Churchill at the Rhine

The ETO

Central Europe

bigpigeon.us webpage  WW II - Germany > ETO > Central Europe > Crossing the Rhine, updated by RAC 7 Oct '19.

By the beginning of Spring 1945, the western Allies had broken through the Siegfried Line and in most locations had reached the Rhine River. The weakly defended remainder of Germany lay beyond the final barrier of the Rhine.

In the west, German strength had been dissipated by their losses in the German counteroffensives in the Ardennes plateau and northern Alsace. In the east, Russian forces were approaching the German capital of Berlin. 

The German military destroyed all but one Rhine River bridges as the Allies approached. Nevertheless the Allies managed multiple Rhine crossings, all successful.

In most Rhine crossings, Allied infantry first established a suitable beachhead on the east bank, often at night, as infantry crossed in a variety of small vessels.  These beachheads helped protect engineering troops as they assembled modular pontoon bridges. Numerous bridges were built across the Rhine in March and April of 1945, some heavy enough to support armored vehicles.

Rhine River

In addition to support from US Army engineering troops in providing boats, improving local roads, and most-importantly building bridges, the US Navy assigned a task unit to each of the First, Third, and Ninth Armies, as shown on the following map. These task units included numerous vessels small enough to be trucked to the water near crossing sites.

In the following outline, I attempt to list all US Army Rhine crossings. The numbers correspond to the TASK UNIT numbers on the map to the right.

1. March 7 - the First Army's 9th Armored Division crossed at Remagen on the middle Rhine.
2. March 22-23 - the Third Army's 5th Infantry Division crossed at Oppenheim on the upper Rhine and later made three additional crossings.
3. March 23-24 - joint British and American Ninth Army forces crossed on the lower Rhine in the Wesel area. This was by far the largest and bloodiest crossing.

To the south, elements of  the Seventh Army made two crossings at Worms between Oppenheim and Mannheim. 

Most of the Rhine Crossings

With the exception of the bridge at Remagen, the Allies found the bridges across the Rhine destroyed.  The accompanying photo may show a Seventh Army crossing at Worms, near the destroyed bridge. 

Third Army Crossing at Worms

First Across the Rhine - The First Army on The Middle Rhine

• Morning of 7 March: 9th Armored Division advance units arrived at heights overlooking Remagen, south of Bonn. They discovered the Ludendorff railroad bridge across the Rhine was still intact.
• Afternoon of 7 March: An infantry platoon supported by tank fire stormed the bridge while under small arms fire. I believe no American lives were lost in the crossing. Thus, the first Rhine crossing occurred under exceptionally favorable circumstances. 
• 11 March: Army engineers have two bridges in operation. Other bridges were added later. 
• 13 March: General Eisenhower ordered 12th  Army Group commander, Omar Bradley, to restrict the Remagen Bridgehead size to 25 miles long and 10 miles deep.
• ​17 March: The Ludendorff Bridge collapsed, killing 24 U.S. Army Engineers.
• 19 March: General Eisenhower authorized a Remagen Bridgehead breakout for any time starting 23 March.

Some historic trivial: The Ludendorff bridge was completed in 1916 during World War I. After World War I, the American Army and then the French Army occupied Remagen. It is said that at that time French engineers shrewdly modified the bridge to make demolition more difficult.

The Bridge at Remagen - looking east

Next Across the Rhine - The Third Army's Rhine Crossings

Late in the evening of 22 March, the 5th Infantry Division began a Rhine crossing near Oppenheim against little resistance.  It is thought that the accompanying photo of General George Patton documents Patton urinating into the Rhine River. 

Subsequently  the Third Army made two additional crossings downstream, to the south of Koblenz.

• early 25 March: 345th Inf. Regt., 87th Inf. Div., Third Army near Boppard.
• early 26 March: 89th Inf. Div., Third Army near St. Goar.
  

I have read that fourth and final Third Army crossing was made without loss of life:

• early 28 March: 317th Inf. Regt., 80th Inf. Div. near Mainz.

General Patton at the Oppenheim crossing

The Major Rhine Crossing

Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group began the major Rhine crossing near Wesel one day after Patton's first crossing. The 21st Army Group included British, Canadian, and American armies. 

