Warfare and Woodlands: Tracing Environmental and Military History in the Hürtgen Forest

This thesis explores what happens when war enters a forest. From 1944 to 1945, American and German forces fought a long, brutal battle in the Hürtgen Forest near Germany’s western border. The dark, wet, and heavily wooded terrain made the fighting unusually difficult. Soldiers struggled not just with enemy fire, but with freezing rain, deep mud, low visibility, and constant stress. The forest shaped how the battle unfolded and intensified its hardships. But the war’s impact on the forest continued long after the soldiers left. Unexploded bombs and artillery shells littered the ground. During a heatwave in 1947, many of these munitions ignited, causing wildfires that destroyed large areas of woodland. In the aftermath, forest managers planted more diverse and fire-resistant tree species to reduce future risk. In this way, the forest became both a victim of the war and a site of human-led recovery. By combining military and environmental history, this study shows how people and landscapes are connected during and after times of war. The forest was not just a setting for combat—it influenced decisions, shaped experiences, and still carries visible and invisible traces of conflict. This story helps us see forests not only as natural spaces, but also as places that hold memory, trauma, and resilience.