On July 12, 1944, Bradley's First Army and General Patton's Third Army engaged in a north-south pincer attack and achieved complete victory in the Battle of Aachen within a week.

Aachen is an ancient city with a long history and culture, and it was also the first Third Reich city captured by the Allies.

Aachen Cathedral is one of the most famous churches in the German Empire. Several emperors of the Roman Empire and German emperors were crowned in this church.

Hitler even regarded this city as one of the origins of German national history and culture.

Therefore Aachen has a special meaning for all Germans and Hitler.

Not only was it the first city conquered by the Allied forces entering the Third Reich, it was also the place of spiritual belief for many people.

When the troops of General Bradley and General Patton were pointing towards Aachen, Hitler sensed the threat. He asked the commander-in-chief of the Western Front, Rondstedt, to hold Aachen at any cost and not let an American enter the Third Army.

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The SS was required to arm the local people in Aachen, turning every street into a firefighting line, every house into a firepower bunker, and every German who could run and move into a soldier.

Rundstedt knew very well that Hitler attached great importance to Aachen. However, the German troops on the Western Front suffered heavy losses and were severely weakened after the Ardennes Counterattack. He, the commander-in-chief, was also a clever woman who could not make a living without rice.

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Of course he knew the importance of Aachen to the entire Third Reich, but what should he do to resist the Allied land and air forces?

In the end, the entire city had to be turned into a huge war fortress, and three infantry divisions were sent to defend it together with the local people.

Aachen has special significance to the Germans. Similarly, it also has great attraction for Generals Bradley and Patton.

The First Army and the Third Army attacked Aachen from the north and south.

Prior to the ground armor and infantry operations, the Royal Air Force and the United States Expeditionary Force Air Force carried out multiple carpet bombings of Aachen.

A large number of historical buildings and religious cathedrals were reduced to ruins in the carpet bombing, and the spiritual beliefs of many Germanic people collapsed as a result.

In order to defend this special city, the German soldiers showed a fighting will beyond imagination.

The two sides fought fiercely for a week in the ruins of the city. Generals Bradley and Patton's armored forces lost a large number of tanks. Almost all three German infantry divisions were annihilated. In the end, only 5,000 wounded soldiers of more than 40,000 men surrendered.

This was the most brutal urban street battle that the US military had experienced since the Normandy landings. It can be seen from this that the Germanic people's will to defend their homeland is very strong.

On July 12, after the victory of the Battle of Aachen, General Patton and General Bradley appeared on the ruins of the city at the same time, accompanied by a large number of Western reporters.

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The Allied forces on the Western Front were the first to enter the Third Reich and captured a city with special historical and religious significance. They advanced faster than the Bolsheviks on the Eastern Front.

The public opinion and propaganda department will naturally seize this opportunity to publicize the huge role played by Western allies in the war, and want to tell the world that they are the backbone of victory in this war.

Two divisions of the Marine Corps in mid-Xia operated together with the US military, but the Marine Corps did not serve as the main offensive. They were only responsible for protecting rear transportation and supply lines and maintaining security in the occupied areas.

The Zhongxia Expeditionary Force had already attracted enough attention in the world and achieved huge benefits. Generals Eisenhower and Smith did not want all the honor to go to the Zhongxia people, so they deliberately asked General Patton to place the Zhongxia Marine Corps in the position of an auxiliary force.

Lieutenant General Wei Guodong, commander of the Marine Corps, has no objections to this. After all, Zhongxia's strategic focus is still in Central Europe for the time being. Not taking the main offensive can effectively avoid casualties and allow the soldiers to return home intact to see their relatives.

After the Battle of Aachen, the entire city was reduced to ruins, with almost no intact building or street without rubble.

The bodies of the German soldiers were scrupulously burned, and the prisoners received some medical assistance.

Ordinary people were forced to exchange their bodies or other items for food with American soldiers.

The destructive power of modern warfare is vividly demonstrated here.

General Patton and General Bradley took photos in the ruins of Aachen and accepted interviews with Western reporters in high spirits.

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The former even used media reporters to shout to Hitler, asking him to surrender unconditionally as soon as possible, otherwise he would personally lead troops to Berlin and capture him alive.

The reporters were very familiar with General Patton's character, and the atmosphere was very lively.

When a reporter asked General Patton when the Allied forces would reach Berlin, General Patton raised a finger in a brazen manner.

"In one month, at most one month, we can capture Berlin and capture Hitler alive!"

General Patton also knew that Eisenhower had decided to cede Berlin to the Soviet Red Army, but he could not get rid of his habit of talking big in front of reporters.

General Bradley behaved relatively calmly, and liked to answer questions with ambiguous words. He nodded frequently when people listened, but after listening, he seemed to have said nothing.

After capturing the ancient city of Aachen, the Allied soldiers did not stop attacking.

Soldiers of the First Army and the Third Army advanced along railway and road lines toward Cologne and Dusseldorf.

The soldiers' goal was Berlin, and their march was majestic. Along the way, there were always older girls and younger wives "spontaneously" greeting the Allied troops for bread and chocolate.

During the Battle of the Bulge, all Allied forces experienced severe tests, and both officers and soldiers were nervous.

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After entering the Third Reich, they used various means to relax themselves.

During the march, the soldiers were talking and laughing, looking very happy.

On July 14, the main Allied forces arrived outside Cologne and immediately launched a thunderous attack on the German troops entrenched here.

The Germans were very determined to fight, but they lacked air power, long-range artillery fire, armor, etc., and were unable to stop the advancement of the Allied forces on the Western Front, and cities were captured one after another.

Mustache's Clausewitz plan was not fully implemented on the Western Front.

Compared with the Bolsheviks, the Germans welcomed the arrival of the British and Americans more, and most of the time were not willing to destroy all the achievements of civilization.

The city's infrastructure was damaged by bombing, but some historical and religious buildings were well preserved.

Eisenhower believed that the war would be over as long as it reached Berlin, so the main attack directions of the First Army, Second Army, and Third Army were all eastward.

The mighty attack line passed through central Germany and reached Berlin.

Over time, more than 1 million Allied troops have entered the Third Reich itself.

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Everyone knew that the war was about to end. Only Hitler in the underground bunker of the Chancellery deceived himself and was unwilling to admit defeat and still ordered the Wehrmacht to resist.

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