Hard-edged war film

When someone makes a war film about an important battle or front that history has almost forgot I always applaud it. The Battle of Hurtgen Forest on the Belgian/German border took place immediately before the German Ardennes Offensive in Winter 1944, the so-called Battle of the Bulge, last gasp German push of the war. For this reason it has been overshadowed although the American army suffered over 20,000 casualties during the battle. As the American army try to break through the German Siegfried line they face enormous, desperate German opposition. When Trumpets Fade is centred around a Private known for his 'yellow steak' but as the film progresses his unfaltering desire just to survive whatever the cost, he becomes the reluctant hero embarking on daring raids with a unit of raw replacements. This is a tragic film, although for a HBO movie the effects and the cinematography are superb. My only real problem with this is it fails to portray the sheer scale of the battlefield leaving you feeling that it was just a couple of hundred men against a few German artillary guns and tanks. However if you enjoy war films that bring a different edge to the craft then this is good choice.