edited by Robert and Elisa

The Battle of Aachen developed during the second world war, in October of 1944 the Americans succeeded in entering the first great Nazi city.

Before the battle bursted many civilians they left their city, remained around 20.000 inhabitants and 5.000 German soldiers commanded by the colonel Gerhardt Wilck. The allies decided to conquer the city adopting a tactic of siege, they stopped in entrance to the city center the restocking of provisions and troops, in the hope that the German troops would be surrendered for exhaustion.

But the Germans pushed by a great internal strength didn't make demoralize and they kept on withstanding, inclined also in the historical strength of the city, place of birth and center of the crowning of Charles Magno and center of the Sacred Romano Impero, that Hitler called "First Reich." Also because the Furher didn't want to make bad impression being the first city attached by the allies he had asked to his troops to withstand to every cost to show that would not have been to put on effortless against him. The allied commanders, seeing that the German army didn't surrender, they decided to attach and to enter in the town.

The clashes were very hard, hands to door, with the Germans that knew to perfection every road of Aachen, but despite this were overpowered by the Americans that at the end of the battle they counted a lot of victims. At the end of the battle the corpses were around 5.000 Americans and 5.000 Germans, the German prisoners 5.600.