The Bundesstraße 4 (abbr. B4) is a German federal highway running in a northwesterly to southerly direction from the state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. It provides a direct route for motorists traveling between

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. The section north of Hamburg is paralleled by

Bundesautobahn 7 is the longest German Autobahn and the longest national motorway in Europe at 963 km (598 mi). It bisects the country almost evenly between east and west. In the north, it starts at the border with Denmark as an extension of the Danish part of ...

and the road is down-graded to a ''Landstraße'' (country road); the section between

Hallstadt Hallstadt is a town in the Upper Franconian district of Bamberg on the left bank of the Main, 4 km north of Bamberg. Geography Hallstadt borders in the south on the city of Bamberg and in the west on the Main. There are two constituent comm ...

and

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

is paralleled by the A 70 and A 73 and is also down-graded to a ''Staatsstraße'' (state road, same as country road). The Bundesstraße 4 is the former Reichsstraße 4 (imperial road), on which north of

Quickborn Quickborn () is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It belongs to Metropolregion Hamburg and is located on the north part of Hamburg on Autobahn A7. It is a 700 year old town which also belonged to Denmark in th ...

the last Commanding Admiral of the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

Friedeburg Friedeburg is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 14 km southeast of Wittmund, and 20 km west of Wilhelmshaven. About 4 kilometers east of the main village of Friedeburg, n ...

met with officers of the

2nd British Army The British Second Army was a Field Army active during the First and Second World Wars. During the First World War the army was active on the Western Front throughout most of the war and later active in Italy. During the Second World War the army ...

to negotiate a truce with the Western Allied forces on 4 May 1945.

See also