1944 Hürtgen Forest Museum

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 140 km2 (54 sq mi) area about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the Belgian–German border. Lasting 88 days, it was the longest battle on German ground during World War II and is the second longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought after the four-day-longer Battle of Bataan. The U.S. commanders' initial goal was to pin down German forces in the area to keep them from reinforcing the front lines farther north in the Battle of Aachen, where the US forces were fighting against the Siegfried Line network of fortified industrial towns and villages speckled with pillboxes, tank traps, and minefields. The Americans' initial tactical objectives were to take the village of Schmidt and clear Monschau. In a second phase the Allies wanted to advance to the Rur River as part of Operation Queen. Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model intended to bring the Allied thrust to a standstill. While he interfered less in the day-to-day movements of units than at the Battle of Arnhem, he still kept himself fully informed on the situation, slowing the Allies' progress, inflicting heavy casualties, and taking full advantage of the fortifications the Germans called the Westwall, better known to the Allies as the Siegfried Line. The Hürtgen Forest cost the U.S. First Army at least 33,000 killed and wounded, including both combat and non-combat losses, with upper estimates at 55,000; German casualties were 28,000. The city of Aachen in the north eventually fell on 22 October at high cost to the U.S. Ninth Army, but they failed to cross the Rur river or wrest control of its dams from the Germans. The battle was so costly that it has been described as an Allied "defeat of the first magnitude," with specific credit given to Model. The Germans fiercely defended the area because it served as a staging area for the 1944 winter offensive Wacht am Rhein (known in English-speaking countries as the Battle of the Bulge), and because the mountains commanded access to the Rur Dam at the head of the Rur Reservoir (Rurstausee). The Allies failed to capture the area after several heavy setbacks, and the Germans successfully held the region until they launched their last-ditch offensive into the Ardennes. This was launched on 16 December and ended the Hürtgen offensive. The Battle of the Bulge gained widespread press and public attention, leaving the battle of Hürtgen Forest less well remembered. The overall cost of the Siegfried Line campaign in American personnel was close to 140,000.

Hürtgenwald is a municipality in the district of Düren in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, approx. 15 km south-west of Düren. Much of the area is covered by forest (Hürtgenwald in literal translation means Hürtgen Forest). Hürtgenwald is composed of the villages Bergstein, Brandenberg, Gey, Großhau, Horm, Hürtgen, Kleinhau, Raffelsbrand, Schafberg, Simonskall, Strass, Vossenack and Zerkall (in alphabetical order). Kleinhau with the town hall is not only the administrational center of the community, but has become the commercial center as well (shops and a few supermarkets). In World War II, Hürtgenwald was the theater of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, a major battle. Two large war graves (one in Hürtgen, one in Vossenack) are places to commemorate those who fell. Nowadays, the pleasing landscape of forested hills, lakes and rivers attracts a lot of people from nearby densely populated areas, e.g. from the Cologne area and the Ruhr Area, for recreational reasons.

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.

The Rur Dam (German: Rurtalsperre Schwammenauel) is a 77.2 metre high dam located in the southwestern part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was built in 1939 and impounds the River Rur to form the Rur Reservoir (Rurstausee or Rursee) which is 7.83 km2 in area. It lies within the districts of Aachen and Düren.

The Krawutschke Tower (German: Krawutschketurm) is a 13 metre tall observation tower in the Hürtgenwald municipality in Germany, about one kilometer east of the village center of Bergstein, approximately 10 km south of Düren. The Krawutschke Tower is 400.5 m above sea level, situated on the Burgberg (Engl. castle mountain), which, during World War II, also had the Allied-given name Hill 400 due to its elevation. The Krawutschke Tower has three platforms, one above the other, each separated by three meters. On a clear day, one can see Cologne cathedral. Looking eastward, the Nideggen Castle is visible on the other side of the Rur valley. The tower has a panoramic view over the reservoir with the dam at Obermaubach. In 1911 an observation tower was built on the ruins of the former Berenstein castle, the medieval name Berenstein eventually becoming today's Bergstein. In 1933 a new tower was erected, named Eifelwanderer Franz Krawutschke after the locally famous Eifel Club member, Franz Krawutschke (1862-1940). The tower, which also was being used as a fire lookout tower, was heavily damaged during World War II and then destroyed by a forest fire in 1945. It was rebuilt in 1972, financed by the municipality of Hürtgenwald, the Eifel Club, the district of Düren and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. From July 2005 to November 2006 the tower had to be closed for safety reasons. After renovation of a substantial part of the supporting wooden construction (costs about € 65,000), the tower is open to the public again.

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.

Kall is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is 25.9 km long and flows into the Rur as a left tributary in Zerkall.

Rinnebach is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Rur.

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.

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 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 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.