As I read through the accounts of many small unit actions contained in this document I was visualizing them in the context of BA play.The Battle of the Huertgen Forest began in September 1944 and culminated in mid-February 1945. It
lasted nearly five months and it cost the U.S. Army more than 34,000 casualties.i It has largely been
forgotten for the past sixty years for several reasons. One, it was one of the bloodiest and most disastrous
campaigns the U. S. Army conducted in the Second World War. Two, its beginning was eclipsed by both
Field Marshal Montgomery’s Operation Market-Garden, whose final objective was to capture a bridge
over the Rhine at Arnhem, and the German’s surprise attack in mid-December through the Ardennes.
What followed was the “Battle of the Bulge”. This hard fought and well earned allied victory
overshadowed the debacle that was occurring less than twenty miles to the north of the Ardennes.
Operation Market-Garden and the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ are two of the most documented and written about
battles in history, ensuring that they will never be forgotten by present and future generations.
Even though this account was about the destruction of a US division and the loss of command at that level, I could also see how many of the fundamental principles discussed, and which were violated by MG Cota and resulted in the near destruction of his division, which I could apply in BA to improve my play.
My last MP game, which I played as mirror games taking each side, saw me completely wiped out in both games because I violated the same key principles that Cota did; specifically,
By directing that Cota split his forces he was robbed of unity of command and thanks
to the corps commanders plan, at least five of the nine principles of war were violated (objective, mass,
maneuver, unity of command, and simplicity).
