Aachen forms an obstacle for the Allies, who are on their way to the southern positions of the Westwall. For the Wehrmacht, the city symbolizes their ideological struggle. But after the disastrous defeat in Normandy, the Wehrmacht increasingly consists of very young boys and old men. The remaining population, who have not been evacuated, are exposed to the arbitrariness of the authorities left behind.

Karl and Johann, both 14, who are sent to get a pack of cigarettes, pass by an abandoned delicatessen shop just as it is being looted. Soldiers from the 156th Panzergrenadier Regiment arrest everyone, including the boys. However, while the adults are released, Karl and Johann are sentenced to death by an improvised military tribunal of that same regiment. The sentence is carried out immediately. In front of a crowd of spectators, the boys are executed in Veltman Square as a warning to the population of Aachen.

The incident is a consequence of the order issued by General and Combat Commander Count Gerhard von Schwerin: "To stop looting by the civilian population, obvious looters are to be summarily sentenced immediately!" The boys were not officially rehabilitated until 2004.