Most Pointless Battle

[Kraxis]

My nomination comes from a battle fought in WW2 by the Americans, Hurtgen Forest.

What a utter waste of time, resources and lives to drive the Germans from a forest that was easily defended and difficult to attack into.

No tactical value in destroying the German Division in the forest. No Tactical value, minumial stragetic value in gaining the forest. The German unit in the forest did not have the ability to pose much of a threat to allied lines - the terrian would have made it just as difficult for them to attack with the limited resources available to them.

Completely pointless and one of the only command mistakes ever made by General Bradley.

Very good nominee! I would agree with you, it was very pointless, and bloody for it.

And you are right that the div posed no thread as it was one of the later Volkgrenadier units (the early units were infantry units that had earned the title). Basically the Germans didn't hold the 'usual edge in experience, training and small scale leadership. And they were even worse than usual in terms of equipment and quality of men.
It was a purely defensive unit in a defensive position. You want to leave those alone.

rotor- you make a good point. But the Allies won becasue they had intel, not because the Germans couldn't have pulled it off. Had the Allies not gotten the intel as they did, the attack would perhaps not have been a supreme surprise, but the strength would have surprised them. And given the limited advance they would have needed to make, it wouldn't have been that far out to see them actually pull it off.
Remember, that was the only way the Germans could have seen it. Of course then it is arguable how much of a chance they had and if it was worth the risk of failure, and that was why the German commanders weren't too sure about this. But that only underline that some at least considered it possible.

So the plan was sound, the meaning of the battle was correct and the position of the Germans was that it could be done from what they knew. Not pointless in my eyes. Had they known what the Allies knew, then it would have been pointless.

Remember one thing of the battle. It is the alltime highest scoring battle for 'Jabos'... says the 'Jabos' themselves. They claimed 126 tank kills. Actual German losses were somewhere around 60, and total amont of tanks were just less than 120, and after the battle it was confirmed that the AT-guns knocked about 50 tanks out. So either the pilots inflated their kills so badly that it begs a questioning of their entire record, or the Germans had many many more tanks than they let on.