Product Description

A history that tells the extraordinary story of Aachen where, in the autumn of 1944, the US First Army was held at bay for two months by the fanatical resistance of the Wehrmacht. The Citizens of Aachen refused to acknowledge the Nazi creed, and so chose to fight it out with 'friend' and foe alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #769333 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 168 pages

Review
On Sept. 11, 1944, the first enemy soldier since the days of Napoleon set foot on German soil. It was the start of the six-week Battle of Aachen, prelude to the drive to the Rhine. The key to the offense was a pincer movement by two elite American divisions - the 1st, dubbed "The Big Red One," and the 20th, known as "Roosevelt's Butchers." The defense consisted of panzers, teenage SS soldiers, and Nazi commanders who knew the jig was up, but couldn't buck Hitler's and Goebbels' orders to fight to the last man. Whiting, author of half a dozen military histories of WW II, swings his narrative back and forth between the Nazis and the Allies with a few glances at the desperate civilians crouched in the cellars of the historic German capitol city. Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton celebrated the encirclement of Aachen prematurely; as they laughed and joked the last-ditch German counter-offensive which would climax in fighting from "sewer to sewer" had begun. Militarily the destruction of Aachen proved less fateful than the Americans had assumed - Hitler was readying himself for the Battle of the Bulge which would cost 80,000 American lives. Whiting writes clear, hard-driving prose and keeps the gore within bounds. Still, the perspective never transcends the relentless artillary fire, the Sherman tanks and the GIs' Hershey bars. (Kirkus Reviews)