Atlas of Battles

battle, major, interwar and Second World War

Ruhr Pocket

Ruhr Pocket was a battle fought on 18 April 1945 at Ruhr Region, in what is now Germany. It was part of the Western Front, which ran from 1939 to 1945. The recorded result: Allied victory; Capitulation of the German Army Group B.

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At a prisoner-of-war enclosure near Remagen, Germany, one of the Rheinwiesenlager, a U.S. soldier takes part in keeping guard over thousands of German soldiers captured in the Ruhr area.
At a prisoner-of-war enclosure near Remagen, Germany, one of the Rheinwiesenlager, a U.S. soldier takes part in keeping guard over thousands of German soldiers captured in the Ruhr area.. Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought18 April 1945
WhereRuhr Region, Germany51.467N, 7.550E
OutcomeAllied victory; Capitulation of the German Army Group B
BelligerentsUnited States; United Kingdom; (German resistance)againstNazi Germany
Part ofWestern Front1939 to 1945

Where it sits in the Western Front

Siege of Fort Hegra, 1940Battle of France, 1940German invasion of Belgium, 1940Battle of Maastricht, 1940Battle of Sedan, 1940Battle of Boulogne, 1940Battle of Dunkirk, 1940Battle of the Ypres-Comines Canal, 1940Siege of Lille, 1940Dunkirk evacuation, 1940Battle of Pont-de-l'Arche, 1940Battle of Lanzerath Ridge, 1944Operation Madelaine, 1944Battle of Moerbrugge, 1944Siege of Dunkirk, 1944Battle of Metz, 1944Battle of Opheusden, 1944Battle of Vianden, 1944Battle of Broekhuizen, 1944Losheim Gap, 1944Battle of Clervaux, 1944Siege of Bastogne, 1944Battle of St. Vith, 1944Operation Nordwind, 1944Operation Bodenplatte, 1945Battle of Bure, 1945Battle for the Kapelsche Veer, 1945Operation Blockbuster, 1945Battle of Würzburg, 1945Ruhr Pocket, 1945Battle of Hamburg, 194519401945Ruhr Pocket, 1945
31 placed engagements of the Western Front in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date18 April 1945
PlaceRuhr Region, Germany
51.467N, 7.550E
KindBattle, interwar and Second World War
Casualties and losses1,500 killed; 8,000 wounded; 500 missing; Total: 10,000317,000 soldiers captured; About 10,000 people killed (including prisoners of war in German captivity, foreign forced laborers, Volkssturm militia and unarmed civilians); Total: 327,000
Commanders
Ruhr PocketRuhr PocketBattle of the WülferichskampBattle of WerlBattle of ErmenBombardment of ArnsbergBattle of VillinghausenBattle of the WülferichskampBattle of ErmenBombardment of ArnsbergBattle of VillinghausenCologneDüsseldorfHanoverBonnUtrechtKoblenzMünsterOsnabrück100 km51.467N, 7.550E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Ruhr Pocket
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Ruhr Pocket today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2025-08-11. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

The recorded site stands at about 214 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 85 to 261 m, 176 m of relief, hilly country and today it is 54% tree cover, 23% built-up, 11% grassland.

tree cover: 54%built-up: 23%grassland: 11%cropland: 11%tree cover 54%built-up 23%grassland 11%cropland 11%
west to east, 10.0 km125 to 231 mnorth to south, 10.0 km104 to 240 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1945

Ruhr Pocket is one of 2,997 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 538 in present-day Germany.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q699093, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Ruhr pocket, revision 1385632327, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.