The Battle of Aachen was a battle of World War II, fought by American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany, between 12 September and 21 October 1944. The city had been incorporated into the Siegfried Line, the main defensive network on Germany's western border; the Allies had hoped to capture it quickly and advance into the industrialized Ruhr basin. Although most of Aachen's civilian population was evacuated before the battle began, much of the city was destroyed and both sides suffered heavy losses during the battle.
It was one of the largest urban battles fought by U.S. forces in World War II, and is considered one of the toughest urban encounters in the entire war. As a result, Aachen became the first city on internationally recognized German soil to be captured by the Allies. Despite their eventual surrender, German defence of the city was robust and significantly disrupted Allied plans for further advance into the country.
Background
Since May 1940, Aachen had been under constant bombing from the Royal Air Force. An indication of what was to come was the raid of 23/24 May 1940 with over 120 bombers. Several raids were witnessed by the famous American war correspondent William Shirer. After increasing tonnages of high explosive bombs, Aachen became one of the first German cities to receive a fire-raid on 12/13 July 1943. The fires destroyed the heart of the old Baroque centre. Subsequent raids in 1944, in particular 11 April and 24-27 May, effectively ‘paralysed’ the City.
By September 1944, the Western Allies had reached Germany's western border, which was protected by the extensive Siegfried Line. On 17 September, British, American, and Polish forces launched Operation Market Garden, an ambitious attempt to bypass the Siegfried Line by crossing the Lower Rhine River in the Netherlands. The failure of this operation, and an acute supply problem brought about by the long distances involved in the rapid drive through France, brought an end to the headlong Allied race toward Berlin. German casualties in France had been high – Field Marshal Walter Model estimated that his 74 divisions had the actual strength of just 25 – but the Western Allies' logistical problems gave the Germans a respite, which they used to begin rebuilding their strength. In September, the Wehrmacht high command's reinforcement of the Siegfried Line brought total troop strength up to an estimated 230,000 soldiers, including 100,000 fresh personnel. At the start of the month, the Germans had had about 100 tanks in the West; by the end, they had roughly 500. As men and equipment continued to flow into the Siegfried Line they were able to establish an average defensive depth of 3.0 mi (4.8 km).
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, set their sights on the occupation of the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland. General George S. Patton's Third Army was given the task of occupying the French region of Lorraine, while General Courtney Hodges's First Army was ordered to break through the front near Aachen. Hodges had initially hoped to bypass the city itself, believing it to be held only by a small garrison, which would presumably surrender once isolated.
The ancient, picturesque city of Aachen had little military value in itself, as it was not a major center of war production. Its population of around 165,000 had not been subject to heavy bombing by the Allies. It was, however, an important symbol to both the Nazi regime and the German people; not only was it the first German city threatened by an enemy during World War II, it was also the historic capital of Charlemagne, founder of the Holy Roman Empire. Historical propaganda produced under Nazi Germany had portrayed Charlemagne as the founder of Germany's "first" empire and whose legacy the Nazis claimed; as such, it was of immense psychological value. The mindset of the city's defenders was further altered by the different attitude the local population had toward them as they fought on home soil for the first time; one German officer commented, "Suddenly we were no longer the Nazis, we were German soldiers."
Aachen and its sector of the front were protected by the Siegfried Line, consisting of several belts of inter-connected pillboxes, forts, and bunkers protected by extensive minefields, "dragon's teeth" anti-tank obstacles, and barbed wire entanglements. In several areas, German defenses were over 10 mi (16 km) deep. Learning from their experiences on the Eastern Front, the Germans ran their main line of resistance down the center of towns located in the defensive wall, taking advantage of narrow streets to limit the mobility of enemy armored vehicles. Despite the low quality of many of the troops manning them, the fortifications protecting Aachen and the Ruhr were a formidable obstacle to the progress of American forces, who saw a breakthrough in this sector as crucial, as the terrain behind Aachen was generally flat, and therefore highly favorable to the motorized Allied armies.
Fighting around Aachen began as early as the second week of September, in a period known to the Germans as the "First Battle of Aachen". At this time, the city was defended by the 116th Panzer Division, under the command of General Gerhard von Schwerin. The proximity of Allied forces had caused the majority of the city's government officials to flee before the evacuation of its citizens was complete. (For this, Hitler had all Nazi officials who had fled stripped of rank and sent to the Eastern front as privates.) Instead of continuing the evacuation, von Schwerin opted to surrender the city to Allied forces; however, on 13 September, before he could deliver a letter of capitulation he had written, von Schwerin was ordered to launch a counterattack against American forces penetrating southwest of Aachen, which he did, using elements of his panzergrenadier forces. The German general's attempt to surrender the city would soon become irrelevant, as his letter was never delivered; instead, it fell into the hands of Adolf Hitler, who ordered the general's immediate arrest. He was replaced by Colonel Gerhard Wilck. (Von Schwerin was ultimately only reprimanded, and later served on the Italian front.) The United States' VII Corps continued to probe German defenses, despite the resistance encountered on 12–13 September. Between 14 and 16 September the US 1st Infantry Division continued its advance in the face of strong defenses and repeated counterattacks, ultimately creating a half-moon arc around the city. This slow advance came to a halt in late September, due to the supply problem, and the diversion of existing stocks of fuel and ammunition for Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.
