The first Westwall-pillbox TO BE conquered.

Read about the historical context. See where it was located. And visit the site in the Aachen Municipal Forest today (weather permitting).

CLOSING IN

In the fall of 1944 an end was made to the terror of the Nazi’s in parts of Nordrhein-Westfalen by soldiers of the First US Army. The Allies fighting the First Battle of Aachen belonged to its three corps. The V Corps fought their way east for the most part in the Hürtgenforest; VII Corps fought directly south of Aachen up to the area of Stolberg; XIX Corps lay several days behind, due to supply shortages wielded on them.

The month of September 1944 had hardly begun when ground troops of the XIX US Corps captured Tournai late in the evening of September 2. That southern Belgian town was scheduled to be liberated on 3 September by Airborne troops, but their mission had to be canceled. After their race to liberate Tournai the XIX Corps could not advance much further due to gasoline shortages. Priority in supply for First Army had shifted to the two other corps, because this VII and V Corps were closer to the big river Meuse, and closer to Germany. They also were in a better position to bridge the gap with Third US Army, which was operating more to the south.

On 10 September Eisenhower (the supreme commander in the European Theater of Operations) decided to postpone clearance of Antwerp’s harbor until after a bridgehead across the Rhine had been established. The 21^st British Army Group (commanded by Montgomery) got the mission of taking Arnhem across the Lower-Rhine. Bradley ordered the two armies of his 12^th US Army Group to secure Rhine-crossings from Cologne to Mannheim. He ordered that attack to commence on 14 September, 1944.

In the mean time reconnaissance units reached and entered Germany from 11 September on. Now that the impressive looking concrete contraptions of the Westwall (Allies called it Siegfried Line) were faced, heavy grenades were needed more than gasoline. Priorities shifted, and with it shortages.

First Army commander Hodges ordered a halt awaiting the build-up of supplies for the coming attack. But to keep the enemy under pressure he asked for permission for a reconnaissance in force, and ordered his two corps at the Westwall to seek out the fortified positions and advance where resistance was low.

It was in the afternoon of 12 September 1944 when jeeps and armored vehicles took a look in Roetgen just across the Belgian-German border. The Westwall (which goes north and east around Roetgen) was attacked, but the concrete fortifications remained in German hands. When in the evening the town was reconnoitered the Germans found that the Americans had left Roetgen (Kriegstagebuch LXXXI. Armeekorps, Tagesmeldungen, entry at 2230).

Stories about American presence in Rott were founded on a rumor: they were not there at all. But more to the north the salvation from dictatorship started when the Americans came to stay.

Commander of LXXXI. Armeekorps wrote a study in 1948: Friedrich August Schack: Die Kaempfe des LXXXI Armeekorps von 4. Bis 21. September 1944, which was published in: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins, number 66/67 (1954/1955). A part on page 212 is relevant for this small story. Forced to retreat time and again and being far from normal strength and composition the 353. Infanteriedivision moved into the far from complete Westwall south of Aachen. In this defensive sector Company C, 16^th Regiment, 1^st US Infantry Division, VII Corps entered Germany at 21 minutes past three in the afternoon (the civilians of the surrounding nations had summertime, which was the same as the Allied Double British Summertime; the Wehrmacht had their watches and clocks running on Central European Time, same time as wintertime). This is what the S-3 Periodic Report of that Regiment says. XIX Corps announced through their liaison officer a border crossing at 1515 and 1000 yards south of Bildchen in the Aachen Municipal Forest (K8037). And not much later they announced also for 1515 a presence at the northern edge of the forest at coordinates K8339. This leaves a bit of confusion, and will stay that way until the original documents are found and studied in the Bundesarchiv at Freiburg and the National Archives, Washington. But let us look at the details of what is known about that stretch of two miles in this dense forest.

THE FOREST AT THE BORDER

Lucien Heichler prepared several studies based entirely on German records. One of these is titled The Germans Opposite VII Corps in September 1944 which was presented in 1952 (Washington), but was never published. On pages 13 and 14 it reads:

‘At 2000 on 12 September American tanks and infantry advancing between the Hergenrath – Aachen and the Eupen – Aachen roads toward the Scharnhorst Line - - the first (western) band of West Wall fortifications - - captured Bunker 161 at Brandenberg Hill, two miles north of Hauset. Forces under the Kampfkommandant of Aachen were immediately committed in a counterattack to wipe out this American penetration of the West Wall. They failed in this endeavor but were able to stop the American attack temporarily.’

