Aachen: The U.S. Army's Battle for Charlemagne's City in World War II (53 page)

Lieutenant Botsford of the 1st Division G-2 Section, a prewar journalist who after the war became a celebrated editor at
The New Yorker
magazine, went through four-fifths of the city that afternoon; he surveyed the damage, later remembering that “not one building was untouched by the blasts of the saturation bombings or artillery strikes over the last ten days.”
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He saw burst sewers, broken gas mains, streets covered with
shattered glass, downed electric power lines, wrecked cars, trucks, abandoned German armored vehicles, and guns littering the streets. Many were impassable, except on foot; the stench of dead animals “raised an overpowering smell in parts of the city,” prompting Botsford to further write, “The city is dead as a Roman ruin, but unlike a ruin it has none of the grace of gradual decay. It is now of no historic interest, except as an object lesson in the power and application of modern warfare.”

The buildings that stood up the best were those built during the Victorian period like the Deutches Bank on Ursuliner Street and the newer state buildings like the town library and the local courthouse. However, nearly all the rest of the older part of the city had ceased to exist. The town hall had been hit repeatedly and the steel framework of its spire had collapsed and was hanging over the edge of the roof. There remained only a spire and two walls of St. Foillan's church. Destruction of the historic monuments was evident; only one church—St. Joseph's—suffered lighter damage. All of the stained glass windows of the great Munster Cathedral on Munsterplatz were shattered, but the vault over the main altar appeared to be firm, even though it had taken a direct artillery hit that pierced the groining. The entire interior of the church was covered with dust and plaster from the ceiling, which was still in relatively good shape.
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The power and application of modern warfare did not extend to the Aachen citizenry who had been evacuated from the air raid shelters around the city. “These people had been led to expect harsh treatment,” Maj. J. J. Kohout, the 26th Infantry's Military Government Officer, noted. “They expected to be put in barbed wire enclosures with no shelter of any kind. They expected to have their families broken up.”
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Instead, a barracks area outside of Brand was used to house the approximate 3,700 civilians. Most had “marched” here on foot, carrying what personal belongings they could; when empty trucks were headed out of the city, they were given transport. There were seven individual barracks; a civilian leader was appointed to each one. Billeting was left entirely up to this leader, or the committees that he appointed. Any troubles were taken up with them, and not the American soldier. Families
were kept together as often as possible. Any Germans who were either in military uniform, or suspected to be soldiers, had already been interrogated and processed through military channels.

“The women worked in the kitchens and kept the place clean, while men worked on the surrounding farms,” Major Kohout revealed later. He also pointed out:

Thirty tons of captured enemy food supplies were sent from Liege. They were fed entirely from food supplies captured in France, Belgium and Germany. Not a single American ration was furnished them. In addition, they were fed the by-products of the land.

The food was prepared in two messes, one serving 2,000 and the other the balance. The people brought their own containers, received their food, had their cards punched and generally took their food back to their rooms to eat it. When they needed meat, they requisitioned it. An IOU (or bill) was tendered and accepted as payment. This bill will be paid by the city of Aachen when it begins to function as such again.

When the time comes to release them, it [will] be done on a priority basis. Doctors, nurses and farmers will be among the first.
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The end came on Saturday morning, 21 October, when Captain Botts's Company I and Corwell's Company K closed in on a bullet-riddled three-story air raid bunker south of Lousbergstrasse. They set up the 155 SP gun; Lieutenant Colonel Corley had no desire to risk the casualties that would result by fighting it out with the remaining Germans holed up inside.

Inside were
Oberst
Wilck, his staff officers and their men, as well as a cadre of prisoners. Wilck purportedly said, “When Americans start using 155's as sniper weapons, it's time to give up.”
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Then he ordered this dramatic, but strange message be sent to LXXXI Corps:

All forces are committed in the final struggle! Confined to the smallest area, the last defenders of Aachen are embroiled in their final battle! The last defenders of Aachen, mindful of their
beloved German homeland, with firm confidence in our final victory, donate Reichsmark 10,468 to the Winterhilfswerk [Winter Relief] Project. We shall fight on. Long live the Führer!
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Sometime later, the radio operator sent out a final message: “We now sign off, with regards to our comrades and the folks back home.” After this, the radio set was destroyed.

