bombing run upon the marshaling yards at Saarbrücken a B-17 aircraft piloted by 1st. Lt. Gott was seriously damaged by antiaircraft fire. Three of the aircraft's engines were damaged beyond control and on fire; dangerous flames from the No. 4 engine were leaping back as far as the tail assembly. Flares in the cockpit were ignited and a fire raged therein, which was further increased by free-flowing fluid from damaged hydraulic lines. The interphone system was rendered useless. In addition to these serious mechanical difficulties the engineer was wounded in the leg and the radio operator's arm was severed below the elbow. Suffering from intense pain, despite the application of a tourniquet, the radio operator fell unconscious. Faced with the imminent explosion of his aircraft, and death to his entire crew, mere seconds before bombs away on the target, 1st. Lt. Gott and his copilot conferred. Something had to be done immediately to save the life of the wounded radio operator. The lack of a static line and the thought that his unconscious body striking the ground in unknown territory would not bring immediate medical attention forced a quick decision. 1st. Lt. Gott and his copilot decided to fly the flaming aircraft to friendly territory and then attempt to crash land. Bombs were released on the target and the crippled aircraft proceeded alone to Allied-controlled territory. When that had been reached, 1st. Lt. Gott had the copilot personally inform all crewmembers to bail out. The copilot chose to remain with 1st. Lt. Gott in order to assist in landing the bomber. With only one normally functioning engine, and with the danger of explosion much greater, the aircraft banked into an open field, and when it was at an altitude of 100 feet it exploded, crashed, exploded again and then disintegrated. All 3 crewmembers were instantly killed. 1st. Lt. Gott's loyalty to his crew, his determination to accomplish the task set forth to him, and his deed of knowingly performing what may have been his last service to his country was an example of valor at its highest.”

On the eastern front, the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front crosses the Danube at Kiskoszeg.

In Italy, Allied troops crossed the Montone River, British 4th Division (an element of British 8th Army) captures Forli, and US 5th Army captures Monte Budriatto.

Pictured: GIs prepare to move out on patrol in the Hurtgen Forest on November 9, 1944.; Members of Battery A, 4520 AA stand by and check their equipment while the convoy takes a break.; Members of a mortar company of the 92nd Division pass the ammunition and heave it at the Germans in an almost endless stream near Massa, Italy. This company is credited with liquidating several machine gun nests on November 9, 1944.

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Tidewater

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The more detail you read, the worse it's revealed to have been...
I am reminded of a reconstructed conversation between James Longstreet and R. E. Lee on the evening of 1 July.
Lee: "If the enemy is there tomorrow, I will strike him."
Longstreet: "If Meade is there, it is because he wants you to attack him. All the more reason we should not attack them there."

Once the U.S. Army realized how stiff the opposition was, it was probably time to look elsewhere.
 
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TIDE-HSV

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I am reminded of a reconstructed conversation between James Longstreet and R. E. Lee on the morning of 2 July.
Lee: "If the enemy is there tomorrow, I will strike him."
Longstreet: "If Meade is there, it is because he wants you to attack him. All the more reason we should not attack them there."

Once the U.S. Army realized how stiff the opposition was, it was probably time to look elsewhere.
The survivors, some of whom had been through North Africa and Normandy said that the Hürtgen was the worst of the worst. It's interesting to me that one of the fears Hodges evinced was that the Germans would hide and lurk there and attack his flank in the drive across the Rhine. As it turned out, that was exactly what happened in the Bulge. There was extremely bad leadership at the top...

All told, 120,000 soldiers sustained 33,000 casualties in what the historian Carlo D’Este would call “the most ineptly fought series of battles of the war in the West.” A captured German document reported that “in combat in wooded areas the American showed himself completely unfit,” a harsh judgment that had a whiff of legitimacy with respect to American generalship.
 

Tidewater

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If you have the appetite for it, here is is an exhaustive treatment on the Hürtgen fiasco:

History.net
historian Russell F. Weigley said:
The most likely way to make the Hürtgen a menace to the American Army, was to send American troops attacking into its depths.
Weigley is another excellent military historian and I believe he was right in this.
 