These findings are based on the following documents: Mng Sitrep, 353d Inf Div, 0445 on 13 Sep 44, and Tel Conv, Seventh Army to LXXXI Corps, 1140 on 13 Sep 44, LXXXI Corps KTB, Kampfverlauf; Mng Sitrep, LXXXI Corps, 0555 on 13 Sep 44, LXXXI Corps KTB, Tagesmeldungen.

The Kampfkommandant (commander of the acts of war) of Aachen,Von Osterroht, gives further information in his study Tätigkeitsbericht über die Zeit meiner Verwendung als Kampfkommandant von Aachen im September 1944, published in: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins, number 73 (1961/1962). He wrote this in 1945, leaning on his personal notes, and documents from those days. On page 54 can be read, that the outskirts of Aachen were shot at by heavy artillery, especially on their own artillery positions, in the early evening. Not much later an infantry replacement battalion (the 453. Grenadier Ersatz- und Ausbildungsbataillon) which had been in the Westwall south and east of Aachen reported the capture by 50 American soldiers of the Pelzerturm on the highest hill in the forest. People with knowledge of the terrain must have guided them through the dense undergrowth and in between pillboxes. An immediately commenced counterattack with local reserves was without results.

The historian at the headquarters of the Wehrmacht in Berlin, Percy Ernst Schramm, wrote in the war diary (Kriegstagebuch) for 12 September 1944, that not far from Aachen the first strongpoint of the Westwall was lost. Restoration of the Westwall would have taken seven weeks, but here it was forced to be manned within 14 days. (‘Am 12. 9. konnte bei Aachen ein Durchbruch verhindert warden; aber es gelang dem Gegner doch, den Stützpunkt 113 in Besitz zu nehmen, d. h. das erste Werk des Westwalls, für dessen Ausbau 7 Wochen angestrebt worden waren, der aber bereits binnen 14 Tagen hatte bezogen werden müssen.’) This KTB has also been published as softcover: P.E. Schramm: Die Invasion 1944, Munich, 1963.

Ever since the nineteenth century the Pelzerturm had been a favorite destination in the forest. Its panoramic view was a treat for hikers coming from Aachen through the forest, who only had to go upstairs after a climb up the hill for a view over the treetops. On one side Aachen could be seen; on the other large parts of Belgium.

In September 1944 the Pelzerturm was used as an artillery-observation tower. Fire on the advancing Americans was adjusted from here. But when these soldiers made use of concealment of the thick undergrowth the tower was taken. Engineers had not prepared its demolition, and an immediate counterattack had to be aborted because the Americans had succeeded in bringing up 15 tanks. This time the liberators used the tower as an artillery-observation post, and soon they knocked out enemy artillery in the town below.

Osterroht also noted in his study on page 56, that the advance on Aachen stopped at the northern edge of the forest, and several pillboxes to the left and right of the salient were conquered. A second counterattack in the morning of 13 September had the same troubles as the first: facing armor and infantry in superior numbers in an uphill battle fought in rough and unknown terrain. Armor was brought up for a counterattack on 14 September. But they were to face the same problems, and their mission was changed into guarding the woods from the southern end of town (Osterroht, 57).

FADING OUT

While the situation in the forest remained relatively quiet, the fights further east bogged down into the struggle for the possession of houses and pillboxes of Stollberg in the second band of fortifications of the Westwall.

By the time XIX Corps reached the Westwall at the Dutch province of Limburg and the small part of Germany called Selfkant (the northernmost part of the American combat zone in September 1944), the fight to the south and east of Aachen had bogged down, and had been ordered to a halt.

On 2 October 1944 the Westwall was breached in the area between Rimburg and Übach-Palenberg. This was the beginning of the Second Battle of Aachen (2. Schlacht um Aachen), which lead to the closing of the ring around the city, and culminated in the surrender of the last remaining defenders of Aachen on the 21^st of that month.

