Battle of Heartbreak Crossroads
1944 CE.
Shown on the map at 50.502°, 6.327°.
The Battle of Heartbreak Crossroads was fought, beginning one day prior to the start of the Battle of the Bulge, at a vital three-way junction near a forester's cabin and former border post named Wahlerscheid, astride the Siegfried Line (Westwall). The road ran along the Höfen-Alzen and Dreiborn ridges, about 5.6 miles (9.0 km) north of Krinkelt-Rocherath, Belgium. In early December 1944, the U.S. V Corps trucked the experienced 2nd Infantry Division from positions it had held in the south to Krinkelt-Rocherath, twin villages adjacent to Elsenborn Ridge and near the southern tip of the Hürtgen Forest. On the eastern side of the Siegfried Line was an excellent road network leading to the Roer River dams a few miles to the northeast; the Allies' next goal. The Allies had tried bombing the dams without success, and a ground campaign was decided upon. The Americans were assigned to capture the crossroads with the goal of securing a jumping-off point for an attack on the dams, or failing that, force the Germans to blow them up.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Heartbreak Crossroads, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.