Question: Which event began first, the Western Allied invasion of Germany or the Battle of Aachen?

<P0-S0> The Siege of Aachen took place in late August 1614, when the Spanish Army of Flanders, led by Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases, marched from Maastricht to Germany to support Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, during the War of the Jülich Succession. <P0-S1>  Despite its status as a free imperial city, Aachen was under the protection of John Sigismund of Brandenburg, Neunburg's ally, and then rival, in the battle for the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. <P0-S2>  In 1611, the Protestant population of Aachen had revolted against the Catholic city council and had seized power. <P0-S3>  When the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, observing the Peace of Augsburg, had ordered the previous state to be restored, the Protestants had allied themselves with the Margraviate of Brandenburg. <P0-S4>  The unexpected arrival of a Spanish army at the gates of the city, however, caused the Protestants to lose courage and surrender Aachen to Spinola. <P0-S5>  A Catholic garrison was installed and a process of re-Catholicization began. <SEP> <P1-S0> The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. <P1-S1>  The Allied invasion of Germany started with the Western Allies crossing the Rhine River in March 1945 before fanning out and overrunning all of western Germany from the Baltic in the north to Austria in the south before the Germans surrendered on 8 May 1945. <P1-S2>  This is known as the "Central Europe Campaign" in United States military histories. <SEP> <P2-S0>  The city had been incorporated into the Siegfried Line, the main defensive network on Germany's western border; the Allies had hoped to capture it quickly and advance into the industrialized Ruhr Basin. <P2-S1> The Battle of Aachen was a major combat action of World War II, fought by American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany, between 2–21 October 1944. <P2-S2>  Although most of Aachen's civilian population was evacuated before the battle began, much of the city was destroyed and both sides suffered heavy losses. <P2-S3>  It was one of the largest urban battles fought by U.S. forces in World War II, and the first city on German soil to be captured by the Allies. <P2-S4>  The battle ended with a German surrender, but their tenacious defense significantly disrupted Allied plans for the advance into Germany. <SEP> <P3-S0> Aachen Schanz station is a railway station in Aachen, Germany on the railway line Aachen–Mönchengladbach. <P3-S1>  The station is located at the western end of the inner city, and is the station with the shortest walking distance to the historic center or the Aachen Cathedral. <P3-S2>  Several bus lines to western Aachen stop here, including regional buses to Kelmis and Maastricht and the medical centers of the city (Luisenhospital, Franziskushospital, Alexianerkrankenhaus and Klinikum Aachen). <P3-S3>  It is not a bus hub, but some lines stop at the southern end (Jakobstraße) and some at the northern end (Vaalser Straße), depending on the route of the line.