Battle of Aachen - Background

Background

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 Holland. 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 4.8 kilometers (3.0 mi).

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 the Second World War, it was also the historic capital of Charlemagne, founder of the "First Reich". 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 miles (16 km) deep. It was, in the words of historian Stephen Ambrose, "undoubtedly the most formidable man-made defense ever contrived." 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 General Gerhard Wilck. The United States' VII Corps continued to probe German defenses, despite the resistance encountered on 12–13 September. Between 14–16 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.