Looking for recs of WWII museums and sights easily reachable by train from Köln/Cologne Germany - I'll be there in November if it makes a difference. I've already been to Remagen and planning to visit the NS-Dokumentationszentrum in Köln. Anything nearby or close by in Holland?
Unfortunately, I won't have a car this time so its train and bus only and ideally within 1-2 hours travel time.
Aachen is about 50 minutes from Cologne. From Aachen there's a bus route (SB66) that continues to Kornelimünster, Walheim , Friesenrath, and Roetgen (which is about 30 minutes from Aachen.) It looks like you will find a fair number of memorial sites, graves, dragon's teeth, etc. on this route.
https://www.aseag.de/fileadmin/aseag_media/documents/Linienfahrplaene/SB66.pdf
Click on this page, which handles the Roetgen war-related sites. You can click on the map there, zoom out, and find the locations of additional sites to the north in the aforementioned towns between Roetgen and Aachen. Many of them look to be walkable from town. Aachen has "stumble-stones" and some other war options as well, and it's just a pleasant place to be on its own.
South of Roetgen, the bus continues to Monschau, possibly Germany's most attractive small town.
Use the DB itinerary page to input the names of towns and locations in the area and turn up itineraries that are possible from Cologne:
https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
I've been to Aachen and Monschau but never in these smaller places. Give it a try and come back with a trip report!
You can visit the Huertgenwald Battlefield museum in Vosseneck, It may all be in German, as the German Army held the US Army at bay for nearly 6 months, chewing up 12 divisions. Its about 10 miles southeast of Aachen.
https://www.museum-huertgenwald.de/
You can get there on the 286 bus from Dueren train station.
https://auskunft.avv.de
This site might be a bit too far depending on your time limit and desire to see another salient WW2 site.
See the German and British military cemeteries in Kleve from the Battle of the Reichswald in the lower Rhine area. It's a 2 hour ride from Cologne by train including transferring.
I saw these poignant sites in August of 1989 as a day trip from Düsseldorf Hbf. to Kleve.
