Aachen: The U.S. Army's Battle for Charlemagne's City in World War II (45 page)

Back down on street level, Roland Platz was now swarming with Germans. Corley would later claim it was the loss of this area that stopped the day's fighting; efforts to retake the Kurhaus had also been abandoned. By 1700 the momentum from Battalion Rinks's attacks had exhausted the Americans and Corley suspended offensive operations.
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Twenty-six of his men had been wounded; two had been killed.

The rain also made the stubborn house-to-house fighting more difficult than it had been during previous days for Lieutenant Colonel Daniel's 2nd Battalion men. Their attack did not go off until late afternoon; Walker's Company G worked both sides of Kaiserstrasse before a German counterattack came down Hinderburgstrasse and penetrated a couple of blocks into Zollernstrasse, but this deep left flank breech was sealed off after two hours of brisk fighting. Enemy
Panzerfausts
took a toll as the afternoon lengthened. After more guns fired down Adalbertstein Weg, one tank destroyer, an American antitank gun, and a heavy machine gun were lost. Lieutenant Webb's Company F took numerous German prisoners after an officer bearing a white flag surrendered a bunker. Daniel also suspended further attacks at 1800; by now word had
come down from division indicting General Huebner had again called off any further offensive moves in Aachen until the situation outside of the city was stabilized.

There was just cause. As darkness was consuming the ridge outside of Eilendorf, a forward observer in Captain Dawson's Company G managed to spot at least a company of grenadiers and two tanks moving out of the woods to his left; these vehicles turned out to be captured American Shermans again. Flares suddenly lit up the area, but the Germans still succeeded in overwhelming two squads on the right flank and took over their foxholes. The tanks closed to within a very dangerous 10 yards of another platoon's area to the left, putting direct fire on Dawson's CP, but these Americans held fast while more Germans exploited the gap between the two forces; hand grenades soon paralyzed the only TD defending the area. Then a
Panzerfaust
tore into one of Dawson's light tanks, crippling its suspension system. Another was mounted and quickly booby trapped. “Suddenly, there was chaos all over the Company G area,” Company I's Captain Richmond recalled later. “Nobody knew what the situation was because the enemy was in front of and on both sides of them.”
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Toward midnight, Richmond's men became the target of the continuing attack. Approximately twenty Germans raced toward a pillbox between his two platoons and hit a friendly tank with a
Panzerfaust
, killing its crew. Some of the enemy broke off and placed a pole charge against the side of a tank destroyer; it was not occupied but it was still put out of service. Then all hell broke loose when another two companies of grenadiers struck Richmond's left platoon; wounded on both sides were soon strewn everywhere. Many of the friendly casualties were from artillery strikes again called down on their own positions. At least forty Germans were later discovered dead. The situation remained critical; Richmond sent his executive officer, Lt. Eugene A. Day, running to battalion to ask for urgent help as things continued to deteriorate. Company B of the 26th Infantry was rushed up with its men, tanks, and TDs.

Yet another German attack came in at first light, aimed squarely at Richmond's front. The attack was repulsed, but it took two hours before any signs of a withdrawal began to appear. The Germans were driven out of the foxholes they had taken from the Americans; one angry U.S. soldier rushed them by himself and was credited with killing eight, wounding
three, and capturing five. A sergeant and four of his men cleaned out the rest. One prisoner reported that 4.2-inch mortar fire caused about forty casualties in his company. Captain Hall, the battalion's S-3, also reported this at the time:

I just returned from Companies I and G. Things are a little rough—in fact, very rough. Here is the story. In front of Company I, Jerries are in the woods. They are down a little trail, lined up there. The pillbox lost by Company I is occupied by eight officers and their bodyguards, according to a PW. Company I had eight men in that pillbox that had fought them out, and then tanks returned and fired right at the box. Richmond's men had to abandon it again and they went into position on the right side. He is not in contact with them, but figures they are OK. No casualties reported. The grouping up indicates another attack. Dawson doesn't know if he can hold another attack; the men are worn out.
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Hall was right about another strike. By 0955 the remaining enemy tanks had pulled back, but a number of stubborn grenadiers attacked and again attempted to harass Richmond's 3rd Platoon; they charged these men in groups of ten to fifteen with bayonets fixed every half hour, one determined group after another. Three attempts were made and all were beaten off. “There was much moaning and groaning out in front of Company I,” one account noted after the melee ended. “A 20-man stretcher team worked for nearly two hours, evacuating German wounded; 60mm and 4.2-inch mortars continued to fall the entire time. Later, someone came out with a large Red Cross flag, and then the American fire ceased.”
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Back in Captain Dawson's CP, several war correspondents had remained with him during the fighting; some had talked to the soldiers and a few had even managed to visit some of the men in their foxholes. Gordon Fraser of the NBC Blue Network described the command post:

Scattered around Dawson's basement CP was a table with maps and magazines. On another table against the far wall, dance music was emanating from a small shiny radio. Next to the radio
were two field phones—black phones resting on tan leather cases. They connected the captain to his platoons out in mud less than a hundred yards away, and the 16th Regimental CP in the rear. Beside the phones, radio and maps were one candle and a small kerosene lamp for illumination; it was enough so we could see each other's faces.
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Dawson, “so thin, his uniform hung loosely on him” because he had lost twenty-five pounds in the preceding five weeks, told the gathered correspondents:

Do you know why we have this cellar here? You know why this candle burns here? It's because of those guys out there, and I don't have to tell you what they've got. It's mud. It's deep in the ground, and water seeps in. It's horrible. It stinks. It's got lice in it. It's cold and it's exposed. Out there is this ridge, starting fifty yards from here, there are kids who have nothing, except wet and cold and shelling and misery and the Germans coming at them, and they're dying.
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Trying to imagine describing these conditions to their readers, Dawson told the gathering, “Nobody will ever know what this has been like up here. You aren't big enough to tell them, and I'm not big enough to tell them, and nobody can tell them.” Bill Heinz of the
New York Sun
still promised to do his best. Before the interview ended, Dawson broke down. There was not a sound in the room, nor did anybody move while with his head in his hand, he wept.

Colonel Smith's 18th Infantry in Verlautenheide did not escape the Germans’ attention on the morning of 16 October. Just before dawn the commander of Company F's 2nd Platoon, Lt. Freddie T. Towles, contacted Captain Koenig and told him that three German tanks were right outside his window and one was actually up against the house that the captain was using for his CP. As it turned out, there was a full platoon of enemy infantry with four
Panzerfausts
and one tank in front of Towles's position. They had approached under German artillery fire, but three of their accompanying tanks were knocked out by minefields in the railroad
junction; unsupported, many of the grenadiers elected to surrender after their comrades had been wounded or killed. One prisoner, the commander of the platoon, stated that he had been given orders to meet his CO in the square beyond the first row of houses that Lieutenant Towles's men occupied.

Captain Jeffrey's Company G was also attacked at first light, this time by twenty-nine grenadiers and two tanks that came crunching down the Quinx road. Little time was wasted before artillery was called for and well-placed rounds did an excellent job in dispersing the German foot soldiers. But the tanks drove past four houses and some of their accompanying personnel actually got inside the company's final protective line. Friendly tanks and TDs disposed of the enemy tanks; the German armored vehicles withdrew. Most of the grenadiers elected to retreat; others became casualties or were taken prisoner.

Capt. P. K. Smith, the 32nd Field Artillery's liaison with Lieutenant Colonel Williamson's 2nd Battalion, remembered what came next:

I was on the third floor of a big building, and our front line ran behind the building. I looked out from here and saw what looked like the whole German army coming right at me. They were coming over the brow of a hill—tanks coming straight at me. There were lines of infantry with them. Their discipline was absolutely amazing.
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The first attack hit Koenig's Company F again; six tanks rolled in from the direction of Wambach and were soon firing at Lieutenant Towles's forward command post. Then another column of five German tanks approached along the Quinx road. American tank destroyers answered with long lances of fire from a distance, running and still firing away, finally closing near enough to scare off three of the enemy tanks. But the six larger tanks were still coming in from Wambach, turrets traversing and firing stout 88mm high-muzzle velocity shells from left to right while their machine guns sprayed sweeping fire into both Company F's and G's front lines. But friendly artillery fire found the enemy tanks, slowing them down, eventually bringing a lull in the action.

