It's August 5th, 1944. Eleven days earlier, armoured spearheads of the U.S Third Army, under Lieutenant General Patton Jr., had turned from Normandy, bypassed St. Malo, and moved towards the major port of Brest which is located two hundred miles away at the tip of the Britanny Peninsula. St. Malo was now an isolated fortress deep behind American lines. St. Malo was under the command of Colonel Andreas von Aulock. By 1944 he was a disappointed warrior. A veteran of bloody battles in Soviet Union, he told his staff: "I was placed in charge of this port. I did not request it. Now the fuhrer has given me orders to hold out to the last man and the last bullet. I will carry out those orders, even if I am the last German alive in St. Malo" ( Page 140, Daring Missions of World War 2). The Allied commanders had grown uneasy about leaving a strong German force behind. So they ordered Major-General Robert L. Macon's U.S. 83rd Infantry Division to capture the port. Aulock knew that the city would be destroyed in heavy fighting so he requested to his superiors that the port be declared a open city, meaning that there would be no armed resistance. This attitude of Aulock angered Adolf Hitler who shouted that in warfare there is no such thing as a historic city. He was ordered to fight to the end. So Aulock forced each of his officers to sign a pledge: "It is my duty to hold this position to the last, even though we are encircled and lack food and ammunition. Should I not fulfill my duty and surrender, I shall be court-martialed on my return to Germany and punished severely"(Page 140, Daring Missions of World War 2). Before the Americans attacked the port, 83rd Infantry Division intelligence officers interrogated a few Germans who were caught outside St. Malo. "He's is a Madman," one POW said about Aulock. Another said that Aulock had lost his wife and children killed by Allied bombing and that "he has nothing to lose and will fight to the death". Based on the remarks of the P.O.W's, the American newspapers began calling Colonel von Aulock as "The Madman of St.Malo". On August 6th, the 83rd Infantry Division attacked the city but were beaten back by heavy German Artillery. American Artillery began in response. The mayor of nearby St.Servan-sur-Mer volunteered to point out the location of valves to cut the German water supply. Aulock's response was that anyone trying to surrender will be shot. That night Aulock issued an order for the port facilities to be destroyed. The whole city shook with blasts as almost all of the port's facilities were blown up. Aulock knew his situation was hopeless but he would fight on. He refused to even see an American officer carrying a surrender ultimatum from General Mason. A French mistress of Aulock was sent in but she too was sent back. Medical supplies for German wounded were taken into the city by the Americans under a flag of truce. A German chaplain was sent in to Aulock with an ultimatum. Aulock rebuffed him too. Aulock and his men held out for two weeks against enormous odds. But the end was coming. The port city had been bombed day and night by Allied Air Forces, artillery and tanks. Out of food, water and ammunition, Aulock had no choice but to raise the white flag of surrender. Proud of their heroic stand, the Germans marched out with their hands raised up. Radio Berlin announced Aulock's final message to his fuhrer: "Further resistance had to come to an end only because of lack of food". US troops capture the citadel. Hitler replied:" Your name will go down in German history forever." A funeral music was played as the announcer anounced that the Madman of St. Malo had died among the ruins with his men. It came as a surprise to Aulock who was at the time drinking wine and residing comfortably with his American captors. Jumbo Map of St. Malo Operations (slow: 163K) Bibliography Blumenson, Martin Breakout and Pursuit: US Army. 1961 Breuer, William Daring Missions of World War 2: John Wiley, Canada, 2001. Back to Table of Contents -- World War Two Newsletter August 2004 Back to World War Two Newsletter List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Shahram Khan. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com