The Battle of Aachen occurred from 2 to 21 October 1944 when the US 1st Army attacked the German city of Aachen, located on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands. The battle was one of the hardest urban battles fought by the US Army during World War II, and the Americans were able to capture the first German town of any significance after heavy fighting.
In October 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered for Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and the British Army to clear the Scheldt before advancing to Antwerp, the Maas River, and then the Rhine River; for Jacob L. Devers' French Army and US Army troops to close up to the Rhine River via the Belfort gap; and for the Americans under Omar Bradley to advance to Cologne. The Americans advancing towards Cologne found themselves blocked by the German city of Aachen, defended by 13,000 soldiers and 5,000 Volkssturm militiamen. The civilian population of Aachen was evacuated, and much of the city was destroyed in the house-to-house fighting and the street fighting between the US troops and the German troops. On 21 October 1944, the German commander Gerhard Wilck defied Hitler's orders and decided to surrender to the Allied Powers.