Fort Eben-Emael

The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael was a battle between Belgian and German forces that took place between 10 May and 11 May 1940, and was part of the Battle of Belgium and Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. An assault force of German paratroopers, Fallschirmjäger, was tasked with assaulting and capturing Fort Eben-Emael, a Belgian fortress whose strategic position and strong artillery emplacements dominated several important bridges over the Albert Canal. These carried roads which led into the Belgian heartland and were what the German forces intended to use to advance. As some of the German airborne forces assaulted the fortress and disabled the garrison and the artillery pieces inside it, others simultaneously captured three bridges over the Canal. Having disabled the fortress, the airborne troops were then ordered to protect the bridges against Belgian counter-attacks until they linked up with ground forces from the German 18th Army. The battle was a strategic victory for the German forces, with the airborne troops landing on top of the fortress with gliders and using explosives and flamethrowers to disable the outer defences of the fortress. The Fallschirmjäger then entered the fortress, killing some defenders and containing the rest in the lower sections of the fortress. Simultaneously, the rest of the German assault force had landed near the three bridges over the Canal, destroyed several pillboxes and defensive positions and defeated the Belgian forces guarding the bridges, capturing them and bringing them under German control. The airborne troops suffered heavy casualties during the operation, but succeeded in holding the bridges until the arrival of German ground forces, who then aided the airborne troops in assaulting the fortress a second time and forcing the surrender of the remaining members of the garrison. German forces were then able to use two bridges over the Canal to bypass Belgian defensive positions and advance into Belgium to aid in the invasion of the country. The bridge at Kanne was destroyed, forcing German engineers to construct a new bridge.

The fortified position of Liège (French: position fortifiée de Liège [PFL]) was established after the First World War by Belgium to block the traditional invasion corridor through Belgium between Germany and France. In the First World War the Belgian Army held up the Germans for a week at Liège, delaying the German invasion of France, caused Belgium to consider a similar defensive strategy. Belgium rebuilt the Liège fortifications and extended them onto the Pays de Herve (Herve plateau) closer to Germany, using the most advanced fortification technology available. The PFL was divided into the modern defensive line, anchored on the Albert Canal by Fort Eben-Emael and extending to the south through a planned five additional forts, designated PFL I and the ring of forts around Liège. Liège commanded crucial road and rail crossings of the Meuse and was as strategically important in the 1930s as in 1914. The modernized Liège forts were called PFL II. In 1936, Belgium's neutrality was proclaimed again by King Leopold III of Belgium in a vain attempt to forestall another invasion, preventing France from being able to make use of the Belgian defences and territory in the forward defence of France. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Belgian defences had to resist alone until France could advance into Belgium after its neutrality had been violated. Again the fortifications could not hold the Germans.

Kanne (Limburgish: Kan) is a village in the municipality of Riemst in the southeastern part of the Belgian province of Limburg. as of 2021, the village has 1,162 inhabitants of which a significant part have the Dutch nationality.

Mount Saint Peter (French: Montagne Saint-Pierre; Dutch: Sint-Pietersberg), also referred to as Caestert Plateau, is the northern part of a plateau running north to south between the valleys of the river Geer to the west, and the Meuse to the east. The plateau runs from Maastricht in the Netherlands, through Riemst in Belgian Limburg almost to the city of Liège in Belgium, thus defining the topography of this border area between Flanders, Wallonia and the Netherlands. The name of the hill, as well as the nearby village and church of Sint Pieter and the fortress of Sint Pieter, refers to Saint Peter, one of the Twelve Apostles.

Ében-Émael (French pronunciation: ​[ebɛn emal]; Walloon: Eben-Emål; Limburgish: Aemaol; Dutch: Eben-Emaal) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Bassenge, located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The village is located on the French-speaking side of the language border, next to Kanne on the Flemish side and not far from the border with the Netherlands near Maastricht. It is located at an altitude of 70 metres (230 ft) above sea level. Until 1963, Eben-Emael belonged to the Dutch-speaking province of Limburg, but when the language border was established, the place was transferred to the province of Liège in Wallonia. It was a municipality in its own right before the 1977 Merger of Municipalities.

Château Neercanne (also known as Agimont or kasteel Neercanne) is a restaurant located in Maastricht in the Netherlands. It is a fine dining restaurant that was awarded one or two Michelin stars in the periods 1957-1982 and 1986–2018. In 2013, GaultMillau awarded them 16.0 points (out of 20).Head chef in the Michelin period, were, amongst others, Theo Koch and Ber Stassen. Present head chef is Robert Levels.

