Gardelegen (; ) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Milde, 20 m. W. from Stendal, on the main line of railway Berlin-Hanover. History Gardelegen has a Roman Catholic and three Evangelical churches, a hospital, founded in 1285, and a high-grade school. There are considerable manufactures, notably agricultural machinery and buttons, and its beer has a great reputation. Gardelegen was founded in the 10th century (first named 1196). The castle Isenschnibbe was owned by the House of Alvensleben from 1378 until 1857. On the neighboring heath Margrave Louis I. of Brandenburg gained, in 1343, a victory over Otto the Mild of Brunswick. In 1358 Gardelegen became a city of the Hanse. It suffered considerably in the Thirty Years' War, and in 1757 barely avoided being burned by the French. On 15 March 1945, 52 people lost their lives during an air raid, and on 13 April 1945, it was the site of a massacre of slave laborers, perpetrated by local civilians and the SS. The site of the massacre is now a memorial. At the height of the Cold war, a USAF RB-66 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by Soviet fighters near the town on 10 March 1964. The aircraft's crew bailed out and was rescued and eventually handed back to West Berlin by Soviet forces. After having incorporated 5 former municipalities in 2009, 6 in 2010, and 18 in 2011, Gardelegen is now Germany's third largest city by area, trailing only Berlin and Hamburg. It is actually the largest municipality in area in what was formerly East Germany. The population however is small, with only about 22,000. Geography The town Gardelegen consists of Gardelegen proper and the following Ortschaften or municipal divisions: Algenstedt Berge Breitenfeld Dannefeld Estedt Hemstedt Hottendorf Jeggau Jeseritz Kloster Neuendorf Köckte Letzlingen Lindstedt Mieste Miesterhorst Peckfitz Potzehne Roxförde Sachau Schenkenhorst Seethen Sichau Solpke Wannefeld Wiepke Zichtau Furthermore, the town Gardelegen contains the localities Ipse, Jävenitz, Jerchel, Kassieck, Lindenthal, Trüstedt, Weteritz, Zienau and Ziepel. Sights There are various well-preserved half-timbered houses in Main Street (Ernst-Thälmann-Straße) and Nicolaistraße as well as a part of the medieval city wall which deserve a visit. In the northern part of the historical centre, St. Georg is a sightworthy gothic chapel which was mentioned for the first time in 1362 as a part of a hospital. It was renovated and enlarged in 1734, and