Among the thirty American prisoners were Staff Sgt. Ewart M. Padgett of Jacksonville, Florida, and Pfc. James B. Haswell from Houston, Texas; they were with Company B of the 238th Combat Engineer Battalion and had been captured while on a patrol four days earlier. During their brief time in captivity, they had been treated well and fed properly. They had not divulged any information of military value to their captors; instead they had actually befriended their interrogators. One was
Obersturmführer
(SS Lieutenant) George Schwabb. He spoke fluent English and had told Padgett and Haswell that he had a cousin in New York City who was on the police force; in a candid moment Schwabb had even told the Americans that he hated Hitler, and that the war would be over soon.

At mid-morning on this fateful day, Schwabb came into the dingy room where the POWs were and started talking to a small group of men; Sergeant Padgett was not among them at that time, but Pfc. Haswell was. Later, Padgett described what happened:

Haswell came over to me and asked to borrow my cartridge belt. When I asked him why he wanted to borrow it, he said that the Germans had two men killed trying to get out of the bunker with a white flag to surrender the fort, and Lieutenant Schwabb wanted a volunteer from one of the PW's [
sic
] to now carry the flag out. So Haswell volunteered. Lieutenant Shipley, another PW, told him to wear a cartridge belt to look more like an American soldier.
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Instead, Sergeant Padgett put on the cartridge belt and told Haswell that he was going to go with him. Next, the two were led to the bunker's doorway by Schwabb and
Oberst
Wilck's executive officer. Another German soldier was rolling out a white flag for them. He handed the flagstaff to Padgett and together with Pfc. Haswell they exited the bunker and ran
into the middle of Lousbergstrasse, waving the white flag of surrender back and forth. As had happened in the earlier confusion, friendly small-arms fire was aimed at Wilck's saviors. Padgett waved the flag more vigorously until the firing ceased. Stillness filled the air for moments that seemed like minutes, and then an American officer leaned out of a window in a house about 100 yards away; he motioned for the two to come to him. Padgett yelled back toward the bunker for the two German officers there to come out and follow them. They did; then a mortar shell landed right where the Germans had been standing in front of the bunker.

This pair, who had been trying to catch up to the Americans, dove into a ditch; Padgett now waved the white flag as hard as he could. Still, more mortars crashed, closer, just about 20 yards away. Then the area fell completely silent; word had finally reached the mortar crew to stop firing. The German officers rejoined Padgett and Haswell, and moments later the foursome was standing in front of a Company I rifleman. He led them to his platoon leader; this officer told them they had forty-five minutes to march the entire garrison out in columns of fours with their hands over their heads. The surrender party returned to the bunker.

By 1100 the order was being carried out; the first of approximately two hundred of Wilck's men started coming out of the bunker, but the Aachen commandant was not among them. Instead, he had directed
Obersturmführer
Schwabb to fetch Padgett and Haswell again. This time
Oberst
Wilck asked the two Americans to personally lead him and his eight staff officers, as well as the remaining prisoners, out of the bunker. Sergeant Padgett detailed what followed:

We were led to the colonel's room where he and his entire staff had assembled their equipment. We asked the colonel for his pistol, so he removed it, threw the clip under the bed, laid the pistol on the table, smiled and left the room. Lieutenant Schwabb said that was his way of giving us the pistol, because he could not hand it to us.
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Everyone left the bunker together a few minutes later; the white flag of surrender was waved again. A few shots rang out, this time from somewhere in the German ranks. Through Schwabb, Padgett told Wilck to make it stop; it quickly ceased. Then the group started marching up the
street to meet Lieutenant Boehme, the same interpreter who had accompanied another party when the surrender ultimatum was first given to the former Aachen commander eleven days earlier. Now Boehme directed Wilck in formally surrendering the garrison. They were driven to Lieutenant Colonel Corley's command post in a jeep. Wilck sat next to the driver with his head down, staring at his spit-shined boots, while his immediate staff officers sat in the rear seat; among them was Lieutenant Keller, the adjutant officer Boehme had encountered during that first attempt at surrender. Padgett recalled:

Upon our arrival at the CP, Colonel Wilck ordered his entire staff to come by and shake our hands. He then came up, snapped to attention and saluted; we returned the salute and he then saluted us again and said something in German, which Lieutenant Schwabb quoted to us. “He said he and his staff wish to thank you for your display of gallant bravery in carrying the white flag.”
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Wilck even said that he was recommending the two Americans for “a high award.” Terms of surrender were then discussed with Lieutenant Colonel Corley while they awaited the arrival of Colonel Seitz and the 1st Division Assistant Commander, Brig. Gen. George Taylor. Final negotiations were concluded in their presence. The surrender statement was prepared; effective 1205 hours, 21 October 1944. It read:

I, Colonel Gerhard Wilck, commander of the German garrison of Aachen Germany hereby surrender as of this hour, all troops, arms, material, and fortifications under my command to the United States Army, it being agreed that all said troops will be treated as prisoners of war. Likewise, the medical personnel, sick and wounded are turned over for disposal in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1929. All these troops have been disarmed.
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“Then the colonel asked for and was granted permission to speak to his troops outside the building,” wrote correspondent Don Whitehead. “His eight staff officers were with him, all as immaculate as their
commander. One of them had been a student at Heidelberg and there were scars of dueling foils on his face.”
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Moments later,
Oberst
Wilck climbed up into the jeep he had ridden in to Corley's CP and stiffened while his men drew to attention. Then, with heavy emotion he said:

This is a painful occasion on which I must speak to you. I have been forced to surrender, as ammunition, food and water are exhausted. I have seen that further fighting would be useless. I have acted against my orders which directed that I would fight to the last man. At this time I wish to remind you that you are German soldiers and to ask that you will always behave as such. I wish you all the best of health and a quick return to our Fatherland when hostilities have ceased so that you may help in the rebuilding of Germany. The American commander has told me that I cannot give you the “Seig Heil,” or “Heil Hitler,” but we can still do it in our hearts.
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Wilck and his men were then evacuated to the 26th Infantry Regiment POW cage. But with the German communication systems completely broken down, he had no way to relay the terms of surrendering to his troops. Captain Botts was chosen to join with one of Wilck's staff officers in an armored vehicle so they could go out and lead in the collection of the remaining enemy forces. Approximately 1,600 were eventually rounded up to join
Oberst
Wilck and the other 1,830 already held captive. “Among the PW's [
sic
] taken on 21 October was a former member of the 1st Division, now in the wrong army,” a later report stated. “This soldier, named Karl Young, served in E Company 18th Infantry during the late 1920's. In 1939 he returned to Germany to straighten out some domestic affairs, was snatched up by the Wehrmacht, and has since been in Poland and Russia. He was somewhat depressed by the fact that he had not been captured by his old outfit, but had been picked up by comparative strangers in the 26th Infantry.”
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But absent were two prominent commanders; it was later learned that
Obersturmführer
Rink and nineteen of his SS men had made a daring escape back to the German lines when Aachen's surrender became inevitable.
Oberstleutnant
Erich Stach, one of Wilck's 246th Division battalion commanders, and a lieutenant disguised
themselves as Franciscan monks; they somehow escaped despite being detained for a short time.

At 1615 hours Colonel Seitz reported the end of hostilities to General Huebner: “Mission out here complete as of now and we are through with Task Force Hogan.”
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That night found the American flag waving over the first captured German city in World War II. In fact it was the first time a major German city had fallen into enemy hands since the Napoleonic Wars of the early 1800s, some 130 years earlier.

Gerhard Wilck was subsequently interrogated by 1st Division intelligence teams; some of the findings and observations were later documented thusly: