Operation Queen

Operation Queen
Part of the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine in the Western Front of World War II
The Schwammenauel dam at the Rur - one of the main objectives of Operation Queen
Date 16 November – 16 December 1944 Location Rur valley and environs, Germany Result German defensive victory[1]
Belligerents
United States Air support  United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Dwight Eisenhower Omar Bradley Courtney Hodges William Hood Simpson	Gerd von Rundstedt Walter Model Gustav-Adolf von Zangen Erich Brandenberger
Strength
Twelfth United States Army Group 1st Army 9th Army	Army Group B 7th Army 15th Army
Casualties and losses
38,500	39,000

Operation Queen was an American operation during World War II on the Western Front at the German Siegfried Line.

The operation was aimed against the Rur River (not to be confused with the Ruhr), as a staging point for a subsequent thrust over the river to the Rhine into Germany. It was conducted by the First and Ninth U.S. Armies.

The offensive commenced on 16 November 1944 with one of the heaviest Allied tactical bombings of the war. However, the Allied advance was unexpectedly slow, against heavy German resistance, especially in the Hürtgen Forest through which the main thrust of the offensive was carried out. By mid-December, the Allies finally reached the Rur and tried to capture its important dams, when the Germans launched their own offensive, dubbed Wacht am Rhein. The ensuing Battle of the Bulge led to the immediate cessation of Allied offensive efforts into Germany until February 1945.