Reichswald, Battle of the

In World War II, hard-fought battle to clear the Reichswald forest, a German state forest situated around Cleve, close to the Dutch border, as part of the general Allied advance into Germany February 1945.

The Reichswald was about 25 km/15 mi west of Nijmegen between the Waal and Maas rivers. In the winter of 1945 the Germans released the sluices on these rivers so that the areas north and south of the forest were flooded and impassable. Unable to manoeuvre due to the floods, the Allied attack was preceded by an immense artillery barrage, over 6,000 tons of shells being fired on the first day of the attack. In spite of the difficult terrain the attack went well and took the initial objectives, after which German resistance stiffened and it was not until 21 February that the entire area was cleared.