This two-part podcast examines the history of the liberation of the Northern Eifel and the Aachen region in the tri-border area of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands from a variety of perspectives. South of the city of Aachen, the village of Roetgen on the German-Belgian border was liberated on 12 September 1944, making it the first village within the German Reich to be freed by the Allies. Aachen was the symbolic first German city to be liberated a few weeks later, on 21 October 1944.

In the autumn and winter of 1944/45, the Hürtgen Forest was the scene of heavy fighting between the German Wehrmacht and the troops of the 1st US Army. In November 1944, the so-called “All Souls’ Day Battle” (German: Allerseelenschlacht) took place around the villages of Vossenack and Schmidt (2 to 12 November 1944). During the attempt to capture Schmidt, the US side suffered heavy losses as a result of a German counter-attack.

The entire Battle of the Hürtgen Forest (12 September 1944 to 10 February 1945) was the longest field battle of the Second World War on German soil for the Americans. It is estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000 American soldiers lost their lives, with a total of 12 US divisions taking part. In the first part of the podcast, Volker Lossner goes into more detail about the fighting on the ground.

The second part of the podcast deals with the evacuation of the local civilian population and the almost complete destruction of all villages in the area. It also explores the perspective of the German soldiers and their varying motivations for defending the Hürtgen Forest. The concluding message is that freedom should not be taken for granted, as previous generations paid a high price for it.