Preface

This history was compiled and written by author and historian Hans Wijers of the Netherlands. For years he's studied and researched the battles on the Northern Shoulder. This, his third volume, highlights the 1st Infantry Division and its attached and supporting units at the "Hot Corner" and the Bütgenbach area. Hans has tried to make it "your" story by soliciting first person accounts from the soldiers who fought and won the battle.

Hans has also included first person stories from our German adversaries. It is always interesting to get an insight into their thinking, their perspective. They, too, had foxholes, and the view from their foxholes is important to our understanding of human nature and warfare.

August T. "Mac" McColgan
January 2004