Between September 1944 and February 1945, US troops fought their longest battle in history, one so punishing soldiers called it 'The Meat Grinder' or 'Death Factory.' When troops entered the forest, they knew their mission: capture the dams on the other side. They never suspected progress would be so slow it would be measured in yards. What stood between the Allies and their goal? Minefields, artillery units, and hundreds of German pillboxes, not to mention mud, cliffs and ravines and the prospect of the Germans flooding the dams to delay Allied progress.