• Operation Plunder: British, Canadian, and US  Ninth Army troopsm began crossing on 23 March  just before midnight.
• Operation Varsity: After daylight on the 24th, a massive fleet of aircraft landed British and American paratroopers and glider troops on the east bank of the Rhine.

The major Rhine crossing went well, except for substantial losses of both Allied aircraft and airborne troops suffered in the morning Operation Varsity drop.

Operations Plunder and Varsity Overview

Dead Allied Paratrooper Near Hamminkeln

The Ninth Army's Rhine Crossings

The Ninth Army began crossing near Reinberg fifteen miles upstream of Wesel early on 24 March.

• The 30th Infantry Division started about 1 am using all three regiments as assault regiments.
• The 79th Infantry Division started at 3 am further upstream with two assault regiments.

Losses in the initial crossings were light.

The Seventh Army's Rhine Crossings

The Seventh Army was late arriving in the Rhine crossing area, and crossed the Rhine at Worms fifteen miles south of the Third Army's  Oppenheim crossing.
The Seventh Army's crossing began early on 26 March.

• The 45th Infantry Division crossed just north of Worms.
• The 3rd Infantry Division crossed just south of Worms at Nierstein

Both crossings were initially subject to mild to moderate German resistance, which soon lessened.​

The French 1st Army's Rhine Crossings

The French 1st Army anchored the south end of the front lines along the Rhine River. Although not refected on the following may, on 27 March 1945 the French sector was extended to include the entire upper Rhine River from Speyer south to the Swiss border.

The French largely depended on whatever supplies the US Army provided, and thus lacked the advanced amphibious equipment used by the other allied forces. Here is what I have read of the French 1st Army's Rhine crossings, in chronological order.

• 31 Mar: A company of the 3rd Algerian Division crossed at Speyer in five rubber rafts.
• 31 Mar: Upstream from Speyer at Germersheim a battalion of the 2nd Moroccan Division crossed under heavy fire. Of the first wave of 20 assault boats powered by outboard motors, only three reached the east bank.
• 1 Apr: French forces crossed using an American bridge at Mannheim and advanced 18 miles.
• 2 Apr: French forces crossed by boat near Philippsburg upstream from Germersheim.
• ? Apr: an additional crossing with date and location unknown.
• mid Apr: One or more crossings near the Swiss border.

Upper Rhine - 22 to 28 March 1945

Sources for the WW II - Crossing the Rhine webpage

• The webpage header photo Churchill at the Rhine shows Winston Churchill leaving a US Navy landing craft on the east back of the Rhine on 25 Mar 1945 at the conclusion of Operation Plunder. The photo is courtesy of www.warhistory.com.
• The Rhine River Crossings by Barry W. Fowle - http://atloa.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Rhine-River-Crossings.pdf
• The dead paratrooper photo is courtesy of pinterest - ​https://www.pinterest.com/pin/486529565965815166/
• The Upper Rhine, 22 to 28 March 1945 map is excerpted from a map found at pinterest.
  
• My information on French 1st Army crossings is courtesy of US Army in WW II, European Theater of Operations, The Last Offensive, Chapter 15,  https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Last/USA-E-Last-15.html.

Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead - Crossing the Rhine
(taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea)

• 03-07 - Central Europe - The Rhine Crossings: (four dead, updated 6 Oct ’19)
  † Frahm, Leonard Carl - SN 19-032-134, US Army
  347th Inf. Regt., 87th Inf. Div.; KIA 26 Mar ’45, on the Rhine at Boppard, S of Coblenz, Germany during a 3rd Army Rhine crossing; posthumous Silver Star.
  † Frost, Darrell Finley - SN 37-692-444, US Army
  Co. C, 310th Inf. Regt., 78th Inf. Div.; KIA 10 Mar ’45 at Remagen Bridgehead, Germany.
  † Hoover, Everett L. - SN 37-734-846, US Army
  7th Inf. Regt., 3rd. Inf. Div.; KIA 26 Mar ’45 near Frankenthal, on the Rhine River S of Worms, Germany.
  † Miller, Raymond Detlef Jr. - SN 37-470-777, US Army
  395th Inf. Regt., 99th Inf. Div.; KIA 13 Mar ’45 at Remagen Bridgehead, Germany.
  ​