The Hürtgen forest (also: Huertgen Forest; german: Hürtgenwald) is located along the border between

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in the southwest corner of the German federal state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. Scarcely in area, the forest lies within a triangle outlined by the German towns of Aachen,

Monschau Monschau (; french: Montjoie, ; wa, Mondjoye) is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the Aachen district of North Rhine-Westphalia. Geography The town is located in the hills of the North Eifel, within the Ho ...

, and Düren. The Rur River runs along the forest's eastern edge.

Geography

The Hürtgen Forest lies at the northern edge of the Eifel mountains and High Fens – Eifel Nature Park; its terrain is characterized by plunging valleys that carve through broad plateaus. Unlike many areas of Germany in which the valleys are farmed and hilltops are wooded, the Hürtgen Forest's deep valleys are thickly wooded and the hilltop plateaus have been cleared for agriculture. The forest's rough terrain starkly contrasts with that of the adjoining Rhine Valley. Roads in the forest are few, winding, and narrow.

Battle of Hürtgen Forest

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the rugged terrain of this area was the scene of the long, bloody, drawn-out

Battle of Hürtgen Forest The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (german: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) was a series of battles fought from 19 September to 16 December 1944, between American and German forces on the Western Front during World War II, in the Hürtgen Forest, a a ...

, which took place over three months during a cold winter from 19 September 1944 to 16 December 1944. The Germans successfully defended the area while gaining time to launch a surprise counter offensive in the Ardennes on 16 December 1944, the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

. The forest was further devastated by fires in the summer of 1945, ignited as the weather warmed leftover

white phosphorus munitions White phosphorus munitions are weapons that use one of the common allotropes of the chemical element phosphorus. White phosphorus is used in smoke, illumination, and incendiary munitions, and is commonly the burning element of tracer ammun ...

. The battle is commemorated in the

1944 Hürtgen Forest Museum The 1944 Hürtgen Forest Museum (german: Museum Hürtgenwald 1944 und im Frieden) is located in Vossenack, in the municipality of Hürtgenwald, in the county of Düren, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The 1944 Hürtgen Forest Peace ...

, opened in 1983. There are three German war cemeteries; the one at Hürtgen was opened in 1952 and is the resting place of some one hundred postwar victims of mines and unexploded ordnance. Beside other small memorials, the road that rises from the

Kall KALL (700 AM) is a sports radio station in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area licensed to North Salt Lake, Utah, though in station identifications and the FCC database, the station is listed as being licensed to "North Salt Lake City". The ...

River Valley to the town of Schmidt incorporated the track of a destroyed

Sherman tank } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It w ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurtgen Forest Düren (district) Forests and woodlands of North Rhine-Westphalia