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History: Geilenkirchen / WW2

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During WW2 Geilenkirchen was damaged terribly. You find photos in the city archives as well as in different editions of the native country calendar.

The "Westwall" kown as "Siegfried Line" was positioned in boundery of the of the city, east of the creek "Wurm", next to Süggerath.

The actual picture (2004) shows the Westwall / Siegfried-Line next to Aachen

The anti-tank plants also were called hump line or dragon teeth because of their form. The humps made of reinforced concrete were positioned in several rows on a common foundation. Two types had been build: The type of 1938 with 4 rows of teeth (rising looking from the front) and the type of 1939 with 5 of these teeth.

However, many irregular hump lines were built also. Where the geography of the area was allowing it, water filled ditches were dug instead of the anti-tank plants. Holdovers of such plants ditches still can be found next to Müllendorf, nearby the playground.

click the map, for an enlaged view

Links:

http://www.westwall-museum.de/
http://www.westwall.page.cx/
http://www.neckar-enz-stellung.de/
http://home.t-online.de/home/go-now/ Westwall im Saarland
http://d.lois.bei.t-online.de/ Westwall in Nordrhein-Westfalen
http://www.westwallmuseum-irrel.de/ Panzerwerk Katzenkopf
http://www.westwallmuseum-sinz.de/
http://www.7grad.org/ Infos über den Westwall in NRW, Region Aachen
http://www.jinxed.de/westwall/update.php3

Literature

A book (english) describes memories of an American soldier involved, from his view:
"The men of company k" (ISBN 0-553-26272-6)

Another very good book about the war happenings in and around GK is written by Ken Ford titled: Assault on Germany "The Battle for Geilenkirchen". You can find a copy in the town library. The book isn't available in book stores any more as a new copy. There might be a chance to find one though:

Internet bookshop:

http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookSearch

"Rurfront" und "Rur-Überquerung"

Because I very frequently had e-mail enquiries, asking for details on the "Rurfront" and "Rur crossing" in Linnich, there is a website to this topic now. More information about the happenings in the area of Geilenkirchen might be found here soon.

My Infosite on the Rurfront, Linnich-Rurdorf-Tetz

Rurfront 1944/45

An interesting book of the author Hans Kramp from Linnich (with many photos and reports on approx. 570 pages) at a price of approx. 40 euros, is available in local bookstores: "Rurfront 1944/45."