bigpigeon.us webarea WW II - Germany > ETO > Rhineland 1945, updated by RAC 11 Oct 2020
After recovering from the Battle of the Bulge and renewing offensives eastwards against the German Army, US forces faced two physical obstacles:
Links to The Rhineland 1945 subordinate webpages: (webpages not yet complete)
Allied Armies:
After recovering from the Battle of the Bulge and renewing offensives eastwards against the German Army, US forces faced two physical obstacles:
- The Siegfried Line, also known as the West Wall, a fortified region that paralleled much of the western German border. In the northern part of the US sector, the Siegfried Line had earlier been penetrated and the front lay further east along the Roer River.
- The Rhine River, flowing northward from Switzerland into the Netherlands.
Links to The Rhineland 1945 subordinate webpages: (webpages not yet complete)
- Ninth & First Armies - during the Rhineland Campaign, advanced to the lower Rhine between Wesel and Remagen.
- Third & Seventh Armies - during the Rhineland Campaign, advanced to the middle Rhine between Coblenz and Mannheim.
Allied Armies:
- The Canadian 1st Army and the British 2nd Army had responsibility for the left bank of the Rhine below Wesel.
- The French 1st Army had left bank responsibility for the Strasbourg sector southward, and eventually south of Speyer.
The Rhineland Campaign Overview
The arrows on the accompanying Canadian map show the major actions of the seven Allied armies during the Rhineland Campaign, starting on 8 February. The heavy dashed line shows the situation on 23 March 1945, with three Rhine crossings already in place. US sources generally use 21 March as the Rhineland Campaign ending date. General Eisenhower advocated capturing all of the Rhine's left bank before attempting a crossing. Crossing plans called for a massive amphibious and airborne operation in the vicinity of Wesel at the top of the map. Thus the Rhineland Campaign was initially planned with the future Wesel crossing in mind, with priority to Montgomery's 21st Army Group in the north. Bradley's 12th Army Group in the middle was initially cast in a supporting role. Dever's 6th Army Group in the south was recovering from recent battles and did not participate in the Rhineland Campaign until mid March. As the Rhineland Campaign progressed, events caused drastic changes in the original plans. Apropros of this, it was General Eisenhower who passed into common parlance the saying "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything". |
The Rhineland Campaign Battleground Area
Over most of the Western Front, Allied lines on 8 February 1945 differed little from the lines of 15 December 1944, the eve of Germany's Ardennes Counteroffensive. However, in the south, the 6th Army Group had just eliminated the Colmar Pocket in southern Alsace but had not recovered the territory in northern Alsace lost to Germany's January Nordwind counteroffensive. In summary, the overall Allied plan for early 1945 was to launch a massive invasion across the lower Rhine after the Rhineland Campaign had eliminated German presence throughout the west bank. The Rhineland Campaign ranged over the portions of today's North Rhine - Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland German federal states that lie west of the Rhine River, as well as northern Alsace in France. |
I conceptualize the Rhineland Campaign of 1945 as consisting of three phases. To demark each phase, I've used the date on the accompanying map.
First Phase, 8 Feb - 5 Mar 1945, Advance past the Roer River in the north & the Siegfried Line in the middle.
Summary of US Army major actions:
|
Second Phase, 6 - 10 Mar 1945, Close to the Rhine in the North, breakout in the middle:
|
Third Phase, 11-24 Mar 1945, Clear the Palatinate and Saarland in the south:
Ninth Army prepared for the pending Rhine Crossing. First Army prepared for a breakout from the Remagen Bridgehead. Third Army bridged the Moselle River in various locations and raced southeast, both to different Rhine crossing sites and to support the Seventh Army offensive. Seventh Army's offensive , Operation Undertone, began on 15 March. Note on the accompanying map that Seventh Army still had to advance through northeastern Alsace, and then through the Siegfried Line. 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. Operation Undertone, the official Seventh Army offensive, began on 15 March and ended on 24 March. |
The Rhineland Campaign Ends
When the Rhineland Campaign officially ended on 21 March 1945, the Western Allies front lines lay on the Rhine River with two exceptions:
In the next two days, two new Allied bridgeheads would appear on the east bank of the Rhine:
The final European Theater campaign of WW II, the Central Europe Campaign, officiallymbegan on 22 March 1945. |
Sources for the WW II - The Rhineland Campaign webpage:
- The webpage header photo Crossing the Roer is courtesy of the Warfare History Network.
- The Rhineland Campaign Overview map is courtesy of the Canadian website tothosewhoserved.org.
- The Sixteen German Federal States index map is courtesy of the Nations Online Project.
- The Siegfried Line Smashed, Eifel Plateau Overrun, and Palatine Cleared maps are courtesy of the United States Military Academy.
- The End of the Official Rhineland Campaign map is courtesy of the United States Military Academy. I do not believe the death figures in small type are all correct.