HSG Reap the Whirlwind - Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

18 April 1945, Aschaffenburg, Germany The Americans are coming! The Americans are coming! The Americans are here! That was the message that the Headquarters 471st Infantry Division received on 17 April 1945. Civilians, in the area of Aschaffenburg, reported that the advance elements of an American Infantry Division were in a village on the outskirts of town. The American 26th Infantry Division was rolling through Germany. Often times, towns were taken without a shot being fired. Sometimes, when a town was taken, the Americans would get the mayor to call ahead to the next town. They would inform them that the Americans were coming, and that they were to be ready to surrender, when the Americans arrived. If the town or city surrendered everything was fine. If they didn't, the, there would be a fight. This time the Germans were going to fight.