Aachen: The U.S. Army's Battle for Charlemagne's City in World War II

by Robert W. Baumer

Overview

By September 1944, the Allied advance across France and Belgium had turned into attrition along the German frontier. Standing between the Allies and the Third Reich's industrial heartland was the city of Aachen, once the ancient seat of Charlemagne's empire and now firmly entrenched within Germany's Siegfried Line fortifications. The city was on the verge of capitulating until Hitler forbade surrender.

Dramatic story of the American battle for Aachen, the first city on German soil to fall to the Allies in World War II.

Chronicles the six weeks of hard combat for the city, culminating in eight days of fighting in the streets

Details the involvement of some of the U.S. Army's finest units, including the 1st Infantry Division ("Big Red One"), the 30th Infantry Division ("Roosevelt's SS"), and the 2nd Armored Division ("Hell on Wheels")

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811714822
Publisher:	Stackpole Books
Publication date:	01/15/2015
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Robert W. Baumer, a graduate of the University of Illinois, has been writing about World War II for twenty years. He is a former columnist for Armchair General, author of Aachen: The U.S. Army's Battle for Charlemagne's City in World War II (978-0-8117-1482-2), and coauthor with Mark Reardon of American Iliad: The 18th Infantry Regiment in World War II (978-0-9717650-5-4).

Table of Contents

Preface v

Chapter 1 12 September 1944 1

Chapter 2 VII Corps Breaches the Westwall 19

Chapter 3 Penetrating the Schill Line 41

Chapter 4 Stalemate at Stolberg 71

Chapter 5 XIX Corps Crosses the Wurm River 115

Chapter 6 XIX Corps Breaks through the Westwall 145

Chapter 7 XIX Corps Widens the Bridgehead 169

Chapter 8 South toward Alsdorf 199

Chapter 9 Verlautenheide, Crucifix Hill, and the Ravelsberg Fall 237

Chapter 10 Ultimatum and the First Attacks on Aachen 267

Chapter 11 The Northern Jaw 293

Chapter 12 The Gap Closes 315

Chapter 13 Surrender 345

Afterword 373

Notes 374

Bibliography 400

Acknowledgments 402

Index 405

Editorial Reviews

"Baumer's outstanding new examination of 'Bloody Aachen' details all of the horrific October 2-21, 1944 battle fought by GIs to capture the first major German city in World War II's European Theater....The author describes how GIs endured, then triumphed, in the 'brutal fields of death' created by the street-to-street, building-to-building urban combat."

Armchair General - Jerry D. Morelock