HINDSIGHT

The construction of the Westwall started in the 1930´s, and it never reached completion. It was never meant to be put to use. All that was necessary was scaring away possible attackers in the west, while Hitler embarked on his conquests in the east. Enormous quantities of concrete, and loud shouts from the department of propaganda took care of that job. And when, in 1940, the Greater German Empire overran the countries in the west, the Atlantikwall had to take over the function of scaring off enemies. That other band of fortifications was of no use anymore. Not until September 1944, when war came to the homeland of the aggressor. Several weeks were needed to repair the neglected Westwall. For the area around Aachen there was not enough time for that. One had to do with what had been finished up to mid-1940. And with the men that had been directed there, or were not there yet.

On 28 January 1945, based on earlier experiences, the Engineer Section of XVIII Corps (Airborne) presented a study to help forthcoming Westwall-breaches: Report on Breaching of the Siegfried Line. In it is a description of pillboxes in general as they were encountered in 1944: ‘No boxes have been reported to house weapons over 37 mm caliber. However there may be some pillboxes which contain 105 mm guns. The boxes may be connected with communication trenches. They are mutually supporting. A thorough study should be made of the fields of fire of boxes in an area to determine dead space and the best avenue of approach. Pillboxes may be made of concrete with steel doors and embrasures or they may have steel cupolas for observation. Some are for shelter purposes only. All are carefully camouflaged. Camouflage has been aided by the growth of vegetation in the past four years. Some pillboxes are camouflaged by the construction of a superstructure to simulate a house, shed, power station or other item. Fields of fire have been carefully cleared. The pillbox may be surrounded by wire.’

Based on the facts given by Manfred Gross in Der Westwall zwischen Niederrhein und Schnee-Eiffel, Cologne, 1982, Bunker 161 is a concrete group-quarters without battle facilities. This is in perfect understanding with the theory about Westwall warfare. An attack was likely to begin with a barrage by guns or bombers. That was the moment when shelter had to be sought in the pillboxes. But the fighting was to be done from the trenches in between the pillboxes. Several feet of reinforced concrete offered protection in the few hours before the actual fighting took place. Gun emplacements under a concrete roof were like well protected tanks without wheels.

That first conquered pillbox in the whole Westwall can be located with the aid of a map on page 64 in Manfred Gross’ book. The next step involves comparing this with a topographical map from a book for the modern day tourist: Der Westwall, vom Denkmalwert des Unerfreulichen, Cologne, 1997.

Bunker 161 was constructed before the war. It was a type 101 Gruppenunterstand (group quarters). Of this type 603 pillboxes were constructed, and the Scharnhorst-Line west of Aachen had 104 of these. Today this pillbox is covered by a heap of sand, as are many pillboxes in the Westwall. Because the hill also contains a lot of debris and shingle (even odd pieces of concrete measuring more than four feet) a group of volunteers with digging equipment can bring certainty about the actual original size, damages, and alterations. The lay-out on page 146 of Gross’ book gives a good idea of how 1.5 thousand square foot in the forest might have been reserved for the concrete of pillbox 161.

About 500 yards to the east of Bunker 161 the Pelzerturm is situated. The tower did not survive the Second World War. Rebuilding it would have been too great an ecological strain on the forest. Stone ruins mark the place where it once stood tall. The forest holds other silent witnesses, as can be seen on the English version of the map on page 52 of Hans Heltzel: Bevrijding Oostelijke Mijnstreek, het Amerikaanse leger aan het werk rondom de bevrijding van Hoensbroek en omgeving, Heerlen, 2004 (this book gives a detailed description of the Dutch part of the First Battle of Aachen). Because of the hills and trees no defenses against armor were believed to be necessary. Also not on this map are several conic holes everywhere in the forest, indicating heavy explosions.

More than once die-hards crawled under cover of darkness and took repossession of already lost and abandoned fortifications. And then they would open fire on their enemy from the rear. To prevent this from being successful pillboxes were rendered useless by welding doors shut or removing handles, and also by burying them. Bunker 161 was on any intruder’s route of approach if they wanted to reach the Pelzerturm. The military importance of the Pelzerturm caused it’s destruction: ‘Es wurde zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges von den Amerikanern gesprengt’ can be read on the plaque where the ruins are. It could not be left behind intact in the hinterland during the last year of World War II.