Rurtalsperre

On 16 November 1944, the Allies launched Operation Queen with the aim of crossing the Rur River and penetrating to the Rhine. The ground forces received tactical support through one of the largest air operations of the Second World War. As a result, the towns of Düren and Jülich were almost completely destroyed.

Although the Rur Dam Schwammenau initially played no role in American planning, the commanders soon realized that if the lock gates were opened, the entire plain of the Rur around Düren would be flooded. This would make a quick crossing impossible.

On December 13, the Americans began their advance on the dam, but they were held up by the persistent rain and tough resistance. "The Huertgen Forest was a hellish, gruesome place to fight," veteran George Morgan would later recall. The American soldiers spent the cold winter nights in foxholes, sometimes in their summer uniforms, totally unprepared for this kind of fighting. In addition to the many dead and wounded, more and more soldiers were disabled by frostbite and pneumonia.

The German counteroffensive in the Ardennes (called the Battle of the Bulge by the Allies) began on 16 December 1944 and put an end to all Allied operations in the Huertgen Forest for the time being. It was only after the Battle of the Bulge collapsed on January 10, 1945, that U.S. forces renewed their attacks. It was not until mid-February that the last German troops were driven out of the woods. On their retreat they opened the floodgates of the Rur dam Schwammenauel. This caused the Allies a delay of 14 days in the vicinity of Düren.

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