U.S. Troops Cross The Rhine's Ludendorff Bridge At Remagen, March 7, 1945, WWII

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On March 7, 1945, the U.S. 1st Army crossed the Rhine at Remagen, Germany after capturing the strategically important, Ludendorff Bridge (also known as the Bridge at Remagen). The Ludendorff Bridge was in early March 1945 a critical remaining bridge across the river Rhine in Germany when it was captured during the Battle of Remagen by U.S. Army forces during the closing weeks of World War II. It was built in World War I to help deliver reinforcements and supplies to the German troops on the Western Front.



- American troops on the Ludendorff Bridge in WWI, 1918.

Midway through Operation Lumberjack, on 7 March 1945, the troops of the 1st U.S. Army approached Remagen and were surprised to find that the bridge was still standing. Its capture, two weeks before Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's meticulously planned Operation Plunder, enabled the U.S. Army to establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine. After the U.S. forces captured the bridge, German forces tried to destroy it multiple times.



- The Ludendorff Bridge showing structural damage in March 1945.

It finally collapsed on 17 March 1945, ten days after it was captured, killing 33 U.S. Army Engineers and wounding 63. While it stood, the bridge and newly established pontoon bridges enabled the U.S. Army to establish a bridgehead of six divisions, about 25,000 troops, with accompanying tanks, artillery pieces, and trucks, across the Rhine. Capturing the bridge shortened the war, and V-E Day came on May 8. After the war, the bridge was not rebuilt; the towers on the west bank were converted into a museum and the towers on the east bank are a performing arts space.

The ability to quickly establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Rhine and to get forces into Germany allowed the U.S. forces to envelop the German industrial area of the Ruhr. The Allies got six divisions across the damaged bridge before it collapsed. The collapse killed twenty-eight and injured ninety-three U.S. Army Engineers. However, a pontoon bridge had been built across the river by then. The main bridge was out of use for repairs at the time of its collapse.

The unexpected availability of the first major crossing of the Rhine, Germany's last major natural barrier and line of defence, caused Allied high commander Dwight D. Eisenhower to alter his plans to end the war. Hitler's Nero Decree of 19 March ordered the destruction of any infrastructure that could aid the Allied advance, but the order was not carried out due to opposition from German generals and the rapid Allied advance. Instead, U.S. forces advanced rapidly through Germany and, by 12 April the Ninth United States Army had crossed the Elbe...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludendorff_Bridge

- BRIDGE AT REMAGEN - PT I - Department of Defense 1965, - EVENTS SURROUNDING CAPTURE OF BRIDGE AT REMAGEN BY AMERICAN TROOPS, 7 MARCH 1945, GIVING U.S. FORCES THE FIRST BRIDGEHEAD ON THE RHINE.

* Featuring the men who were there- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gen. Omar Bradley, WV Rep. Ken Hechler, author of the book, 'The Bridge At Remagen' (1957) on which the 1969 movie was based. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Hechler