Hill 400

Hill 400 is the name given by Allied forces during World War II for a 400-meter-high hill located one kilometer east of the village center of Bergstein, Germany (near Brandenberg). Today this hill is predominantly called by its civil name Burgberg (English: castle mountain or castle hill). This small mountain provides a view over the entire Hürtgen Forest (German: Hürtgenwald) area and was strategically important as a vantage point and German artillery station during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest in 1944.

The Hürtgen Forest occupies a wooded plateau and its deep, heavily forested valleys between treeless rigelines. Hill 400 dominates the area and is at the end of the Brandenberg–Bergstein ridge, next to the Rur valley.

On Thursday, December 7, 1944, the New York Times reported that the 2nd Rangers had captured Bergstein, and castle hill. In a follow up report on the December 11 the Times reported that enemy attempts to regain Hill 400 east of Bergstein have been repulsed.”