Checking Out

The Big Red One had been working its way into Aachen for a month. Two battalions of the 26th Infantry Regiment entered the city proper on 13 October and began grinding their way through the heart of the city. Colonel Wilck, commander of Volksgrenadier Division 246, had been …

1944-10-19

WO27

The Big Red One had been working its way into Aachen for a month. Two battalions of the 26th Infantry Regiment entered the city proper on 13 October and began grinding their way through the heart of the city. Colonel Wilck, commander of Volksgrenadier Division 246, had been put in charge of Aachen’s defense and established his command post in the Hotel Quallenhof outside Farwick Park. In response to his frantic, repeated calls for help, reinforcements in the form of SS-Bataillon Rink arrived at the hotel on 15 October, where they were quickly engaged along with Wilck’s Grenadier-Regiment 404 and some assault guns in an effort to break out against the encircling Americans. Although the counterattack pushed the Americans back, it failed to break through, whereupon Colonel Wilck and his staff left the park, the hotel, and the nearby Kurhaus to the combat troops and set up a new command post in an air raid bunker not far away.

Aachen, Germany

The Battle of Aachen was a major combat action of World War II, fought by American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany, between 2–21 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. It was one of the largest urban battles fought by U.S. forces in World War II, and the first city on German soil to be captured by the Allies. The battle ended with a German surrender, but their tenacious defense significantly disrupted Allied plans for the advance into Germany.

German

American

Scenario Type = Deluxe