Comparison of forces
German defenders in Aachen
The Wehrmacht took advantage of the brief respite on the front by pulling the 1st, 2nd, and 12th SS Panzer Divisions, as well as the 9th and 116th Panzer Divisions, off the line. In October, responsibility for the Aachen sector's defense was given to General Friedrich Köchling's LXXXI Corps, which included the 183rd and 246th Volksgrenadier Divisions, as well as the 12th and 49th Infantry Divisions. These forces, along with the attached 506th Tank Battalion and 108th Tank Brigade, numbered roughly 20,000 men and 11 tanks. Köchling was also promised a reformed 116th Panzer Division and the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division, numbering a total of some 24,000 personnel. The 246th Volksgrenadier Division replaced the 116th Panzer Division in Aachen proper, the 183rd Volksgrenadier Division and 49th Infantry Division defended the northern approaches, and the 12th Infantry Division was positioned to the south. On 7 October, elements of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler were released to reinforce the defense of Aachen.
Although reinforcements continued to arrive, LXXXI Corps' units suffered heavily; the 12th Infantry Division had lost half its combat strength between 16 and 23 September, and the 49th and 275th Infantry Divisions had had to be pulled off the line to recuperate. While German infantry divisions generally had a strength of 15,000–17,000 soldiers at the start of World War II, this had gradually been reduced to an official (table of organization) size of 12,500, and by November 1944, the average actual strength of a Heer division was 8,761 men. In an attempt to cope with the manpower shortages plaguing the Wehrmacht, the Volksgrenadier divisions were created in 1944. Their average total strength was just over 10,000 men per division. Although about 1⁄4 of these were experienced veterans, half were fresh conscripts and convalescents, while the remainder were transferees from the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. These divisions often received the newest small-arms, but were deficient in artillery and motorization, severely limiting their tactical usefulness. In the case of LXXXI Corps, the 183rd Volksgrenadier Division, though overstrength by 643 men, had only been activated in September, meaning that the division had not had time to train as a unit. The 246th Volksgrenadier Division was in a similar state, many of its personnel having received fewer than ten days of infantry training. All of these deficiencies of personnel were offset somewhat by the inherent strength of the well-planned, well-constructed fortifications surrounding Aachen.
American forces
The task of taking Aachen fell to General Charles H. Corlett's XIX Corps' 30th Infantry Division (along with the attached 743rd Tank Battalion) and Joseph Collins' VII Corps' 1st Infantry Division. General Leland Hobbs' 30th Infantry Division would be assisted by the 2nd Armored Division, which would exploit the 30th Division's penetration of the Siegfried Line, while their flanks were protected by the 29th Infantry Division. In the south, the 1st Infantry Division was supported by the 9th Infantry Division and the 3rd Armored Division. These divisions had used the brief respite in the fighting during the last two weeks of September to rest and refit, taking in a large number of replacements. By 1 October, over 70% of the men of General Clarence Huebner's 1st Infantry Division were replacements, and the last two weeks of September were spent giving these men village-fighting and weapons training. The impending offensive's plan called for both infantry divisions to avoid street fighting in Aachen; instead, the two divisions would link up and encircle the city, assigning a relatively small force to capture it while the bulk of US forces continued pushing east.
Although American units were usually able to replenish their numbers quickly, the replacements rarely had sufficient tactical training. Many junior officers were short on tactical and leadership abilities. Some tankers were shipped to Europe without having so much as driven a car before; some tank commanders were forced to teach their men how to load and fire their tank guns in the field prior to missions. The American replacement system, which focused on quantity over quality, ensured that the majority of fresh troops reaching the front lines were not properly trained for combat. It was not unusual for half of a unit's replacements to become casualties within the first few days of combat. These tremendous frontline losses required ever-more troops to be fed into the fighting; for instance, a freshly reinforced battalion of the US 28th Infantry Division was immediately thrown into direct assaults against Aachen to buttress the depleted US 1st Infantry Division during the final stages of the battle on 18–21 October.
These forces were supported by the Ninth Air Force, which had pin-pointed 75% of the pillboxes along the frontlines and planned an opening bombardment including 360 bombers and 72 fighters; fresh aircraft would be used for a second aerial wave, which included the use of napalm. With the Germans having few anti-aircraft batteries and severely limited support from the Luftwaffe, Allied dominance of the sky over Aachen was near total.
Battle
On September 12, the American 3rd Armoured Division, supported by the 1st Infantry Division, attacked the lightly held southern flank of Aachen. The Division had split itself into two combat commands (A and B) whereby A, under Lt. Col. Leander L. Doan, would advance in the direction of Oberforstbach and B, under Lt. Col. Truman E. Boudinot, toward Roetgen. Facing them were elements of Paul Mahlmann's 353rd Infantry Division, which had been badly mauled the previous month after the Battle of the Falaise Pocket and Gerhard Müller’s 9th Panzer Division. They held the neglected Scharnhorst Line, a split portion of the Siegfried Line that sat in front of Aachen.