#1stinfantrydivision #germany1944 #allies
Months after liberation of Paris, 1st Infantry Division is in the heart of bombed out city of Aachen, the first city in Germany attacked by the Allies. Daniels receives a letter from Hazel, but Stiles warns him not to open it as he believes Hazel wrote it to let him know she is leaving him.

The next morning Turner's platoon attacks the Aachen theatre in the center of the city. They are outnumbered and helpless as German infantry attacks from all sides. Daniels, Aiello, and Pierson run to the theatre and use a field phone to make contact to Perez and the 745th Tank Battalion, in a different part of the city. Perez and Rabson reroute from their mission to save Turner's platoon pinned down near the theatre. On their way, they are attacked by a Panzer IV, which destroys Rabson's tank and kills the crew. This leaves Perez alone in a battle with a Tiger II and another Panzer IV. After destroying them, Perez finally arrives to the theatre and clears out German invaders, liberating the square and saving Turner's platoon.

The platoon then continues moving forward to reach Hotel Allendorf, the last German stronghold in the city. Their relatively quiet travel is interrupted as a machine gun fires on the street, forcing them to go through ruined buildings instead, swarming with German troops. Once the long fight through apartments is finished, they reach the hotel and surprise German infantry by breaking through one of the walls with a rocket launcher. After the hall area of hotel is free, they move to the basement, where they find a group of civilians hiding. They are greeted by Erica and her toddler sister Anna. Erica begs for help since they ran out of food, and although Turner wants to get them out, Pierson is reluctant, arguing that was not their mission. They remember that there is a German truck in front of the hotel, which they will use to safely evacuate civilians out. Zussman communicates with Erica in German to calm her down, to surprise of his fellow team mates. He reveals that his family is in fact German-Jewish. This makes Pierson suspicious of Zussman again, being mad that he didn't tell them he could speak German earlier.

Daniels and Aiello start the truck before German reinforcements arrive and drive it in front of the hotel. As civilians board the truck, Erica starts panicking when she realizes Anna ran back to the basement. Daniels tells that he will go find her alone. He runs to the basement but is surprised by German troops. He tackles them down in a melee fight and locks himself up in the basement, and finds Anna hiding in a closet. However, the rest of German infantry tracks him down and looks for him in the basement, forcing him to sneak his way out with Anna in his lap, to avoid getting captured. Once him and Anna reach the ground floor of the hotel, there is already a raging gunfight between the platoon and German reinforcements. Daniels makes it through the warzone and returns Anna to Erica.

When all the civilians are reunited, Turner wants his squad to guard the truck until it's completely ready. Pierson and Zussman argue that it is too risky, as they might draw fire by German troops, so the truck is probably safer with no US infantry near it. Turner dismisses this and orders everyone to keep alongside the truck. They are soon attacked by a German patrol, which opens fire at them. Most of the bullets end up in the back of the truck, and Erica collapses on the ground dead, with at least one bullet ripped through her heart. This makes Pierson finally order the truck driver to go, and he drives the civilians away. Turner watches the truck drive away in silence, realizing that Pierson was in fact right about leaving the civilians alone.

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