Battle of Aachen

US Army soldiers (2nd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment) in the streets of Aachen, October 15, 1944

date	October 2-21, 1944
place	Aachen , Germany
output	Occupation of Aachen by the US Army

Parties to the conflict
United States 48 United States	German Reich NS German Empire
Commander
United States 48 Courtney Hodges	German Reich NS Gerhard Wilck
Troop strength
100,000 soldiers	13,000 soldiers; 5,000 Volkssturm
losses
2,000 fallen; 3,000 wounded	4,000 fallen; 2,000 wounded; ~ 12,000 prisoners, including 3,473 members of the Volkssturm

Columns of German prisoners of war through the ruins of the city of Aachen in October 1944

The Battle of Aachen took place in the city of Aachen in October 1944 during the Second World War . During the fighting, 20,000 of the original 160,000 inhabitants (1939) lived there . The city was defended by Wehrmacht soldiers . From October 12th, Colonel Gerhard Wilck was their commandant.

location

Aachen is the westernmost city in Germany . As the imperial city of Charlemagne and the coronation site of the German emperors, it was and is of great cultural importance. In military terms, however, the city did not matter because the main battle line on West Wall (the Allies also called Siegfried Line known) east of the city went and Aachen only by weak fortifications was integrated in it. Consequently, the large built-up area of Aachen was primarily an obstacle for the Allied forces that they wanted to bypass as quickly as possible in order to be able to attack or penetrate the Siegfried Line further east. The defending German forces were also relatively weak.

The Allied forces involved in the Battle of Aachen consisted of the American VII Corps and the XIX Corps , which attacked on both sides of the city. On the German side, Aachen was in the defense area of the LXXXI. Army corps with four weak divisions totaling around 18,000 men and the garrison force in Aachen under Colonel Maximilian Leyherr. This was replaced on October 12th by Colonel Gerhard Wilck ; Hitler assigned about 5,000 soldiers to the Volkssturm to Wilck .

course

After the persecution of German troops through France through which passed VII Corps on 12 September 1944, the German border and pushed until September 15 south of Aachen on the West Wall before, to difficult terrain and growing resistance of the armed forces to advance in the area Stolberg to Brought to a halt. Strong positions in the south of Aachen were bypassed. As early as September 14, 1944, the US units had taken the Kornelimünster district in the south without causing any major damage.

The XIX Corps operated north of the VII Corps, but had fallen back a few days and was to attack the Siegfried Line north of Aachen on September 20. However, the overstretched supply lines delayed an attack until October 2, since the armed forces are still of the harbors in Cherbourg and Normandy were supplied (the port of Antwerp was indeed in Allied hands, but he could only after the Battle of the Scheldt be used ). The ports on the Channel Coast had been declared "fortresses" and were still occupied by German garrisons.

At the beginning of October, the 30th US Infantry Division (XIX Corps) and the 18th Infantry Regiment of the 1st US Infantry Division (VII Corps) began to encircle Aachen in a pincer attack . While the 18th Infantry Regiment reached its operational goals in the Verlautenheide / Haaren area to the east of Aachen on October 8, the 30th US Infantry Division needed until October 16 to reach its target in the Würselen area and thus close the ring around Aachen . Both pincer arms had to prevail against expanded German positions, bitter resistance and repeated counterattacks. Here, not in Aachen itself, was the focus of the fighting, in which German reserves tried again and again to relieve Aachen .

On October 10th, an offer of surrender was made to the occupation of Aachen . When this expired, the city was bombed by artillery and air forces. In particular, there were demoralizing hours of use of US P-47 “Thunderbolt” fighter-bombers .

On October 12, Hitler replaced Maximilian Leyherr , who had been city commander until then, with Colonel Gerhard Wilck . Wilck was obliged to hold on “to the last man” . This corresponded to Hitler's order that the defenders of German cities and villages only had to "hold the position or destroy them". Field Marshal von Rundstedt reminded the defense lawyers of Aachen several times of this order. Wilck knew that there was no military point in staying in Aachen.

A storm attack on Aachen did not initially take place, as the two US divisions had to defend themselves against severe German counter-attacks, which lasted until October 19.

On October 12, the 26th Infantry Regiment of the 1st US Infantry Division attacked downtown Aachen directly. One battalion of the regiment occupied the factories in the northeast of the city, two further battalions launched an attack on October 13 and 14 in the direction of the Lousberg , at the foot of which was the headquarters of the enclosed Aachen defense forces in an air raid shelter. Another important elevation in the north (Stadtgarten) was occupied, which gave the US troops an overview of the city. On October 15, another battalion was assigned to the 26th Infantry Regiment to occupy the captured districts. Shortly afterwards, a mixed task force consisting of a tank and an infantry battalion was deployed, which was able to take the target after heavy fighting until October 19.

At 12:05 p.m. on October 21, Colonel Wilck surrendered and went into captivity with 3,473 men after US troops broke through to his command post. A total of almost 12,000 German soldiers were taken prisoner.

According to the reports of the Reich Propaganda Ministry, the fate of Aachen received a lot of attention in all parts of the Reich. Before the surrender, Wilck had heroic radio messages sent.

literature

Timm Haasler: The Western Wall hold or go down with the West Wall . Part 2: The 2nd Aachen Battle . Helios-Verlag , Aachen 2013, ISBN 978-3-86933-088-4 .
Edward M. Pierce: Corps Offensive Operations against a City . US Army Command and General Staff College , Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) 1964, pp. 49-57 (also dissertation).
Christoph Rass, René Rohrkamp , Peter M. Quadflieg : General Graf von Schwerin and the end of the war in Aachen. Event, myth, analysis . Shaker Verlag, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8322-6623-3 (Aachen studies on economic and social history; 3).

Web links

General

US Army Center of Military History

The Battle of Aachen - A Set Attack Against the West Wall (English)
The Battle of Aachen - Closing the Circle (English)
The Battle of Aachen - Assault on the City (English)
Map of operations from October 7th

Footnotes

^ Paul Fabianek: Consequences of secularization for the monasteries in the Rhineland - Using the example of the monasteries Schwarzenbroich and Kornelimünster, 2012, Verlag BoD, ISBN 978-3-8482-1795-3 , p. 30/31, with excerpts from the secret daily reports of German armed forces leadership to the '' Lage West '' from 13 to 15 September 1944 ( Army Group B / LXXXI AK).
↑ ^a ^b see also Klaus-Dietmar Henke: The American Occupation of Germany , Oldenbourg, 2nd ed. 1996, page 154f.
↑ Cf. Aachener Zeitung : How the war ended: After the third whiskey, the Aachen commandant surrendered , from: October 11, 2019; accessed on: October 23, 2019.

[1] Paul Fabianek: Consequences of secularization for the monasteries in the Rhineland - Using the example of the monasteries Schwarzenbroich and Kornelimünster, 2012, Verlag BoD, ISBN 978-3-8482-1795-3 , p. 30/31, with excerpts from the secret daily reports of German armed forces leadership to the '' Lage West '' from 13 to 15 September 1944 ( Army Group B / LXXXI AK).

[henke-2] see also Klaus-Dietmar Henke: The American Occupation of Germany , Oldenbourg, 2nd ed. 1996, page 154f.

[3] Cf. Aachener Zeitung : How the war ended: After the third whiskey, the Aachen commandant surrendered , from: October 11, 2019; accessed on: October 23, 2019.