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crimsonaudio

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November 10, 1944: On the western front, Forces of US 3rd Army is heavily engaged as it continues to advance beyond the Moselle River to the south of Thionville and farther south beyond Metz, while US 7th Army attacks around Etival, Vanemont, and La Houssiere.

In the continuing battle for the Hurtgen Forest, army commander General Hodges directs establishment of a new corps boundary between the V and VII Corps in preparation for the beginning of the main 1st Army drive. The 12th Infantry takes control of the 4th Division, which is moving into the Hürtgen Forest to fight under the VII Corps in the coming offensive. But before the 12th Infantry passes to the VII Corps, General Cota orders an attack to assist the attached regiment in securing the other half of the proposed line of departure overlooking Hürtgen. The attack is to be made by the 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry. Driving north from the Vossenack church into the wooded (Tiefen creek) area separating the Vossenack and Brandenberg-Bergstein ridges, this battalion is intended to gain that part of the woods line that had remained in German hands despite repeated American attacks from the north of Germeter.

Even with some replacements the rifle companies of 109th ID totaled only 62, 55, and 73 men, respectively. A heavy German artillery concentration holds up one company and another gets lost in the woods, while the third reaches the objective. There the company is alone - nobody knows where the company was. For three days the men remain undetected while Germans shuffle past them in the forest. Even without enemy action, just staying alive begins to become a critical mission. Aggravated by snow, sleet, and cold, and with no way to treat it, trench foot sweeps through the ranks. Some men stand guard in muddy foxholes on their knees. By the time the Germans discover the company on 14 November, food is already exhausted. As the enemy surrounds them, the men cling to their position without food, drinking water, or ammunition (other than that in their belts). To the 89th Division defense of this position becomes a "point of honor." Three days later a relief column finally breaks through to halt the attack. Two days later the men fight their way back to Germeter. Only 33 of the 190 were left.

Over Germany, US 8th Air Force attacks Cologne with 193 bombers, Hanau with 290 bombers, and Wiesbaden with 178 bombers while the RAF Bomber Command sends 59 aircraft to attack Hannover overnight.

In Italy, British 8th Army is attacking beyond Forli against strong resistance and the US 5th Army continues pushing forward around Monte Ponpegno and Monte Bassana. US 12th Air Force aircraft provide support to ground forces and attack transportation targets in the Po valley and Brenner Pass.

The British government lifted the ban on reporting rocket attacks on Britain after Prime Minister Churchill announces to the Parliament that British cities had been under rocket attack "for the last few weeks"; German V-2 rocket attacks had in fact started on 8 Sep 1944, or more than two months prior to Churchill's announcement. On the same day, a V-2 rocket hit Goulson Street in Stepney, London, England United Kingdom, killing 19, seriously injuring 97, and lightly injuring 323.

Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg (former ambassador to the Soviet Union) is executed for participation in plot against Hitler. Also on this date, Hitler approves plans for Ardennes offensive.

Pictured: GIs from 1st Battalion fighting in Hurtgen; Men of 2nd Platoon, D Company, 39th Infantry Regiment in action, November 10, 1944.; Burned out jeep remains from the 99th Reconnaissance Troop (99th Infantry Division) near Kalterherberg, Germany, November 10, 1944.; Men arrested on the Oudedijk in Rotterdam during the roundups on November 10, 1944 - the picture was taken secretly from a home.

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TIDE-HSV

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Weigley is another excellent military historian and I believe he was right in this.
You know, JW, this is just a place where we'll just have to agree to disagree. I think any veteran of the Hürtgen would say that you'd prefer any place on earth, including a plain, over the Hürtgen. In fact, many who'd fought before on plains basically said exactly that. There are forests and then there is the Hürtgen. For those who are not that familiar with Germany, there the ridges are mostly left in woods and the valleys and floodplains are cultivated. In the Hürtgen, the valleys are so precipitate, this is impossible. The valleys are in tangled vegetation. OTOH, the ridges are flattened, plateau-like. This is where the villages are located. Schmidt, the village which changed hands several times, has a view commanding almost all of the Hürtgen. It's unique, and not in a good way for an attacking force...
 

