Operation Queen was an American operation during World War II at the Western Front at the German Siegfried Line. The operation was aimed against the Rur River, 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. Army.
The offensive commenced on 16 November 1944 with one of the heaviest Allied tactical bombings of the war. However, 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 the Allied offensive efforts into Germany until February 1945.
Read more about Operation Queen: Background, Aftermath, Notes, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words operation and/or queen:
“Waiting for the race to become official, he began to feel as if he had as much effect on the final outcome of the operation as a single piece of a jumbo jigsaw puzzle has to its predetermined final design. Only the addition of the missing fragments of the puzzle would reveal if the picture was as he guessed it would be.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)
“I have nothing against the Queen of England. Even in my heart I never resented her for not being Jackie Kennedy. She is, to my mind, a very gallant lady, victimized by whoever it is who designs the tops of her uniforms.”
—Leonard Cohen (b. 1934)