to the Rhine

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Germany > ETO > To the Rhine > Operation Undertone, updated by RAC 26 Jun 2022.

The Seventh and Third Armies Occupy the Southern Rhineland

By 11 March 1945, as part of Operation Lumberjack, the US Third Army had cleared the Eifel in the northern Palatine north of the Moselle River. 

Almost all of the Rhine left bank was now in Allied hands, except for a section extending upstream from Koblenz to the Moder River south of Rastatt. Within two weeks, this salient would be removed.

Treadway Bridge across the Moselle, March 1945

The US Seventh Army was charged with clearing the southern Palatinate. However, several issues impeded Seventh Army progress.​​

• By mid-March, the Seventh Army had not regained all the northeastern France territory lost in the January German Nordwind attack.
• Thus it was still short of the Siegfried Line.
• The Siegfried Line in the Seventh Army sector was a formidable barrier.

Considering these difficulties, the Seventh Army turned over additional portions of the Palatinate to the Third Army. The revised army boundary passed through Kaiserslautern as shown on the accompanying map. It was now understood that the Third Army would play a major role in the Seventh Army's pending offensive, Operation Undertone.

Operation Undertone officially began on 15 March and ended on 24 March. All three Seventh Army corps, with  the French First Army's Third Algerian Division on the right flank, began moving northward. XXI Corps on the left flank engaged the Siegfried Line first, followed by XV Corps in the middle. Gradually German forces abandoned their positions, moving eastward through the fortified area.

Further north, starting on 11 March, all three Third Army corps drove south and east from the Moselle River, with the XX Corps passing through the road junction of Kaiserslautern on 20 March. Soon the Third Army occupied the bulk of the southern Palatinate. 

The Palatinate Cleared - status on 21 March

Preparing for the Rhine Crossings in the south:

• On 19 March, General Patton received permission for the Third Army to cross the Rhine.  The stage for the second Rhine crossing, at Oppenheim, was set.
• As German resistance collapsed, XV Corps of the Seventh Army had access to a good highway from Zweibrucken northeast through Kaiserslautern and the Kaiserslautern gap to the Rhine, from which they could stage for their pending Rhine crossing near Worms.

The Southern Rhineland - a late March timeline:

• 15 Mar - Seventh Army begins Operation Undertone moving north and Third Army begins moving SE and east into southern Palatinate.
• 20 Mar - Third Army, XX Corps, captures Kaiserslautern.
• 21 Mar - Rhineland Campaign officially ends.
• 22 Mar - Central Europe Campaign officially begins.
• 22 Mar late - Third Army's first Rhine crossing, 5th Division, XII Corps at Oppenheim, begins.
• 23 Mar - German withdrawal across Rhine in southern Palatinate begins.
• 23 Mar - Third and Seventh Army units meet near Landau in eastern Palatine, trapping remaining German Siegfried Line units.
• 24 Mar - Operation Undertone, Seventh Army offensive in southern Palatinate, officially ends.
• 25 Mar - Major mopping up of rear guard and stragglers in southern Palatinate ends.
• 26 Mar - 3rd & 45th Inf. Divs. of XV Corps, Seventh Army cross Rhine near Worms.
• 27 Mar - French First Army sector is extended northward to Speyer.
• 31 Mar - French First Army begins crossing the Rhine at Speyer.

Sources for the WWII To the Rhine > Operation Undertone webpage:

• The Rhineland-Palatinate map is courtesy of freeworldmaps.net. (not yet in use)
• The Southern Rhineland map is courtesy of ontheworldmap.com. (not yet in use)

• The Treadway Bridge across the Moselle, March 1945 photo is courtesy of http://www.150th.com/rivers/moselle3.htm. It was completed at Hatzenport, near Coblenz, on 15 March by the 150th Engineering Combat Battalion.
• The Palatine Cleared map is courtesy of the United States Military Academy.

Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - To the Rhine > Operation Undertone:

• Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.

​03-06 - To the Rhine > Operation Undertone:  (two dead, updated 26 Jun 2022)
† Lindsay, William Larkin, SN 37-750-189, US Army, Pott. Co.

• 275th Inf. Regt., 70th Inf. Div., XXI Corps, Seventh Army; KIA 16 Mar 1945 near Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany; To the Rhine > Operation Undertone.

† Rold, John Angus “Jack”, SN O-2007132, US Army, Cass Co., IA

• Co. K, 276th Inf. Regt., 70th Inf. Div., XXI Corps, Seventh Army; DOW 8 Mar 1945 Forbach, near Saar River, Lorraine, France; To the Rhine > Operation Undertone.