The Roer River Battles

"The Roer River Battles-Germany's Stand at the Westwall 1944-45" by David Higgins.  There have been several books published recently on the fighting along the borders to Germany in 44-45 such as works by Harry Yeide, Douglas Nash and others.  Many more works focus on the Normandy breakout, Falaise, the Seine River, the race across Lorraine, and Market-Garden but fewer have gone in depths on the border battles in recent times.  The period of Oct-Dec 1944 would otherwise seem to be a quiet period but the border battles and long supply lines halted the Allies and led to battles around the Huertgen Forest, Aachen, Nancy, and Metz setting the stage for "The Bulge" and follow-on battle to cross the Rhine and form the Ruhr pocket.  So I thought this would be an interesting read.

Higgins' style of writing is to not delve too deeply into the thunder and drama of a clash but to describe the maneuvers, the objectives, the forces involved, and an outcome.  In that way, the fights of the 9th Infantry Division as they move into the Huertgen Forest costing them 4,500 casualties is summed up in about 10 pages.  Mr. Higgins does provide a focus on the changing orders of battles though without footnotes it leaves me a little leery of taking them at more than face value.  It is nice to have the orbat references amidst the battle descriptions and in the case of the Germans for this time and location of the war, tracing their order of battle is no mean feat.

The US First Army, though restricted in supplies, still had gasoline and ammunition in abundance compared to Patton's Third Army further South in Lorraine and as such the First was capable of some maneuver in the fall and winter of '44.  In the effort to support Montgomery's drive through , two corps of the US First Army were directed to the Aachen Gap thus setting the stage for the protracted Huertgen Forest and  Roer River battles.


Higgins describes the US maneuvers and German counterattacks at a useful battalion-level summary, noting what battalions are involved and some general comments on their state at the time.  This is useful for the wargamer.  The maps, created by Higgins, are detailed but often difficult to quickly discern German from US troops and rivers from roads.

All in all, a recommended read for the wargamer.