Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, 1944: more dreary freezing rain saturated the Hurtgen forest. Rhineland rivers overflowed their banks, and U.S. Army vehicles skidded on muddy roads. War-weary 26th Regiment infantrymen — many of whom had been in near-constant combat since the Normandy landing in June — spent this soggy day crouched in their foxholes, as always, on alert. Also on this day, several combat patrols captured exhausted German soldiers willing to be taken prisoner and shipped out to the comfort and protection of one of 511 POW camps in America. The prisoners were brought to the company command post, where...