Robert was the son of Robert and Edith I Averell, both of PA. He was the brother of Thomas W, and Edith M, also of PA. He was the grandson of Robert and Sadie Hamilton, both of PA. He married Helen Smink on November 19, 1938.
Excerpts from "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen E. Ambrose, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998
Chapter 6 Metz and the Hurtgen Forest, p. 167-8.
Just south of Aachen lay the Hurtgen Forest. Roughly fifty square miles, it sat along the German-Belgian border, within a triangle outlined by Aachen, Monschau, and Duren. It was densely wooded, with fir trees twenty to thirty meters tall. They blocked the sun, so the forest floor was dark, damp, devoid of underbrush. The firs interlocked their lower limbs at less than two meters, so everyone had to stoop all the time. It was a green cave, always dripping water, low-roofed and forbidding. The terrain is rugged, a series of ridges and deep gorges formed by numerous streams and rivers.
The Roer River ran along the eastern edge of the Hurtgen. Beyond it was the Rhine. First Army wanted to close to the Rhine, which General Hodges decided required driving the Germans out of the forest. Neither he nor his staff noted the obvious point that the Germans controlled the dams upstream on the Roer. If the Americans ever got down into the river valley, the Germans could release the dammed-up water and flood the valley. The forest could have been bypassed to the south, with the dams as the objective. The forest without the dams was worthless; the dams without the forest were priceless. But the generals got it backward, and went for the forest. Thus did the Battle of Hurtgen get started on the basis of a plan that was grossly, even criminally stupid.
...
For the GI's, it was a calamity. In their September action, the 9th and 2nd Armored lost up to 80 percent of their front-line troops, and gained almost nothing. In October, the 9th---reinforced---tried again, but by mid month it was dead in the water and had suffered terribly. Casualties were around 4,500 for an advance of 3000 meters.
PFC Barclay Averell was one of the 4500 casualties of this ill fought Battle of Hurtgen Forest. He was killed in action on October 19, 1944. He was buried initially in a cemetery near Aachen, Belgium. His body was transferred to Philadelphia after the war and buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery.
Excerpts from "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen E. Ambrose, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998
Chapter 6 Metz and the Hurtgen Forest, p. 167-8.
Just south of Aachen lay the Hurtgen Forest. Roughly fifty square miles, it sat along the German-Belgian border, within a triangle outlined by Aachen, Monschau, and Duren. It was densely wooded, with fir trees twenty to thirty meters tall. They blocked the sun, so the forest floor was dark, damp, devoid of underbrush. The firs interlocked their lower limbs at less than two meters, so everyone had to stoop all the time. It was a green cave, always dripping water, low-roofed and forbidding. The terrain is rugged, a series of ridges and deep gorges formed by numerous streams and rivers.
The Roer River ran along the eastern edge of the Hurtgen. Beyond it was the Rhine. First Army wanted to close to the Rhine, which General Hodges decided required driving the Germans out of the forest. Neither he nor his staff noted the obvious point that the Germans controlled the dams upstream on the Roer. If the Americans ever got down into the river valley, the Germans could release the dammed-up water and flood the valley. The forest could have been bypassed to the south, with the dams as the objective. The forest without the dams was worthless; the dams without the forest were priceless. But the generals got it backward, and went for the forest. Thus did the Battle of Hurtgen get started on the basis of a plan that was grossly, even criminally stupid.
...
For the GI's, it was a calamity. In their September action, the 9th and 2nd Armored lost up to 80 percent of their front-line troops, and gained almost nothing. In October, the 9th---reinforced---tried again, but by mid month it was dead in the water and had suffered terribly. Casualties were around 4,500 for an advance of 3000 meters.
PFC Barclay Averell was one of the 4500 casualties of this ill fought Battle of Hurtgen Forest. He was killed in action on October 19, 1944. He was buried initially in a cemetery near Aachen, Belgium. His body was transferred to Philadelphia after the war and buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery.