Tidewater

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You know, JW, this is just a place where we'll just have to agree to disagree. I think any veteran of the Hürtgen would say that you'd prefer any place on earth, including a plain, over the Hürtgen. In fact, many who'd fought before on plains basically said exactly that. There are forests and then there is the Hürtgen. For those who are not that familiar with Germany, there the ridges are mostly left in woods and the valleys and floodplains are cultivated. In the Hürtgen, the valleys are so precipitate, this is impossible. The valleys are in tangled vegetation. OTOH, the ridges are flattened, plateau-like. This is where the villages are located. Schmidt, the village which changed hands several times, has a view commanding almost all of the Hürtgen. It's unique, and not in a good way for an attacking force...
I will freely confess the light infantryman's preference for close terrain. The tough bit for the infantry, any infantry, is the last 300 meters. Look at the background of the photos Brad has posted and you can see only about 150 meters, so for half that distance attacking infantry is concealed by forest. Of course that cuts both ways, counterattacking German forces are also concealed until they are close t defending American troops.
What I think really made the Hürtgen bad for the American troops was the German troop density.
Take a gander at the SitMap for 12 Nov 1944. The sector I had suggested (Bitburg-Trier, along the northern bank of the Moselle), a stretch of front of about 30 km, contained the one German division, the 353rd Infantry Division.
12th AG SitMap 11 Nov 44 353 Div.jpg
The sector between Eschweiler and Heimbach, where the Hürtgen fighting was going on, also around 30 km, contained five Germany infantry divisions, a Panzer brigade, and Panzer division (the 116th). In other words (assuming the divisions in both sectors held around the same strength), around seven times the defensive forces.
12th AG SitMap 11 Nov 44 LXXXI Corps.jpg
Stick your nose into that sector, and get ready for a bloody nose. Looking back, soldiers will remember the hills as being a steeper, the forest denser. The terrain, however, did not kill all those American soldiers. German soldiers did and there were a lot of them in the Hürtgen Forest.

I will go to Hürtgen during my next trip to Belgium and see for myself. I'll take photos and post them here.

During my last trip to the Ardennes, I found the foxholes used by Easy Company (2-506 PIR) outside Foy. They were inside the woods (concealed from German observation), but close enough to the edge of the woods that they could see into the fields between the wood line and Foy (and shoot any Germans advancing across those fields). Using OCOKA, Easy company had excellent Observation and fields of fire, great Cover and concealment, no Obstacles to speak of, they held the Key terrain (the ridge overlooking Foy) and very good Avenues of Approach (the road leading to and from the sector from the rear).
 

Tidewater

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Is the story about the 109th told in Band if Brothers?
I do not think so. I cannot recall where that story would have fit in. The storyline stops at the winding down of Market-Garden (late September 1944) and then jumps to December 16th 1944, when the 101st was called out of strategic reserve near Reims during November and early December, so the storylines of the 109th Infantry Regiment and the 101st Airborne Division did not cross in November.
The entire 101st Airborne Division was surrounded and cut off during the Battle of the Bulge, so maybe you are thinking of that.
 

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November 11, 1944: In the Hurtgen Forest, the American advantage in numbers (roughly 5:1), armor, mobility, and air support has been greatly reduced by weather and terrain - relatively small numbers of determined and prepared German defenders are thus highly effective. As the American divisions continue taking casualties, inexperienced recruits are brought up to the front as replacements. The incredibly dense forest also limits the use of tanks and hides anti-tank teams equipped with panzerfausts. Improvised rocket launchers are made using rocket tubes from aircraft and spare jeep trailers. Continued bad weather means the planned First and Ninth Army’s attack to cross the Rur River is postponed until weather permits the needed large-scale air support via Operation Queen.

US Third Army establishes 3 bridgeheads across the Moselle River in northern France. In response, German First Armee moved its headquarters out of Metz.
________
The ‘Green Hell’ of Hurtgen as described by a replacement to 28th Division who arrived on November 11, 1944:
“First came the report of the firing cannon, distant and muffled. This would be quickly followed by a sibilant rustling, the first hint of which was easily mistaken for the wind whistling through the pine trees - and vice versa. I dove headlong into my hole a number of times, terrified and completely at sea, before I began slowly to be able to tell the difference.

