Knapsack is a locality of Hürth

Hürth

Hürth is a town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hürth shares borders with the city of Cologne.-Geography:Hürth is situated about 9 km to the southwest of Cologne city centre, at the northeastern slope of the natural preserve Kottenforst-Ville.The town, consisting of...

, Rhine-Erft district

Rhein-Erft-Kreis

The Rhein-Erft-Kreis is a district in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Neuss, district-free Cologne, Rhein-Sieg, Euskirchen, Düren.-History:...

, North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...

, Germany..

On Wednesday 17 October, 2007, King Harald of Norway opened Statkraft's first gas power plant at Knapsack in Germany. The plant will have an installed capacity of 800 MW.

History

Knapsack, its first documentary mention in 1566, started to emerge into a notable town after 1900 due to establishment and development of industry (1906 the Knapsack-Griesheim AG, later known as the Hoechst AG; 1913 construction of the brown coal power plant Goldenberg-Werk)

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the RAF bombed the Knapsack power-station several times. The first raid was a low-level daylight raid by on 12 August 1941 by 54 Bristol Blenheim

Bristol Blenheim

The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter...

s under the command of Wing Commander Nichol of No. 114 Squadron RAF

No. 114 Squadron RAF

-Formation and World War I:No. 114 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed In Lahore, India on 27 Sep 1917. It was equipped with the B.E.2 and Bristol F2B and operated on the North-West Frontier...

. The Blenheims hit their targets (the Fortuna Power Station in Knapsack and the Goldenburg Power Station in Quadrath) but twelve of the Blenheims were lost during the raid, 22 percent of those that took part which was far above the sustainable loss rate of less than five. A further raid took place on the night of 2/3 October 1943 with 12 OBOE

Oboe (navigation)

Oboe was a British aerial blind bombing targeting system in World War II, based on radio transponder technology. Oboe accurately measured the distance to an aircraft, and gave the pilot guidance on whether or not they were flying along a pre-selected circular route. The route was only 35 yards...

 Mosquito

Mosquito

Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...

s, and a second attack that year was another night attack on 21/22 December 1943 by 4 Mosquitos.

Due to environmental constraints, 4000 citizens had to be resettled between the years 1969 and 1979.