The Fierce Battle for Aachen
In October 1944, Aachen, the ancient city once ruled by Charlemagne, became the first German city captured by Allied forces. The battle raged fiercely, with American planes and artillery pounding Nazi defenses, followed by tanks navigating narrow streets in bloody building-to-building combat. By October 21, Aachen fell, marking a turning point in World War II.
HOUGHTEAM Arrives in Ruins
Shortly after Aachen’s capture, Major Floyd W. Hough and his secretive military intelligence team arrived. HOUGHTEAM’s mission was to recover vital geographic data and scientific records. The city lay in ruins, but Hough’s team uncovered stacks of precise survey data outside the bombed technical university. The information was microfilmed and sent directly to Allied artillery units, enhancing their accuracy on the battlefield.
A Treasure Trove in Saalfeld
In April 1945, HOUGHTEAM hit a jackpot in Saalfeld, where they discovered the central geodetic and mapping archives of the German Army. Hough orchestrated the removal of 250 tons of documents and equipment to Allied-controlled zones, just before the Soviets took over the area.
Transforming Warfare and Geodesy
unified geodetic network. This foundation contributed to modern coordinate systems like GPS, underscoring the profound impact of their secret mission.
In 1944, during WWII, Major Floyd W. Hough led a secretive U.S. military intelligence team, HOUGHTEAM, into war-torn Europe. Their mission? To capture Nazi scientific and geographic data before it fell into enemy hands. Their discoveries changed warfare forever. pic.twitter.com/p0GOGrtNRD
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