Voerde

Voerde is a town in the Wesel district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine about six miles southeast of Wesel and 20 kilometers north of Duisburg. Its name derives from a ford crossing of a branch of the Rhine used since Roman and Frankish times, and it was first documented in 1244 as a fiefdom and castle belonging to Werden Abbey. The US Ninth Army crossed the Rhine near Voerde on the night of 23 to 24 March 1945 during Operation Plunder, reaching the Rhine's right bank there for the first time. Voerde became part of the Wesel district in 1975 and had a population of 35,529 as of December 2025.