Robert was the son of Robert and Edith I Averell, both of PA. He was the brother of Thomas W, and Edith M, also of PA. He was the grandson of Robert and Sadie Hamilton, both of PA. He married Helen Smink on November 19, 1938.
Excerpts from "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen E. Ambrose, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998
Chapter 6 Metz and the Hurtgen Forest, p. 167-8.
Just south of Aachen lay the Hurtgen Forest. Roughly fifty square miles, it sat along the German-Belgian border, within a triangle outlined by Aachen, Monschau, and Duren. It was densely wooded, with fir trees twenty to thirty meters tall. They blocked the sun, so the forest floor was dark, damp, devoid of underbrush. The firs interlocked their lower limbs at less than two meters, so everyone had to stoop all the time. It was a green cave, always dripping water, low-roofed and forbidding. The terrain is rugged, a series of ridges and deep gorges formed by numerous streams and rivers.
The Roer River ran along the eastern edge of the Hurtgen. Beyond it was the Rhine. First Army wanted to close to the Rhine, which General Hodges decided required driving the Germans out of the forest. Neither he nor his staff noted the obvious point that the Germans controlled the dams upstream on the Roer. If the Americans ever got down into the river valley, the Germans could release the dammed-up water and flood the valley. The forest could have been bypassed to the south, with the dams as the objective. The forest without the dams was worthless; the dams without the forest were priceless. But the generals got it backward, and went for the forest. Thus did the Battle of Hurtgen get started on the basis of a plan that was grossly, even criminally stupid.
...
For the GI's, it was a calamity. In their September action, the 9th and 2nd Armored lost up to 80 percent of their front-line troops, and gained almost nothing. In October, the 9th---reinforced---tried again, but by mid month it was dead in the water and had suffered terribly. Casualties were around 4,500 for an advance of 3000 meters.
PFC Barclay Averell was one of the 4500 casualties of this ill fought Battle of Hurtgen Forest. He was killed in action on October 19, 1944. He was buried initially in a cemetery near Aachen, Belgium. His body was transferred to Philadelphia after the war and buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery.
Excerpts from "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen E. Ambrose, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998
Chapter 6 Metz and the Hurtgen Forest, p. 167-8.
Just south of Aachen lay the Hurtgen Forest. Roughly fifty square miles, it sat along the German-Belgian border, within a triangle outlined by Aachen, Monschau, and Duren. It was densely wooded, with fir trees twenty to thirty meters tall. They blocked the sun, so the forest floor was dark, damp, devoid of underbrush. The firs interlocked their lower limbs at less than two meters, so everyone had to stoop all the time. It was a green cave, always dripping water, low-roofed and forbidding. The terrain is rugged, a series of ridges and deep gorges formed by numerous streams and rivers.
The Roer River ran along the eastern edge of the Hurtgen. Beyond it was the Rhine. First Army wanted to close to the Rhine, which General Hodges decided required driving the Germans out of the forest. Neither he nor his staff noted the obvious point that the Germans controlled the dams upstream on the Roer. If the Americans ever got down into the river valley, the Germans could release the dammed-up water and flood the valley. The forest could have been bypassed to the south, with the dams as the objective. The forest without the dams was worthless; the dams without the forest were priceless. But the generals got it backward, and went for the forest. Thus did the Battle of Hurtgen get started on the basis of a plan that was grossly, even criminally stupid.
...
For the GI's, it was a calamity. In their September action, the 9th and 2nd Armored lost up to 80 percent of their front-line troops, and gained almost nothing. In October, the 9th---reinforced---tried again, but by mid month it was dead in the water and had suffered terribly. Casualties were around 4,500 for an advance of 3000 meters.
PFC Barclay Averell was one of the 4500 casualties of this ill fought Battle of Hurtgen Forest. He was killed in action on October 19, 1944. He was buried initially in a cemetery near Aachen, Belgium. His body was transferred to Philadelphia after the war and buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery.
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