Guided Bunker Tour Part 2
A journey through contemporary witnesses in the autumn of 1944 When Colonel Gerhard Wilck, the commander of Kampfgruppe Aachen, signed the surrender of his troops at 12 noon on October 21, 1944,
The area around the Quellenhof held by soldiers was only a few hundred square meters. For about a week the combat group had defended the already enclosed city. The rest of the city had been conquered bit by bit by soldiers of the 1st US Division using tanks.
The urban warfare had destroyed large parts of the old imperial city.
More than 5 hard years of war are already behind the civilian population of Aachen
in the days of September '44.
Who were the military decision-makers on the German side, but also on the US side, who decided the fate of the first German city to be attacked by US forces?
Was General Graf Schwerin the savior of Aachen? Colonel Wilck a war hero or a war criminal?
But above all the question, How did the civilian population of Aachen survive in this hellish inferno?
How did the people regain courage after October 21, 1944, how could they survive in a completely destroyed Aachen? And where?
Saturday Oct 21 `44, 11 a.m.
To the head quater of the 246 Grenadier Division
After a bitter struggle house for house, man for man, the Aachen combat group fired the last of ammunition, used up water and food, and the remains of the defenders of the German imperial city are in close quarters at the battle stand
Radio equipment prepared for demolition Before that, our last greeting applies in unshakable faith in our rights and our victory in our beloved German homeland. Long live the Führer! " Wilck
"
"
AACHEN HAS FALLEN!
I, Colonel GERHARD WILCK, Combat Commander of AACHEN, Germany, hereby hand over all troops and weapons, all material and all fortifications under my command to the Lord of the United States at this hour.
It is agreed that all named troops will be treated as prisoners of war. Likewise, the medical personnel, the sick and the wounded are handed over for further disposal in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1929.
All of these troops are disarmed 12 noon,
October 21, 1944, to Aachen, Germany (signed) GERHARD WILCK Colonel
The suffering of the civilian population.
May we introduce ... Miss Gisela Wetzler.
Night after night, she and her family sought protection in the bunker on Scheibenstrasse during these more than 1000 nights of bombing in Aachen. Born in 1922, Gisela lived with her family in Sedanstrasse. Her fiancé Josef Felser lost his life somewhere in Russia in 1942.
Let us accompany you back to the Aachen of your time. Let's get to know Giesela's neighbors. People who may also have been your grandparents' neighbors. Aachnenern who tell us a story that was one of the cruelest of World War II.
The story of the battle for Aachen
No one con tell us better about the story of the Battle of Aachen than the people who experienced it, those terrible days and hours between the beginning of September '44 and October 21, '44..
With the bunker tour 2.0, the tour guide is only the voice of the people who lived in Aachen at that time. Who lived through the days and nights between fear and hope in one of the worst battles of World War II in the middle of Aachen.
Accompany us on a journey of contemporary witnesses that will not let go of you for a long time. Find out what really happened, how the civilian population experienced, and often did not survive, the Schalcht around Aachen. Meet the military decision makers on both sides of the front line.
From 1941 to 1944, the civil population of Aachen did not experience a single night without large or small bomb attacks, without shelling, without fear of death.
When the shaft around Aachen began in the first days of September 1944, 65 large and countless smaller attacks by mostly British planes had reduced Aachen to rubble and ashes.
People couldn't leave their cellars and large bunkers for weeks. But did they really offer protection? How did the supply of food and drinking water work?
Let us let people who crouched fearfully on the floors of the bunkers like Renate Kamphausen, Leo Phillippen, Marion Schlüper and their neighbors describe these darkest hours in the old imperial city in which well over 6000 Aachen civilians lost their lives.
Maria Bruders
"Where should I start? War, fear, privation ... Actually, I had never known anything else. The father was a soldier. We were bombed out. Our house was burned to the ground during a major attack on Aachen (July 14, 1943) and we had lost everything. "
Hermann Offergeld
“I experienced and survived the end of the war in Aachen. Actually one should say the end of the fighting, because the war was not over yet. That was a turbulent time. "...
Giesela Wetzler
"From September 12th to September 16th we sat in the bunker without interruption .. The artillery shots were increasing daily." ... Our home is bombed out. Aachen is dying street by street!
Die Militärische Seite
The Allied forces involved in the Battle of Aachen consisted of the American VII Corps and the XIX Corps, which attacked on both sides of the city. On the German side, Aachen was in the defense area of the LXXXI. Army corps with four weak divisions totaling around 18,000 men and the garrison force Hitler assigned around 5,000 soldiers to the Volkssturm.
The battle for Aachen. A battle between three men, General Graf Schwerin, Colonel Gerhard Wilck and Courtney Hicks Hodges, who had previously fought in battles all over the world, some of them since the First World War, and who now met in one of the decisive battles in the old imperial city.
A battle between the most experienced soldiers on both sides. The 1st Infantry Division (German: 1st US Infantry Division) (Big Red One) is one of the oldest and most traditional large units of the US armed forces. and
The 116th Panzer Division was a major unit of the German armed forces that had acquired a name in Africa as well as in Russia, which earned it deep respect from its American opponents.
Gerhard Helmut Detleff Graf von Schwerin (* 23. Juni 1899 in Hannover; † 19. Oktober 1980 in Tegernsee, Oberbayern[1]) diente als deutscher Offizier in beiden Weltkriegen
Courtney Hicks Hodges (* 5. Januar 1887 in Perry, Houston County, Georgia; † 16. Januar 1966 in San Antonio, Texas) war ein US-amerikanischer General im Zweiten Weltkrieg.
