A 57-MM. ANTITANK GUN M1 being unlimbered from a half-track during the street fighting in Aachen (top). A Browning .30-caliber machine gun M1919A4 being fired at the enemy in Aachen (bottom). The German troops in Aachen refused a surrender ultimatum on 11 October 1944, and during the next three days the city was subjected to intense aerial bombardment and artillery fire. Infantrymen entered the city on 13 October and after fierce house-to-house fighting almost completely occupied Aachen by 20 October. The following day the garrison surrendered, making Aachen the first German city to fall to the Allies. The First U. S. Army then began preparations for a drive to the Rhine as soon as supplies and reinforcements should become available.
GERMANY
A PORTION OF THE CITY OF AACHEN. During the bitter fighting the Allies found it necessary to use all types of artillery weapons, from the 155-mm. gun to the smaller guns of tank destroyers, at point blank range to reduce the heavily fortified buildings occupied by enemy troops.
FRANCE
BRIDGEHEAD ACROSS THE MOSELLE south of Metz near Arnaville. While the U. S. First Army was driving toward the Rhine in the vicinity of Bonn and Cologne, the Third Army was holding its positions pending the improvement of the supply situation. The Ninth Army moved up from Brittany and took its position between the First and Third Armies in the Ardennes sector. The battle of Brest ended on 18 September 1944, and except for enemy resistance in the Atlantic coast port cities of Lorient and Saint-Nazaire, the Brittany Peninsula was completely in Allied hands.
FRANCE