In the city of Heidelberg, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. southwest Germany

 When the city's 18th century sandstone Alte Brücke, or old bridge, is lit up you can see what Mark Twain meant about the beauty of Heidelberg at night.

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(on the Neckar river in southwest Germany) Heidelberg is a city in the state of Baden-Württemberg; it is located some 78 km (48 mi.) south of Frankfurt am Main. The fifth-largest city in Baden-Württemberg. Heidelberg is part of the densely populated Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. The city's University, founded in 1386, is Germany's oldest and one of Europe's most reputable. Heidelberg is a scientific hub in Germany and home to several internationally renowned research facilities adjacent to its university, including the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and four Max Planck Institutes.The city has also been a hub for the arts, especially literature, throughout the centuries, and it was designated a "City of Literature" by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.Heidelberg was a seat of government of the former Electorate of the Palatinate and is a popular tourist destination, due to its romantic cityscape, including Heidelberg Castle, the Philosophers' Walk, and the Baroque Old Town.

+ Heidelberg is located on the eastern edge of the Upper Rhine Plain (German: Oberrheinebene), at the place where the river Neckar leaves its valley through the Odenwald mountains and begins the last leg of its journey across the plain towards Mannheim, where it merges into the Rhine about 20 km. A part of Heidelberg, including the historical Old Town and the Heidelberg Castle, is located in the narrow Neckar valley.

+ The U.S. 44th Infantry Division took part in combat in Western Europe throughout 1944 and early 1945, and the division's artillery commander became the subject of international headlines in March 1945, when he helped save Heidelberg from bombing by persuading Nazi troops to withdraw. On 29 March 1945, German troops left the city after destroying three arches of the old bridge, Heidelberg's treasured river crossing. The U.S. Army (63rd Infantry, 7th Army) entered the town on 30 March 1945. The civilian population surrendered without resistance.

+ Heidelberg, unlike most German cities and towns, was spared from Allied bombing raids during the war. Other university towns, such as Tübingen and Göttingen, were spared bombing as well. Allied air raids focused extensively on the nearby industrial cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen. The U.S. Army may have selected Heidelberg as a garrison base because of its excellent infrastructure, including the Heidelberg–Mannheim Autobahn (motorway), which connected to the Mannheim–Darmstadt–Frankfurt Autobahn, and the U.S. Army installations in Mannheim and Frankfurt. The intact rail infrastructure was more important in the late 1940s and early 1950s when most heavy loads were still carried by train, not by truck. Heidelberg had the untouched Wehrmacht barracks, the "Grossdeutschland Kaserne" which the US Army occupied soon after, renaming it the Campbell Barracks.