Archäologischer Wanderweg Hürtgenwald 1944-45 [94]

Paradise in the Perlenbach valley - 3.6 km walk Starting point: Hiking parking lot Gut Heistert

With a good 80 kilometers in length and over 1,500 meters in altitude, this gravel bike tour is just the thing for anyone who wants to really push themselves.

A few days after the disaster of the "Battle of All Souls", Eisenhower's planned advance to the Rhine began on November 16, 1944 with "Operation Queen", the largest tactical air attack in support of ground troops during the entire Second World War.

Circular trail - 7 km - from the Höfen National Park gate parking lot

In the winter of 1944/45, the Second World War raged in the area around Schmidt. Acts of violence and cruelty brought endless suffering to soldiers and civilians. When the killing came to an end in February 1945, what remained were ... Shattered forests, devastated settlements, war scrap and corpses. The seemingly apocalyptic scale of the destruction is no longer really imaginable today. And yet fragments of the horror remain, be it gloomy bunkers or gradually fading traces of deadly battles. Remnants of war material still come to light or skeletal remains of dead soldiers are recovered. Memorials and crosses try to keep the memory of unspeakable suffering alive so that future generations can learn their lessons from a time of terror and violence. With the "Way of the Cross of Peace", the parish of St. Hubertus would like to remind us how fragile peace and freedom are. May the insight mature that readiness for reconciliation is the only right path to lasting peace; at all times and everywhere in the world. (TEXT: Bert van London,Konrad Schöller)