The Bundesstraße 4 is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 federal highway running in a northwesterly to southly direction from the state of Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...

 to Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. It provides a direct route for motorists traveling between Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

.

The section north of Hamburg is paralleled by Bundesautobahn 7 and the road is down-graded to a Landstraße (country road); the section between Hallstadt

Hallstadt

Hallstadt is a town in the Upper Franconian district of Bamberg on the left bank of the Main, 4 km north of Bamberg.-Geography:Hallstadt borders in the south on the city of Bamberg and in the west on the Main. There are two constituent communities named Hallstadt and Dörfleins...

 and Erlangen

Erlangen

Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....

 the B 5 is paralleled by A 70 and A 73 and also down-graded to a Staatsstraße (state road, same as country road).
The Bundesstraße 4 is the former Reichsstraße 4 (imperial road), on which north of Quickborn

Quickborn

Quickborn is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 17 km east of Elmshorn, and 20 km north of Hamburg.-International relations:Quickborn is twinned with:* Boxholm, Sweden...

 the last Commanding Admiral of the Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

 Friedeburg

Hans-Georg von Friedeburg

Hans-Georg von Friedeburg was the deputy commander of the U-Boat Forces of Nazi Germany and the last Commanding Admiral of the Kriegsmarine....

 met with officers of the 2nd British Army to negotiate a truce with the Western Allied forces on May 4, 1945.