Eijsden-Margraten (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌɛizdəˈmɑrɣraːtə(n)]; (Limburgish: Èèsjde-Mergraote) is a municipality situated in the very south of the Netherlands. There it is located in the southeastern part of the province of Limburg. This municipality was formed in 2011 from the former municipalities of Eijsden and Margraten, that both consisted of a number of separately situated villages. As a result, the nowadays Eijsden-Margraten municipality consists of 28 villages and townships, spread out over 15 administrative centres. As of 2011, it has a population of about 25,000. Eijsden-Margraten is one of the most southerly municipalities in the Netherlands, for in its south it is extending up to the most southerly part of the border between the Netherlands and Belgium. The Meuse river, coming from France and Belgium, at Eijsden enters its third and final flowing country, the Netherlands. From here on its name in Dutch is "Maas". Running northward to Eijsden-Margraten's west it locally forms the westerly frontier of the last mentioned country with Belgium. A smaller stream, the Voer, coming from Belgium, drains into the Meuse river in this municipality, after having passed through a few of its villages.

Oost Castle (Dutch: Kasteel Oost) is a manor house in Oost-Maarland, a village in Eijsden, Limburg, the Netherlands. Located along the Meuse, it can be traced to an 11th-century motte-and-bailey residential tower that was expanded several times between 1548 and 1800. After falling into dilapidation, it was renovated in 1848 but had fallen into dilapidation again by the beginning of World War II. Beginning in 1941, an art colony led by Teun Roosenburg and his wife Jopie took residence in the castle. As they worked, trading art for food, the artists smuggled Jewish refugees away from the German occupation. The Roosenburgs purchased the castle in 1957, after which time they made extensive renovations, replacing the 1848-built chalet roof with a flatter design. After their deaths, the castle was acquired by Michel Maes; as of 2024, it is being converted into a luxury hotel. Together with a farmhouse on the grounds, the castle was declared a rijksmonument (national monument) on 17 January 1967.

The Geological Monument Type Location Maastrichtian is a geological monument in the South Limburg region of the Netherlands, located in the municipality of Maastricht. The monument is situated south of Maastricht and Sint Pieter, near the Meuse River, beneath the farmstead and Castle Ruin Lichtenberg. This castle ruin is perched atop a bare rock wall, largely remaining due to the excavation activities of the ENCI (Eerste Nederlandse Cement Industrie) in the ENCI quarry, which is part of the Sint-Pietersberg hill, itself a part of the Plateau of Caestert.

The Voer (Dutch, pronounced [vuːr]; French: Fouron) is a small river in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is a right-bank tributary to the river Meuse. It has three (creek-) tributaries of its own: the Veurs, the Noor and the Beek. The source of the Voer is near the village of Sint-Pieters-Voeren in the Belgian province of Limburg. The river crosses the Belgian-Dutch border between 's-Gravenvoeren and Mesch, and flows into the river Meuse at Eijsden. The Voer's total length is about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi). It lends its name to the Voeren municipality as well as to the villages 's-Gravenvoeren, Sint-Pieters-Voeren and Sint-Martens-Voeren through which it passes.

Eijsden Castle (Dutch:Kasteel Eijsden) is a moated manor house with several farm buildings, a gatehouse and castle park, in Eijsden-Margraten, Limburg, Netherlands. The current castle was built in 1637 and is located next to the river Maas. The castle is a rijksmonument. Also other parts of the terrain are separately listed, making a total of 27 rijksmonuments. It is part of the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites, established in 1990 by the Department for Conservation.

The Internationaal Museum voor Familiegeschiedenis (known in English as the International Museum for Family History, or in short "The Family Museum") is a museum located in the former Ursuline Convent in Eijsden, Netherlands. As a museum with a focus on genealogy and family history, it is the first museum of its kind in the world. The Ursuline sisters commissioned Pierre Cuypers to renovate and extend the building in 1899. It is probable that Cuypers entrusted part of the project to Johannes Kayser, a Dutch architect notable for his neogothic designs.The museum focuses especially on genealogy, DNA-research, the life and work of Eugène Dubois, human evolution, heraldry, Charlemagne, family law and the working lives of our ancestors. the museum also houses the office, archives and collections of the International Qajar Studies Association. The museum is a "Public Benefit Organisation" (Algemeen nut beogende instelling) and it has won awards such as the 'VVV price for innovation'.The advisory board of the museum includes notable figures such as former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dries van Agt, American historian at Yale University Ned Blackhawk, professor Michel Hockx of the University of Notre Dame, professor of Russian and Inner Asian history at Brock University David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, and professor Tudor Parfitt.