St. Vith to Woffelsbach

Route: St. Vith to Woffelsbach, Germany via Waimes, Butgenbach, Monschau, Simmerath and Steckenborn

Distance: about 80 km

I am leaving St. Vith today! I’m headed north into Western Germany to a town called Steckenborn. The chances of me making it there today are slim because the country I’m coming into now becomes more mountainous.
Ok, did I say it was “all down hill from here” at one point? It most certainly was mostly uphill today. I gained about 500 meters coming into Monschau. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
It was great to be able to leave St. Vith today. After dropping of a couple of post cards at the post, and thanking Christine one more time for her help with my credit card problems, I was off!
The first 12 km were a breeze up the old railroad grade bike path to Waimes. Grandpa had come back and staged at Waimes before retaking St. Vith in Jan. 1945, so I wanted to see it. It looked like every other little town in this part of Belgium, church in the middle, houses around the church, countryside around the houses. Forgive me if I’m getting a little flippant with this paradigm, but can you tell that I’m ready for a change?
Enter Germany. I knew that I stood a good chance of making it to Germany today, I just wasn’t sure of the grades. Riding off of the bike path back onto highways after Waimes was a bit of a let down, but I knew that the German frontier wasn’t far. It was, however, pretty much all uphill.
As I ran uphill, ipod playing a great mix of ACDC, Hi Tek and The Roots into my ears, I gradually became aware that I had left the valleys below, and was surrounded by fir trees once again. The signs all warned of death and had a skull depicted on them to either side of the road. Others read “zone militarie”. It was apparent that I wasn’t supposed to go into the woods. Maybe there were still mines from the war?
It was actually the German frontier, now demilitarized, but a few years ago filled with troops, army bases and border police. No one knows border security better than the Germans! Now with the EU, all such frivolities are a thing of the past. I got the sense that I was riding through a layer cake of fear; first with Hitler’s West Wall defense, then with the cold war borders.
Coming down from the tree coated highlands which separate the two countries, the only indicator that I had passed the border was that everyone was out mowing their well maintained lawns, in their well maintained suburbs, on their perfectly maintained streets complete with paved bike lanes. How can I complain about separate paved bikes lanes? Sure, the people are a little stiff, and the drivers are crazier than New York, but the bike lanes are great!
I was riding toward several towns whose names held a meaning to me. Simmerath, Steckenborn, and Monschau. All of these towns had played a major role in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. This lesser known battle of the war is lesser known because it was a needless bloodbath, perpetuated once begun, by imbecilic officers who did not know how to stop it once it started. There was no stated tactical objective except to “kill Germans” the hills surrounding the Ruhr River Valley. What started in September 1944 as a small mission to clear a section of woods threatening the allied southern flank, turned into a 5 month extravaganza, completely separate from the Battle of the Bulge, which killed over 50,000 Americans and God knows how many Germans.
The fighting centered around a forested area near, but not directly adjacent to, the Ruhr River, which ha hydroelectric dams at a few points, creating lakes like the one I’m camped at now. The Germans held the total advantage during this fight. They were snug in well prepared defensive positions, in possession of the high ground in all case, with pre sited artillery a phone call away. In short, they slaughtered over 7 American infantry and 3 armored divisions in the months around the Battle of the Bulge.
Why don’t we hear about this battle? Because it was a huge mistake. There was never any need to send so many American’s to die in this forest. It wasn’t until Feb. 1945 that the dams over the Ruhr River were identified as military objectives (4 months into the battle), and in the end, the Germans opened the floodgates on these, and slowed the Allied advance to the Rhine by weeks. In this light, it was a German victory through and through.
Anyway, when Grandpa was posted here after the bulge, his unit had suffered over 50% casualties. They needed a quiet place to rest and train, before heading back into the fray. The town of Steckenborn was quiet only because it was 4 miles from the front. No doubt during this entire period of rest, grandpa could here the guns fringing the distance.
I came across a pack of middle aged German cyclists today. They were all clustered around a series of signs at a node in the cycling trails in the town of Born, Belgium. I needed directions, and as soon as I opened my mouth indicating that I spoke English, a series of people shouted back, in a European game of telephone, calling for “Suzette!” Suzette evidently was the only one who spoke English.
Now, I really like the Belgian bike trails. They really are top notch, except of course Holland’s but that’s another story. The only thing is the navigation system. It is confusing as all hell. Each little piece of trail seems to have a random number associated with it.