Route of the Liberation of Europe

Information board of the Liberation Route Europe on a "peace stone" in Kranenburg (Kleve district)

The Liberation Route Europe is a route of remembrance to the historical sites on which the Allied forces came from southern England to the coast of Normandy , through the Belgian Ardennes , Brabant , Arnhem , Nijmegen and the Huertgen Forest to Berlin . The route continues to Gdańsk (Danzig) in Poland. The main focus is on the liberation of mainland Europe from National Socialist occupation , but also on commemorating and coming to terms with the Second World War and its long-lasting effects. In 2019 the Liberation Route Europe was certified as a cultural route by the Council of Europe .

The project, originally from the Netherlands , tries to look at the difficult legacy of the Second World War from different perspectives. It crosses national borders and connects history with life in today's Europe and other parts of the world. Along the route you will find numerous peace stones, boulders with information boards on which you can access audio spots, historical photos, contemporary witness reports and sights via the app.

The patron of the history route is the Liberation Route Europe Foundation. The foundation has grown into an international organization and works closely with government organizations, universities, museums, veterans' associations, organizers of memorial events, tour operators and tourism institutions. It is supported by the Dutch Veterans Fund (V-Fonds) and the European Parliament .

As the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II is approaching in 2019 and 2020, the campaign “Europe Remembers 1944–1945” was launched. In cooperation with numerous European regions, cities and municipalities, commemorative events and exhibitions for the "Year of Liberation" are to take place.

List of locations (selection)

The Liberation Route stretches as a band of remembrance over a distance of over 3000 km across Europe. In the participating countries, those interested in history will find historical places, museums and sights in the respective region that deal with the history of liberation . In addition, on the website of the Liberation Route you can find biographies, short radio plays and further information on the historical places and the events of the war. As more and more organizations and communities participate in the Liberation Route, it is constantly being expanded.

Here is a selection of the places with further information that can be found on the website:


country	Place / region	time	event	Audio	biography	Landmark / museum	Historic place	image
Belgium	Antwerp	1944	Advance of the Allies, capture of Antwerp, 30 British corps immigrate from here to the Netherlands.	-	Hubert Pierlot Prince Karl of Belgium	Ford Breendonk National Memorial Kazerne Dossin	Joe's Bridge	Joe's Bridge
Belgium	Ardennes	1944/1945	Battle of the Bulge Defeat for the German people	-	Hubert Pierlot Prince Karl of Belgium Andree Collin Augusta Chiwy Fred Glavan Horst Helmus Melvin Biddle	Musée de la Bataille des Ardennes (Museum of the Battle of the Bulge in La Roche)	Bastogne Malmedy Houffalize La Roche Saint Vith	Mardasson Memorial, Bastogne
Belgium	Brussels	1944	Bombing and Liberation of Belgium	-	Jean-Baptiste Piron	Musée Royal de l'Armée (Royal Army and Military Museum Brussels) Ford Breendonk National Memorial Dossin barracks	Brussels Military base in Mechelen Ford Breendonk concentration camp	Royal Army and Military Museum Brussels
Great Britain	Kent	1944	Preparations for invasion in Great Britain , deception maneuvers: stationing a fictitious army.	-	Rosie the Riveter	Dover Castle Romney railway line	Dover Dungeness Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway	Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway
Great Britain	London	1944/1945	Governments-in-exile, Allied plans, bombing of London	-	Rosie the Riveter	Churchill War Rooms	London	Churchill War Rooms
Great Britain	Hampshire	1944/1945	Army and naval bases preparing for the invasion of Normandy, center of the British aircraft industry.	-	Rosie the Riveter	National Museum of the Royal Navy (Naval Museum Portsmouth) The D-Day Story Portsmouth Overlord Embroidery (tapestry depicting events of the Allied landings on June 6, 1944)	Southwick House Royal Naval Hospital Portsmouth Naval Base Mulberry ports New Forest National Park	D-Day Museum Portsmouth
Germany	Hürtigenwald	1944/1945	Battle in the Hürtigenwald , Allerseelenschlacht ("Battle for Schmidt")	-	Robert Cahow	Medical bunker No. 374 in Simonskall Vogelsang International Square	Rurtalsperre Roetgen near Aachen Scheiden (Eifel National Park)	Vogelsang International Square
Germany	Berlin	1945	Battle for Berlin	-	Ugo Brilli Wilhelm Keitel Josef Brettschneider Czesława Sidor Svetoslao N. Hlopoff Ralph Neumann Gisela Stange	Commemorative plaque Schulenburgring 2 (Berlin) Reichstag building Allied Museum	Half boiler US headquarters	Reichstag building at night
Germany	Kleve district	1945	Operation Market Garden , Operation Veritable , offensive in the Rhine area, Allied invasion, bombing raids on Germany	8th	Luise Rausch Léo Major	Remains of trenches in the Reichswald British Cemetery of Honor Kleve Royal Air Force Museum Laarbruch - Weeze eV	Reichswald near Kranenburg-Frasselt Kranenburg Kleve Weeze Goch Field Airfield of the Royal Air Force (Weeze)	Monument in front of the Kranenburg town hall (Kleve district)
Germany	District of Viersen	1945		1			Niederkrüchten Mönchengladbach Air Base
Germany	Peenemünde	1944	The Peenemünde Research Station was the largest military research center in Europe from 1936 to 1945. Among other things, the V2 rockets were developed here.	-		Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde		Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde
Germany	Torgau	1945	Soviets and Americans on the Elbe , final phase of the war against Germany.	-	Manfred Steinfeld			Allied monument in Torgau
France	Normandy	1944	Allied forces invade the English Channel . Operation Epsom, Operation Goodwood , Operation Bluecoat.	-	Bernad Blin Arlette Varin-Baudin Edouard Gérard Chantal Rivière-Nobécourt René Rossey	Musée Airborne Sainte-Mère-Eglise D-Day Experience (Dead Man's Corner museum), Saint-Come-du-Mont Bridge at La Fière and the Iron Mike statue Mémorial de Caen Museum	Gold Beach	Iron Mike statue in La Fière
France	Paris	1944	Revolt against the German occupation forces, liberation of the city by French and American forces.	-	Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque	Jean Moulin Museum Musée de l 'Armée Invalides	Montparnasse train station, Paris	Jean Moulin Museum
Italy	Lazio	1943/1944	Landing of the Allies in southern Italy, fighting on the Gustav Line , invasion of Rome.	-	Sergio Pivetta Adriana Vitali Vincenzo Dapino	Commonwealth Cemetery Beach Head War Cemetery (Anzio) Campo della Memoria (Field of Memories) in Nettuno	Liberation of Rome Anzio bridgehead ( Operation Shingle )	American military cemetery at Nettuno near Anzio
Italy	Campania	1943/1944	Italian campaign	-		Mignano Monte Lungo military cemetery	Battle of Monte Lungo Landing in Salerno
Luxembourg	Ardennes	1944/1945	Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge). The battle between the Allies and the German Wehrmacht resulted in heavy losses on both sides.	-	Horst Helmus Joachim Peiper Melvin Biddle Andrée Collin Augusta Chiwy Fred Glavan Otto Skorzeny	Mardasson Memorial (Bastogne) Bastogne War Museum Bastogne Barracks Recogne-Bastogne German War Cemetery Musée de la Bataille des Ardennes (La Roche)	Houffalize - the destroyed city Baugnez massacre Bois Jacques Skorzeny Command	Bastogne War Museum
Poland	Gdanzk (Danzig)	1939/1944/1989	Battle for the Westerplatte , downing of the SMS "Schleswig-Holstein" by the Royal Air Force . “Independence” of Poland only in 1989 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union .	-	Kapitan ( captain ) Franciszek Dąbrowski Captain Mieczysław Słaby Major Henryk Sucharski	Polish Post Museum (Gdansk) World War II Museum (Gdansk) European Solidarność Center (ECS)	Gdańsk in the 20th century Gdańsk before the war The outbreak of World War II	* European Solidarność Center (ECS)
Poland	Warsaw (Warsaw)	1939 / 1944/1989	Assault on Poland , imitations of combat and retaliation, uprisings, invasion of the Germans and the Red Army , bombing of the capital. “Independence” of Poland only in 1989 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.	-		Polish Army Museum Warsaw Rising Museum		Polish Army Museum
Netherlands	Gelderland	1944	Operation Market Garden , The Allies seized various bridges, paratroopers jump over Eindhoven , Nijmegen , and Arnhem . Battle for Arnhem.	72	Manfred Steinfeld Hans Kuik James Megellas Karl-Heinz Kracht Werner Kruger	The man with two hats (Apeldoorn) Airborne Memorial (Ede) Jonkerbos War Cemetery (Nijmegen) Freesbeek Freedom Museum Airborne Museum Hartenstein (Arnhem)	Operation Veritable (Derdebaan at De Hoge Hof, Lagewald near Groesbeek)	National Liberation Museum 1944–1945, Groesbeek (now the Freedom Museum)
Netherlands	Overijssel	1945	Location of the V1 and V2 missiles on Antwerp and London, resistance and bombing raids	7th		Holten Canadian Memorial Cemetery and Information Center Memory Museum (Nijverdal)	Oranjehotel (Wijhe) Weapons of retaliation (Rijssen)	Canadian Cemetery of Honor Holten
Netherlands	Zeeland	1944	Battle of the Scheldt estuary , Operation Mallard, skirmishes, bombing and flooding of the region.	14th		Zeeland Liberation Museum Allied Forces Monument in Baarland	Bunker village Groede Breskens: the German Dunkirk
Netherlands	North Brabant	1944	Operation Market Garden, Allied advance through North Brabant, fighting and bombing, liberation of the province, front line on the Meuse.	59		Oorlogsmuseum Overloon Overloon War Cemetery	A race against the clock! (Airfield B.89 in Mill)	Spitfire in the Oorlogsmuseum Overloon
Netherlands	Limburg	1945	First Dutch province liberated by the Allies, Operation Grenade , invasion of the area on the left bank of the Rhine, preparation of the Rhine crossing.	29		Visitor center Martinustoren Gennep Eyewitness Museum Beek	Hold on to the last man (Kasteel Geijsteren)	Castle Geijsteren
Netherlands	Drenthe	1945	Liberation of the Netherlands from German occupation, resistance, famine winter 1944/1945 , end of war.	5	Leo Major		The German surrender in the Netherlands - Hotel de Wereld Food transport (Wageningen) The last major battle in the Netherlands (Otterlo)	Hotel de Wereld