Read Aachen: The U.S. Army's Battle for Charlemagne's City in World War II Online
Authors: Robert W. Baumer
4
. Whitehead,
San Jose Evening News
, 10 October 1944.
5
. Office of the Chief Military History, Original Surrender Demand Documents of the City of Aachen Germany, Geog M Germany 384.1, CMH.
6
. Reprint To the German Troops and People of Aachen, CMH.
7
. Whitehead, 10 October 1944.
8
. Headquarters 26th Infantry,
Report of Regimental Activities for the Month of October 1944
, 5.
9
. Drew Middleton, “Aachen as Test for Germany: Defiance Necessary for Morale,”
New York Times
, 10 October 1944.
10
. The Battle for the Aachen Sector, September to November 1944, Interviews with
General der Infantrie
Köchling, Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, MS#A-991, USAMHI, 3.
11
. Battle for Aachen, Development of the enemy Positions in Front of the Corps Line, Reardon Translation, 12.
12
. Samuel W. Mitcham,
The Siegfried Line: The German Defense of the Westwall, September–December 1944
(Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2009), 107.
13
. Select Intelligence Reports, Volume 1, 68.
14
. Engel, 24.
15
. Guderian, 209–10.
16
. Battle for Aachen, Reardon Translation, 11.
17
. Battle of Aachen, 18th Infantry Regiment, C-L-117, NA, p. 11.
18
. Headquarters 2nd Battalion 18th Infantry Regiment, Battalion in Attack, Verlautenheide Germany, October 1944, 5–6.
19
. Engel, 77.
20
. Annex to Select Intelligence Reports,
Aachen Air and Artillery Strikes Overlay
, 11–12 October 1944, Targets by Number and Flight Path, 367th 1st Group, 404th 2nd Group, 368th 3rd Group, 370th 4th Group, NA.
21
. Lieutenant Colonel Derrill M. Daniel, “The Capture of Aachen,” A Lecture Presented by [Daniel], Guest Instructor, Combined Arms Section, Marine Corps School, Quantico Virginia, Undated, NA, 5.
22
. Daniel Lecture, 6.
23
. Don Whitehead,
Beachhead Don: Reporting the War from the European Theater: 1941–1945
(New York: Fordham University Press, 2004), 263.
24
. Ibid.
25
. 26th Infantry Regiment AAR, 11 October 1944, 5–6.
26
. Engel, 25–27.
27
. RCT in Offensive Action,
The Attack on Verlautenheide, Crucifix Hill and Ravelsberg Hill
, 18th Infantry Regiment, 17.
28
. 1st ID Select Intelligence, Annex No. 4 to G-2 Periodic Report No. 125, 22 October 1944.
29
. 26th Infantry Regiment,
Clearing the Area South of the Railroad Tracks
, Battle of Aachen, 8–21 October 1944, NA, 6–7.
30
. 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion Journal, 12 October 1944.
31
. Kenneth T. Downs, “Nothing Stopped the Timberwolves,”
Saturday Evening Post
, 17 August 1946.
32
. Daniel Lecture, 9.
33
. Guderian, 215.
34
. S-3 Unit Report for the Month of October 1944, Headquarters 26th Infantry Regiment, Prisoner interrogations revealing companies in the line 13 October 1944, NA.
35
. S-3, 26 INF, Entry for 1113 Hours 13 October 1944.
36
. S-3, 26 INF, Entry for 1430 Hours 13 October 1944.
37
. S-3, 26 INF, Entry for 1500 Hours 13 October 1944.
38
. 26 INF, Clearing the Area South of the Railroad Tracks, Battle of Aachen 8–21 October 1944, 12.
39
. S-3, 26 INF, Entry for 1251 Hours 13 October 1944.
40
. Report of Burial, Weeks, Rowland A. Company F 26 INF, Date of Death 13 October 1944, MRC.
41
. S-3, 26 INF, Entry for 1626 Hours 13 October 1944.
42
. S-3, 26 INF, Entry for 1656 and 2125 Hours 13 October 1944.
43
. S-3, 26 INF, Entries from 1500 to 1840 Hours 13 October 1944.
44
. S-3, 26 INF, Entry for 2030 Hours 13 October 1944.
45
. S-3, 26 INF, Entry for 2120 Hours 13 October 1944.
46
. 3rd Battalion 26 INF Journal, 13 October 1944, 63.
47
. Daniel Lecture, 11.
CHAPTER 11
1
. Select Intelligence Reports, 1st ID, Volume 1, 80.
2
.
