LOCATION

Furstenau was the name of a small town in Germany. It had a small airstrip that was just large enough for US bombers to land. From an old photo album from the war, I discovered that Michelstadt and Ehrbach are small towns in the German region often identified by the word “Odenn”. This area is often referred to as the Black Forest.

The area of Ehrbach-Furstenau was formed in 1532 as part of the Holy Roman Empire. The castle appears to be built in the 14th century and then restored in the 16th century after fighting caused destruction to parts of the original structure during the Medieval Ages. The Allied invasion into that part of Germany was on March 24, 1944, and as a result of that fighting, several of the buildings in this area were destroyed by the devastation of the war.