"This slugfest was the longest battle America ever fought" Topic

"The Hürtgen Forest is a massive German timberland where 33,000 Americans were killed and wounded in five months of fighting from Sep. 12, 1944 to Feb. 1945 as artillery batteries dueled, tanks clashed, and infantrymen battled each other nonstop.

The initial American movement into the Hürtgen Forest was a side objective for First Army's Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges. He was taking a route above Hürtgen Forest to attack Koln, Germany, during the early days of Operation Market Garden.

If he took the forest himself, the woods would become an impossible obstacle for Germans attempting to counterattack on his southern flank. If he did not, he feared the trees would provide concealment to an enemy that could then threaten his belly at any time…"
Main page
link

Also…
5ad.org/hurtgen_joe.htm

Armand

Why would Petersburg in the ACW not count. Nine months long and with a casualty total exceeding Hurtgen Forest.

Bill N,
Here is a link to the author's web page. He appears to be a good guy but the state of today's journalism demands a "clickbait" title.

link

Wolfhag

That is the norm … "If it bleeds … it leads … "

Without a definition of "battle" it's just a thing to say to get people to click.

Yea, I guess it depends upon how you define "battle", and your frame of reference.

The WWII Battle of the North Atlantic was certainly far, far longer.

Then of course, there's our new, modern paradigm, e.g. the Battle in Afghanistan after 9/11, which makes it a 20 year engagement, which is the REAL, longest battle fought by the USA.

Glup!.

Armand

I feel the north atlantic was more a campaign than a battle.
Similarly, i don't really see afghanistan as a single battle.

I try to see the bright side of things. Afghan opium production has sky-rocketed from 8,000t in 2001 to 200,000t+ in 2020.

:-)

B