Generalmajor
Walter Denkert, 3rd Panzer Division in the Battle of Aachen, October 1944, Historical division United States Army in Europe, Foreign Military Studies Branch, MS # A-979, USAMHI, 3–5.
3
. Guderian, 217.
4
. 18th RCT, 12.
5
. Daniel Lecture, 11.
6
. Ibid.
7
. Charles Whiting,
Bloody Aachen, Westwall
Series (Conshohocken, PA: Combined Books, 2000), 116.
8
. The Infantry Battalion in Offensive Action, Second Battalion 26th Infantry Regiment, Aachen 8–20 October 1944, 9.
9
. Daniel Lecture, 11–12.
10
. McDonald, 312.
11
. Engel, 33–34.
12
. Attack on G and I Companies 16th Infantry Regiment During the Battle for Aachen. MRC, 1–2.
13
. G and I Companies 16 INF, 3.
14
. Interview with Lt. Emmet R. Duffy,
634th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Battle for Aachen
, NA., 3.
15
. McDonald, 292.
16
. Ibid.
17
. Denkert MS, 6.
18
. Engel, 35.
19
. Köchling MS # A-991, 13.
20
. 26 INF 3rd Battalion Journal, 15 October 1944.
21
. Ibid.
22
. G and I Companies, 16th INF, 4.
23
. 16th INF, 1861–1946, 171.
24
. G and I Companies, 16th INF, 4.
25
. Cole C. Kingseed,
From Omaha Beach to Dawson's Ridge: The Combat Journal of Captain Joe Dawson
(Washington, DC: Naval Institute Press, 2005), 216.
26
. Ibid.
27
.
Proud Americans
, 235.
28
. Ibid., 225.
29
. 16th INF Regiment 1861–1946, 171.
30
. Presidential Unit Citation, Companies G and I 16th Infantry Regiment, Eilendorf Germany, 15–17 October 1944, War Department General Order No. 14, 1945.
31
. Dawson Interview with John Votaw, MRC, 16 April 1991, MRC.
32
. 26th INF 3rd Battalion Journal, 16 October 1944.
33
. Köchling, MS# A-991, 4.
CHAPTER 12
1
. McDonald, 295.
2
. 120th Infantry Regiment, Draft of Unit Citation, 2–3, OH, 11 (accessed March 2014).
3
. 1st Battalion 120 INF, 3.
4
. McDonald, 297.
5
. Robert L. Hewitt,
Work Horse of the Western Front: The Story of the 30th Infantry Division
(Washington, DC: Washington Infantry Journal Press, 1946), 130.
6
. Simmons Interview,
Breaching the Siegfried Line, Company A's Road Block at Bardenberg
, NA, 4–5.
7
. Ferriss, Comments of Major Laney, Executive Officer of 2nd Battalion 119th Infantry, and Captain Hardway, Battalion S-1, 17 October 1944, NA, 2.
8
. Knox Journal, 18–19.
9
. McDonald, 297–98.
10
. Ibid., 297.
11
. 120 INF Unit Citation, 4.
12
. 119 INF History Book, 69.
13
. Brown Interview, 3.
14
. 119 INF History Book, 69.
15
. Knox Journal, 20.
16
. Hechler, Interview with Maj. Gen. Leland S. Hobbs, CG 30th Infantry Division, Highlights of 30th Division Activities, 2–10 October 1944, NA, 1.
17
. McDonald, 299.
18
. WHWF, 135.
19
. Guderian, 210.
20
. McDonald, 300.
21
. Guderian, 211.
22
. 3rd Battalion 120th Infantry Regiment, 1–21 October 1944, 4. OH, 11 (accessed March 2014).
23
. WHWF, 133.
24
. Ibid.
25
. Ibid.
26
. Guderian, 212.
27
. McDonald, 299.
28
. WHWF, 135.
29
. Ibid.
30
. Guderian, 214.
31
. WHWF, 136.
32
. 119 INF History Book, 70.
33
. Guderian, 214.
34
. 119 INF History Book, 70.
35
. Medal of Honor Citation (posthumously) Staff Sgt. Jack J. Pendleton, Company I, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, Bardenberg, Germany, 12 October 1944.
36
. McDonald, 302.
37
. WHWF, 136.
38
. 30th ID S-3 Journal, 12 October 1944.
39
. Hobbs Interview with Hechler, 1.
40
. McDonald, 302.
41
. 117th Infantry Unit Journal 12 October 1944, OH, 3 (accessed March 2014).
42
. 117 INF Journal, 12 October 1944.
43
. Ibid.
44
. Guderian, 215.
45
. Ibid., 215–16.
