Rur Dam

The Rur Eifel (German: Rureifel) lies in the district of Düren in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and is a local recreation area from the regions of Cologne, Aachen, Düsseldorf, Krefeld, Mönchengladbach and Bonn. Its name comes from the river Rur and the Eifel Mountains. The Rur Eifel geographically includes the towns of Nideggen, Heimbach and Schleiden as well as the municipalities of Hürtgenwald, Kreuzau and Hellenthal. This holiday and day-excursion region is widely known for having the second largest dam in Europe, the Schwammenauel, or Rur Dam, the Eifel National Park and the North Eifel Nature Park.

The Wildbretshügel, at 525.3 m above sea level (NHN), is the third highest hill in the Kermeter, an upland region which is part of the Northern Eifel. It is located near Gemünd and Hasenfeld in the counties of Euskirchen and Düren in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Obersee near Simmerath in the borough of Aachen is the main forebay of the Rur Reservoir on the River Rur in the Eifel mountains of Germany. Its barrier is the Paulushofdamm. The reservoir, like that of the Rur Dam, belongs to the Eifel-Rur Water Company (Wasserverband Eifel-Rur). The reservoir provides drinking water.

The Urft Dam (German: Urfttalsperre) is a 58.50 metre high dam in the southwestern part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was built in 1905. The dam impounds the River Urft in the district of Euskirchen to create the Urft Reservoir (Urftstausee), 2.16 km² in area. The reservoir is also called the Urftsee (Lake Urft). The Urft Dam, which was constructed during the period 1900 to 1905, and the Urft Reservoir, which was then the biggest reservoir in Europe, having belonged since 1993 to the Eifel-Rur Water Board (Wasserverband Eifel-Rur).

The Eifel National Park (German: Nationalpark Eifel) is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development".Eifel National Park is part of the much larger High Fens – Eifel Nature Park, a cross-border protection between Germany and Belgium established in 1960.

The Verbrannter Berg ("Burnt Mountain") near Wolfgarten in the county of Euskirchen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is a hill, 516.2 m above sea level (NHN), in the Kermeter, a ridge in the Eifel mountains, in the region of Rur Eifel; at the same time Verbrannter Berg is the name of a parcel of land.

Kraftwerk Heimbach is a hydro-electric power station in Heimbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was built in Jugendstil architecture, completed in 1905, then the largest hydro-electric power station in Europe. It is also known as Urftkraftwerk, because it uses water from the Urft reservoir. The original eight Francis turbines served until 1974, when they were replaced by two more powerful turbines, leaving two in place for historic value. The power station is still operating to cover peak demand, run by RWE. In 1998, the Spannungen festival of chamber music has been held in the turbine hall for one week in June. The turbines are stopped during the concerts. The upper floor of the power station houses a museum for historic electric appliances.

The Vogelsang Training Area (German: Truppenübungsplatz Vogelsang) lay in the German North Eifel hills between the villages of Simmerath, Heimbach and Schleiden in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was established in 1946 and handed back at the end of 2005, and consisted of the grounds of the former Nazi leadership training centre in the fort of Vogelsang (Ordensburg Vogelsang) on the Erpenscheid hill plus additional terrain including the so-called Dreiborn Plateau. In the north and east it was bounded by the Urft Reservoir. The training area had an area of around 45 km2 and since 1 January 2006 has been fully incorporated into the Eifel National Park.Until 1950 the training area was run by the British Armed Forces and thereafter until 31 December 2005 by the Belgian Army.

Ordensburg Vogelsang is a former Nazi complex located within the former military training area of Vogelsang in the Eifel National Park in North Rhine-Westphalia. The landmarked and fully preserved complex was used by the Nazi Party between 1936 and 1939 as an educational centre for future leaders. Since 1 January 2006 the area has been open to visitors. It is one of the largest architectural relics of Nazi Germany. The total area of the listed buildings is 50,000 m2.

The Dreiborn Plateau (German: Dreiborner Hochfläche) is an area of woods and open terrain, some 33 square kilometres in area, in the Eifel National Park. It corresponds to the area of the Vogelsang Military Training Area which was handed back on 31 December 2005 and had been out-of-bounds to the public since 1 September 1946. Since 2006 parts of the area have been opened up to the public who may use certain routes through it.

Kesternich is a small village just inside the German border from Belgium. It was the site of two major battles during World War II. These battles are tied to the Siegfried Line Campaign, the Battle of the Huertgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and the assault on the Roer River dams at the outset of Operation Lumberjack.

The Hürtgen forest (also: Huertgen Forest; German: Hürtgenwald) is located along the border between Belgium and Germany, in the southwest corner of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Scarcely 130 square kilometres (50 square miles) in area, the forest lies within a triangle outlined by the German towns of Aachen, Monschau, and Düren. The Rur River runs along the forest's eastern edge.