Gerhard Wilck (* 17. Juni 1898 in Löbau in Westpreußen; † 5. April 1985 in Rheinbreitbach) war ein deutscher Befehlshaber (Oberst),
With this radio dialogue, the communication of Germanarmy forces from Aachen finally finished.
October 21, 1944
The last German cartridges have been fired and Colonel Wilck will hand over the city to the commander of the US armed forces at 12.00 noon.
4,000 fallen;
2,000 wounded;
12,000 prisoners, including 3,473 members of the Volkssturm
on the German side
2,000 fallen;
3,000 wounded
on the US sidein the weeks between September 1944 and October 21.
Aachen is the first major German city that wasliberated from the NS Rregim.
.But at what price?
The old imperial city is in ruins.
Before the people who have survived crawl out of their cellars lie years of rebuilding, rich in deprivation.
246th Volksgrenadier Division to Wilck
"Long live the defenders of Aachen."
Colonel Wilck to division
We sign off with regards to our comrades and our relatives.
" 246th Volksgrenadier Division to Wilck
"Thanks and appreciation for your commitment and attitude. The department greets its comrades one last time."
radio noise was what followed from then on. .....
Over 6,000 civilians, men, women and children lost their lives in Aachen.
In the years from 1941 when 65 large and countless small bombings rained over 300,000 fire, explosive and split bombs on the city.
In the weeks when American soldiers fought their way into the city meter by meter.
A life wasn't worth much in the streets of Aachen.
And the gray giants? After the war, they were far from beeing obsolete ...
Aachen has Fallen
Tour Information:
Aachen's only bunker tours for individuals and groups - the first since the Second World War
During this second part of our bunker tour, we invite you to take a witness trip to Aachen's largest raised bunker on the Aachener Scheibenstrasse.
Let’s let the people have their say who witnessed the battle for Aachen.
Civilians who sought refuge in the large bunkers. Military men on both sides who held the fate of Aachen in their hands.
Over 16,000 civilian lists who were no longer able to leave the city crouched under inhumane conditions in the basements and large bunkers, while one of the worst battles of World War II was raging on Aachen's streets.
Immerse yourself with us in the stories of people who may have been your grandparents' neighbors.
What did people experience in the more than 1,000 nights of bombing in Aachen?
How did the water and food supply work? How did people help each other during those hours?
What did Count Schwerin really want?
Was Colonel Wilck a war hero or a war criminal?
We will provide you with the answers to these and many other questions about the battle of Aachen during an impressive tour through 2,700 m² of bunker area. The huge cellar catacombs of the bunker have only recently become accessible again.
Accompany us into an oppressive, hermetically shielded world, built from the hardest reinforced concrete in the world, characterized by unbelievable fear in Aachen's 1,000 nights of bombing. Because maybe the world is going to end outside ...
The tour price includes: -
Approx. 1.5 hour guided tour of the bunker on the subject of civilian population and military in the battle of Aachen.
Tour start: Bunker Scheibenstrasse 34 (entrance Scheibenstrasse)
Start time: changes according to the day of booking Tour duration: approx. 1.5 hours
Tour price: € 14 per person
- groups on request!
Please note the following information about our bunker tour: The temperature in the bunker is 11 degrees Celsius, so it is advisable to put on warm clothing and sturdy shoes. ...
- Due to the current Corona situation and existing hygiene regulations, all guests are required to wear suitable mouth / nose protection during their entire stay in the bunker. As a service, if you don't have your own mask, we offer disposable masks at a price of € 2.
- The distance rules set out in the Corona regulations apply and we urge you to comply with them
- We always try to ensure accessibility on our tours, but we must explicitly point out that the bunker tour offered here is not barrier-free due to the structural conditions!
The tour takes place on the first and second floors, among other places. These can be reached via wide stairs. However, there is NO elevator, so this tour is unfortunately not feasible for wheelchair users and guests with walking aids.
- The bunker has no windows and is poorly ventilated. The existing ventilation system cannot be switched on for guidance purposes. People with cardiovascular and respiratory problems can only take part at their own risk.
- Because the atmosphere is often perceived as oppressive, we do NOT recommend this tour for children and young people under the age of 12!
By booking via our website or the website of one of our sales partners, the customer confirms that he has been informed in advance about the lack of accessibility, the local conditions - such as poor ventilation and an atmosphere that may be perceived as oppressive. These circumstances therefore do not entitle the customer to request a tour price reimbursement in the event that the tour is canceled.
Smoking is strictly prohibited during the tour and the entire stay in the bunker. It is also absolutely forbidden to leave the group. There is NO possibility to leave the bunker on your own after the tour. Film and photo recordings are prohibited for legal reasons! Please strictly adhere to the instructions of the tour guide during your stay in the bunker. Under no circumstances should you leave the group unnoticed in order to explore individual rooms on your own!
The tour guide has the right at any time to exclude individual guests from the tour without giving a reason.
Please behave respectfully - adapted to the location! Any expression of National Socialist or seditious ideas leads to an immediate tour exclusion and a house ban! * Source indication: Parts of the texts used come from the monument protection report of the Cologne district government
© all rights reserved Os Oche 2023