The holy German city of Aachen, the cradle of the great empire of Charlemagne, lies in ruins: it is furiously attacked by the forces of the 1st US Army. The Americans are opposed by a small handful of soldiers from reserve regiments, reinforced by units of the elite SS battle group Wotan. The forces are unequal, but Police Major General Donner and SS Standartenführer von Dodenburg clearly understand: if Aachen, the center of the German imperial spirit, falls, the Third Reich will face an inevitable and imminent collapse... “The Devil’s Shield” is a new novel from a series of books by the popular British writer Charles Whiting ( pseudonym Leo Kessler) about the adventures of the stormtroopers of the Wotan battalion.