46
. Ibid., 216.
47
. 119 INF History Book, 70.
48
. Guderian, 216.
49
. McDonald, 303.
50
. WHWF, 138.
51
. Gordon A. Blaker,
Iron Knights: The United States 66th Armored Regiment
(Shippensburg, PA: Burd Street Press, 1999), 280.
52
. Blaker, Medal of Honor Citation for Captain James M. Burt, 280.
53
. WHWF, 138.
54
. Guderian, 218.
55
. Joseph Balkoski,
From Brittany to the Reich: The 29th Infantry Division in Germany, September–November 1944
(Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2012), 229.
56
. Ibid., 233–34.
57
. WHWF, 138.
58
. 3rd Battalion 120th INF, 1–21 October 1944, 5.
59
. Guderian, 218.
60
. 3rd Battalion 120th INF, 2–21 October 1944, 5.
61
. Guderian, 218.
62
. Blaker, 276.
63
. WHWF, 139.
64
. Ferriss,
Closing the Aachen Gap 16 October 1944
, Comments of Lieutenant Colonel Hassenfelt, G-3 of 30th Infantry Division, 17 October 1944, NA, 1.
65
. 119th INF History Book, 71.
66
. McDonald, 305.
67
. 119 INF History Book, 71.
68
. McDonald, 305.
69
. Ibid.
70
. Ibid., 306.
71
. Knox Journal, 21.
72
. 117th Infantry Regiment,
The Diversionary Attack of 16 October
, Interviews with Col. Walter Johnson, T/Sgt. Robert Q. Fortune, Citation Text of Recommendation for Silver Star for Capt. George H. Sibbald, NA, 2–3.
73
. McDonald, 306.
74
. Sibbald Citation Text, 2.
75
. Johnson Interview, 2.
76
. Fortune Interview, 3.
77
. McDonald, 305.
78
. Guderian, 220.
79
. WHWF, 141.
80
. Ferriss, 2nd Battalion 119th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division,
The Closing of the Aachen Gap
, Composite Account of Lt. Edward C. Arn and Lt. Warne R. Parker, 15 November 1944, NA, 3.
81
. WHWF, 141.
CHAPTER 13
1
. Daniel Lecture, 15.
2
. 26th INF, Battle of Aachen,
Clearing Area South of the Railroad Tracks
, 18.
3
. Daniel Lecture, 14.
4
. Ibid., 14–15.
5
. Memo to S-3,
Most Successful Attack—Reduction of Farwick Park
, 3rd Battalion 26th Infantry Regiment, 23 June 1945, NA, 1.
6
. Headquarters 3rd Battalion 26th Infantry Regiment,
Field Order Number 1
, 18 October 1944, NA, 1.
7
. Translation of Documents Taken From Prisoners of War Captured in Aachen, Annex No 3 to G-2 Periodic Report No 124, Headquarters 1st Infantry Division, 21 October 1944, NA.
8
. Lt. Harry D. Condron, The Fall of Aachen, 2nd Information and Historical Service, 1st US Army, NA, 4.
9
. Guderian, 223.
10
. Ibid., 222.
11
. Battle of Aachen,
634th Tank Destroyer Battalion Company B 1st Platoon Attached to 3rd Battalion 18th Infantry Regiment
, 8–17 October 1944, NA, 6–7.
12
. Headquarters 3rd Battalion 18th Infantry Regiment Journal, 18 October 1944, MRC, 1.
13
. Aachen, Military Operations in Urban Terrain, 26th Infantry Regimental Combat Team 8–20 October 1944, 26th Infantry Regimental Association, 4th Edition, November 1999, MRC, 46.
14
. 26th Infantry Regiment 3rd Battalion Journal, October 1944, 64.
15
. John C. McManus,
Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, Killing for the Ruins, World War II Through Iraq
(New York: Penguin, 2011), 124.
16
. 26th INF, Battle of Aachen,
Clearing Area South of the Railroad Tracks
, 20.
17
. The Infantry Battalion in Offensive action, 2nd Battalion 26th Infantry Regiment, 8–20 October 1944, 11.
18
. Whitehead, 272.
19
. Daniel Lecture, 16.
20
. The Decoy Doughboy,
Sgt. Thompson Latest Medal of Honor Man
, Souvenir Edition “By and for the Men of the 18th Combat Team,” Printed in Czechoslovakia 23 May 1945.
21
. Ibid..
22
. LTC (Retired) Sam Carter, “Max Thompson and the Medal of Honor,”
Bridgehead Sentinel
(Spring 1997): 7.
23
. Guderian, 225.
24
. Ibid.