The Roer (, ) or Rur (; ) is a major river that flows through portions of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

(). About 90 percent of the river's course is in Germany. It is not to be confused with the rivers

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

and Röhr, which are tributaries of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

in North Rhine-Westphalia.

History

During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

the valley of the Roer lay mostly within the

Duchy of Jülich The Duchy of Jülich (; ; ) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by the Electorate of Cologne to the east and the Duchy of Limburg to the wes ...

. In 1795, until 1814, during which time the area was part of the French Republic and

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

, it gave its name to the French ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of the

Roer The Roer (, ) or Rur (; ) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse (). About 90 percent of the river's course is in Germany. It is not to be conf ...

. The Roer represented an important front in the Allied push towards Germany at the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. A fortified area known as the Roer Triangle, formed by the towns of

Roermond Roermond (; or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received City rights i ...

and Sittard, in the

, and Heinsberg in

, was the scene of heavy fighting at the beginning of 1945. Operation Blackcock was the code name for the clearing of the Roer Triangle. It was conducted by the 2nd British Army between 14 and 26 January 1945. The objective was to drive the German 15th Army back across the Rivers Roer and Wurm and move the frontline further into Germany. The operation was carried out under command of the XII Corps by three divisions. The operation is relatively unknown despite the sometimes fierce battles that were fought for each and every village and hamlet within the "Roer Triangle". Between 16 December 1944 and 23 February 1945, the

U.S. Ninth Army The Ninth Army was a field army of the United States Army, most recently garrisoned at Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy. It was the United States Army Service Component Command of United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM or AFRICOM). Activated jus ...

was unable to advance across the Roer during

Operation Queen Operation Queen was an American operation during World War II on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front at the German Siegfried Line. The operation was aimed against the River Roer as a staging point for a subsequent thrust over the ri ...

, because German forces controlled dams close to the river's source in the densely forested region of the Hohes Venn. This meant Axis forces could potentially blow the dams, releasing enough water to wash out an Allied assault. At the same time, the German

Ardennes Offensive The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

meant any further westward push would leave Allied forces stretched and supply lines exposed. Eventually the counteroffensive was overwhelmed and German engineers, under pressure of aerial and artillery bombardment, released the dams. As the flood waters began to subside, Allied forces crossed the Rur in rafts in the early hours of February 23, 1945, as part of

Operation Grenade During World War II, Operation Grenade was the crossing of the Roer river between Roermond and Düren by the U.S. Ninth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General William Hood Simpson, in February 1945, which marked the beginning of the Allied inv ...

. Image:Rur zwischen Monschau und Dedenborn 30-01-2005.jpg, The Roer between Monschau and Dedenborn during winter File:Rur stream and the High Fens along the RAVeL L48 in Bütgenbach, Belgium (DSCF5836).jpg, The Roer in the High Fens

Geography

The Roer rises in the

High Fens The High Fens (; ; ), which were declared a Nature reserve, nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a Plateau, plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of northwestern Germany, between the Ardennes and the ...

, near the high Signal de Botrange in Belgium at an elevation of above sea level. South of Monschau it flows into Germany, through

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. It flows first through the northern part of the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

mountains. After it reaches the Roer Reservoir, the second-largest artificial lake in Germany. After approximately it flows into the Netherlands, and at its mark it flows into the river

in the city of

. Major tributaries of the Roer include the Inde and the Wurm. The towns along the Roer are Monschau, Heimbach, Nideggen,

Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne, on the river Rur (river), Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the ter ...

, Jülich, Linnich, Hückelhoven, Heinsberg (all in Germany) and Roermond (Netherlands). In the 1960s and 1970s, the northern part of the Roer was heavily polluted by the

tailings In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material ...

of many German coal mines. Neither fish nor other organisms could be found, and it was dangerous to swim in the river. Foam flakes regularly flooded parts of the city of Roermond. After the closure of the mines, the waste water treatment in Germany and the Netherlands greatly improved. Only the lower part of the river is still contaminated.Water quality chart of the Rur published by the Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia
/ref> The water in the upper part of the river is so clean that trout and more than 30 species of fish are back. After an absence of 125 years,

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

returned to the Roer in 2004.

Tributaries

* Ellebach * Inde * Kall * Malefinkbach * Merzbach * Wurm * Olef * Urft

Recreation

The Roer is the only real white water river in North Rhine-Westphalia. The upper section above the Roer reservoir (German: Rurtalsperre Schwammenauel) offers of white water ranging from

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

III(+) to I. The town of Monschau is the venue for the yearly International White Water Race which was held on 17 March 2013 for the 58th time.

References

External links

Roercrossing of the 102. Infantry Division 1944/45 documents and photos
{{Authority control International rivers of Europe Rivers of Belgium Rivers of Germany Rivers of Liège Province Rivers of Limburg (Netherlands) Rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia Rivers of the Ardennes (Belgium) Rivers of the Eifel Rivers of the Netherlands Roerdalen Roermond