This ended when three tanks came back later in the morning and moved to defiladed positions in a ground depression in front of the
companies’ lines; three others came in from behind Wambach and joined in the attack. Captain Coffman's Company E took the brunt of this strike. Adding to the mayhem, five more tanks suddenly appeared; these approached from the direction of Weiden, accompanied by rigid grenadiers in formation. Some of these tanks got very close to Verlautenheide, but a TD in an orchard got the drop on one of them and let go with eight rounds. The shots just bounced off the Mark VI Tiger's thick armor, but it stopped this vehicle and others nearby also came to a halt. Infantry quickly dismounted and started charging into Company F's positions; Koenig's men responded with tremendous rifle and machine-gun fire, hitting at least thirty of the German soldiers. Then friendly mortar and artillery fire joined in, and the remainder of the Germans ran. At noon, another TD commander bravely brought his vehicle to within 100 yards of another Tiger tank and fired five rounds at point blank range; the German tank turned and fired back. This time one of its 88mm shells penetrated the TD, killing the gun sergeant and seriously wounding two other crew members.

By now more Americans had fallen, many recent replacements. Another artilleryman of the 32nd FA remembered seeing Company G's Captain Jeffrey in his command post at the time; he later recalled:

It was a bitter, fruitless damn series of attacks. No one was going anywhere. Gordon was absolutely disconsolate. He showed me the payroll. Fifty percent of his company was redlined. He said, “You know, some of these kids that are dead, they'd come in and I'd never even seen them.”
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More attacks started up outside of Eilendorf that afternoon, but the weary U.S. soldiers were ready for them. At about 1800 Captain Dawson's Company G light weapons men fired their 60mm mortars on the Germans that were still occupying positions to their front. They kept up this barrage for thirty minutes, after which fourteen men from Dawson's 1st Platoon and eleven from the 2nd Platoon attacked with bayonets fixed; they also hurled hand grenades as they charged. These men, all who were left in their respective platoons, closed in and killed every German but one who was taken prisoner. They also overran an antitank gun, but more of the enemy soldiers were still holed up in a nearby house.

Captain Hall again reported on the situation to his regimental S-3:

I just talked to Dawson and he says that he has his position restored where the gun was; it was definitely knocked out. He was not able to take the house. Said he would get it tomorrow if necessary. Now Dawson is trying to effect relief. He has one squad relieved. He is consolidating his men on the right of this group. Dawson's men killed 17 Jerries, including five from a tank crew which was in the back of the house. The attack to capture the positions killed eight here and one was captured. Total enemy killed—25. Richmond is trying to get the pillbox back. He is not pulling his men back for relief, but putting extra men in the gap. Both companies will try and put wires and mines out later when things quiet down. The men have had no food for 24 hours. Their last hot meal was the night before last. Possibly we can get them a meal tomorrow. I feel that Jerry will be back. Time will tell.
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The Germans did return. There was some shelling and limited attempts to infiltrate both companies’ lines, but every attack failed. Captain Richmond's Company I and Dawson's Company G were later awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for their actions during 15–17 October; part of the citation read:

In this 72-hour battle, the defenders faced at different times three battalions of enemy troops and approximately 25 tanks, sustaining 37 major casualties against an estimated 300 for the enemy. The magnificent heroism, combat efficiency, and brilliant achievement of [the companies] helped pave the way for the eventual capture of Aachen.
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“The highest honor and privilege that I had was to command the finest group of men God ever put on this earth,” Joe Dawson remembered nearly fifty years later.
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But thirty-seven “major casualties” meant thirty-seven dead or seriously wounded American soldiers during that mid-October's chill and rain. They fell on an 840-foot-high, 400-yard-wide ridge with panoramic views into three European countries on a
clear day—nothing but a bucolic farm divided into pastures in the years before the war that became a brutal field of death during the battle for the first major city in Germany.