Editing Siegfried Line (section)

=== Clashes ===
{{Main|Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine}}
[[File:Americans cross Siegfried Line.jpg|thumb|right|American soldiers cross the Siegfried Line and march into Germany.]]
[[File:Soldiers at the Siegfried Line, February 1945.jpg|thumb|U.S. soldiers pause for a rest among the ruins of the Siegfried Line in the Rhine Valley, February 1945]]

In August 1944, the first clashes took place on the Siegfried Line. The section of the line where most fighting took place was the [[Hürtgenwald]] (Hürtgen Forest) area in the [[Eifel]], {{convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} south-east of Aachen. The [[Aachen Gap]] was the logical route into Germany's Rhineland and its main industrial area, so it was where the Germans concentrated their defence.

The Americans committed an estimated 120,000 troops plus reinforcements to the [[Battle of Hürtgen Forest]]. The battle in the heavily forested area claimed the lives of 24,000 American soldiers, along with 9,000 so-called non-battle casualties — those evacuated because of fatigue, exposure, accidents and disease.<ref>MacDonald, Charles B. (1961). The Roer River Dams. The Siegfried Line Campaign.</ref> The German death toll is not documented. After the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the [[Battle of the Bulge]] began, a last-ditch attempt by the Germans to reverse the course of the war in the West. The offensive started in the area south of the Hürtgenwald, between [[Monschau]] and the [[Luxembourg]]ish town of [[Echternach]]. German loss of life and material was severe and the effort failed. There were serious clashes along other parts of the Siegfried Line and defending soldiers in many bunkers refused to surrender, often fighting to the death. By early 1945, the last Siegfried Line bunkers had fallen at the [[Saar (river)|Saar]] and [[Hunsrück]].

The British 21st Army Group, which  included US formations, also attacked the Siegfried Line. The resulting fighting brought total US losses to approximately 68,000. In addition, the [[First United States Army|First Army]] incurred over 50,000 non-battle casualties and the [[Ninth United States Army|Ninth Army]] over 20,000. That brought the overall cost of the Siegfried Line Campaign, in US personnel, close to 140,000.<ref>The Siegfried Line Campaign. Charles B. MacDonald. Ch. 27</ref>