Word: aachen
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...western front, where Allied spearheads had pierced the fatherland, the Germans fought in fierce gusts of frenzy, and with high military skill. The U.S. First Army held the spotlight on this front, as it widened and deepened its salient north of Aachen. The aim was for a breakthrough that would sweep the Germans back to the Rhine-but the pace was grinding and generally slow. For the time, at least, it was a painful battle of attrition. At several points west of the Rhine, the German counterattacks forced the Allies to back up, to grope for new footing...
...First's fighting men knew too well what had turned the chance for apparent quick victory into this week's slugging match around Aachen. For one thing, bad weather, as it often had before, tied down the potent hand of Allied air power. But more importantly it was the thinning of the supply stream as the Allied armies moved farther from their coastal bases...
...despite the best the Germans could do, despite the worst of weather and supply troubles. The Germans sought to throw the weight out of balance. If only they could prevent the gathering of force at the most dangerous spots. If only they could pierce through the wedge north of Aachen that threatened their most vulnerable point-where a narrow thrust had been driven toward the end of the West Wall above Nijmegen...
...Germans tried to hold back the weight of Lieut. General Courtney Hicks Hodges' U.S. First Army in the Aachen sector. They threw in flame-spouting tanks in three fierce attacks. But the Americans stood...
This week the pent-up bolt of Allied power struck. A thunderous preparation by 1,000 bombing planes shook the earth for miles around a new sector northeast of Aachen. Behind the bombardment - and a rolling barrage by 10-inch guns - the battle-seasoned U.S. First hurdled a small river, moved forward toward Cologne. The Germans backed stubbornly, foot by foot, before them...