Footsteps of WWII · Western & southern Germany

Museum Hürtgenwald 1944, Vossenack

Museum · 19 Sep – 16 Dec 1944

The story

The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest began on 19 September 1944 as the US First Army pushed into the dense, hilly woods south-east of Aachen, partly to protect its flank and later to reach the Rur dams. The 9th Infantry Division was followed by the 28th, whose 112th Infantry Regiment took Vossenack and then Schmidt on 2–3 November. A German tank counter-attack threw them out of Schmidt on 4 November, and the narrow Kall Trail supply route through the ravine below Vossenack became a death trap. The 4th, 8th and 1st Infantry Divisions followed. The fighting cost the Americans tens of thousands of casualties for a few miles of forest. The museum, run by the local history society, grew from Konrad Schall's collection, first shown at Kleinhau in 1983, and moved to Vossenack in 2001.

What to look for

A village museum with themed rooms on the Siegfried Line, the Wehrmacht and the US Army in the forest, maps, uniforms, weapons and relics dug from the woods, plus the post-war years. Use it as the base for walking the Kall Trail into the valley below.

Plan your visit

Open Sundays 10:00–17:00 from March to November, with extra openings at Easter and special events; weekday group visits by arrangement. The Simonskall medical bunker opens on some first Sundays. Small admission fee. Check the website before you go.

Nearby sites

• Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery · 33 km
• Baugnez: Malmedy massacre memorial · 38 km
• Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten · 42 km
• December 44 Historical Museum, La Gleize · 48 km
• St Vith · 49 km
• Fort Eben-Emael · 51 km

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