The rustling then grew to a roar and was followed by a blinding overhead flash of light and an ear-splitting detonation, very staccato, as though some giant had taken a half dozen large trees and snapped them like match sticks inside my head. These overpowering jolts were followed by the whine and scream of the fragments of shrapnel hurtling down from the overhead boughs, and the final echoes of the tumult resounding from the nearby hills, until - after many seconds of quiet - it seemed safe to unwind from my fetal position in the bottom of the hole to see if I was still in one piece.

There were perhaps a dozen more or less similar occurrences during the course of that first two hours. I was experiencing “harassing fire” and tree bursts, as I later came to learn. Harassing fire was intended not so much to cause casualties as to keep those at whom it was aimed nervous, awake and uptight. It sure did the job that night! Tree bursts meant that the artillerists had set the fuses of the shells so that they would detonate on slightest impact, as by grazing a tree branch. This was intended to shower the troops below with the scythe-like action of shrapnel from above, on the theory - an entirely accurate one, usually - that more damage would be done that way than if it struck the ground, to be muffled by earth and snow.”
________

The Allies continue taking advantage of air superiority by attacking the German infrastructure: US 8th Air Force attacks Gelsenkirchen with 100 bombers, Bottrop with 124 bombers, Oberlahnstein with 146 bombers, Koblenz, Rheine, and targets of opportunity with 50 bombers while US 15th Air Force attacks several locations with a total of 100 bombers. meanwhile, RAF Bomber Command sends 122 aircraft to attack Castrop-Rauxel, 237 aircraft to attack Harburg, 209 aircraft to attack Dortmund, 41 aircraft to attack Kamen, and 12 aircraft to attack Osnabruk (most RAF raids were overnight).

On the eastern front, the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front opens new drive against Budapest, attacking German 8th Army along the Tizsa River.

In Italy, the bloody battle at the Gothic Line continue as British 8th Army pushes toward the Montone River and US 5th Army unsuccessfully attacks Monte San Bartolo. US 12th Air Force aircraft provide support to ground forces and attack transportation targets in the Po valley while US 15th Air Force attacks an airfield and three bridges in northern Italy.

Pictured: US 9th Infantry Division men walk through the Hurtgen Forest, November 11, 1944.; The aftermath of German tree burst shelling in the Hurtgen. “The days were so terrible I would pray for darkness, and the nights were so bad I would pray for daylight.”; Parade of the 1st Armored Divisionin liberated Breda, the Netherlands, November 11, 1944.; Newspaper image of the Allied advances around Metz, November 11, 1944.

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Tidewater

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November 11, 1944: ... The rustling then grew to a roar and was followed by a blinding overhead flash of light and an ear-splitting detonation, very staccato, as though some giant had taken a half dozen large trees and snapped them like match sticks inside my head. These overpowering jolts were followed by the whine and scream of the fragments of shrapnel hurtling down from the overhead boughs, and the final echoes of the tumult resounding from the nearby hills, until - after many seconds of quiet - it seemed safe to unwind from my fetal position in the bottom of the hole to see if I was still in one piece.

There were perhaps a dozen more or less similar occurrences during the course of that first two hours. I was experiencing “harassing fire” and tree bursts, as I later came to learn. Harassing fire was intended not so much to cause casualties as to keep those at whom it was aimed nervous, awake and uptight. It sure did the job that night! Tree bursts meant that the artillerists had set the fuses of the shells so that they would detonate on slightest impact, as by grazing a tree branch. This was intended to shower the troops below with the scythe-like action of shrapnel from above, on the theory - an entirely accurate one, usually - that more damage would be done that way than if it struck the ground, to be muffled by earth and snow.”
This is a Point Detonating (PD) or "PD Quick" fuse. Hit a branch and shower shrapnel down on soldiers beneath (unless they are in a foxhole with overhead cover).
This is what is does (eventually, once you've fired enough rounds).
The aftermath of German tree burst shelling in the Hurtgen. “The days were so terrible I would pray for darkness, and the nights were so bad I would pray for daylight.”

View attachment 4848
If there is no forest (i.e. out in an open field), the round explodes when it hits the ground shooting shrapnel out laterally from the impact crater. Anyone standing up within, say, 50m is likely to get a nasty shrapnel wound. Anyone below ground level in a foxhole will be largely immune to shrapnel wounds (because the shrapnel will pass harmlessly over his head). A soldier in a foxhole is still susceptible to concussion effects if the round is close enough.
 
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