Fritz Vincken heard the cataclysmic fury of gunfire and bombings, and roaring planes, from his small cottage in the Hürtgen Forest, on the German-Belgian border. Then a 12-year-old boy, he and his mother were sent by his father from Aachen, the family’s hometown, after Allied Forces reached the city in early September 1944.
Despite fleeing to escape the war’s wrath, Fritz observed only miles away the “raging” Battle of the Bulge, the last German offensive during World War II. Unlike the famous “Silent Night” truce in World War I, Christmas Eve 1944 was largely void of peace as the Luftwaffe bombed Bastogne—a vital road juncture held by the 101st Airborne Division—while Allied and Axis troops engaged in tank battles, among other skirmishes throughout the night.
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