7 to 28 March 1945 · From Remagen to Wesel · Twenty-two days
The Rhine was the last major river barrier before the western Allies could break into central and northern Germany. At Remagen on 7 March a bridge that should have been destroyed was seized before the Germans could finish the job. Two weeks later Third Army crossed by surprise at Oppenheim, while 21st Army Group opened the prepared lower-Rhine assault of Operation Plunder and sent two airborne divisions across in Operation Varsity.
Sgt Christie, No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit · Imperial War Museums BU 2287 · Public domain
The Rhine at Remagen is about 400 yards across. At Wesel it is closer to 500, running fast, with dykes and low ground on the eastern bank. It was the last major river barrier between the western Allies and the interior of Germany.
Two things governed the planning. Allied commanders assumed the permanent bridges would be demolished, which meant an army-scale crossing had to be prepared as an assault over open water against a defended far bank. And the ground beyond differs completely by sector: in the south the river runs through gorges and hills; in the north it opens onto the north German plain.
That geography shaped the crossings. Remagen gave First Army an unexpected foothold in the steep country of the Westerwald. Oppenheim offered Third Army a lightly held sector south of Mainz. Montgomery's crossing in the north was built as the main set piece because the lower-Rhine bridgehead opened onto ground suited to a large-scale advance toward northern Germany and the Ruhr.
Montgomery planned Plunder as a full set-piece assault: weeks of preparation, more than 5,400 artillery, antitank, antiaircraft and rocket weapons, an airborne corps, smoke along the assault front, and enough bridging to build army routes across the river within days. It reflected the expectation that a Rhine crossing against a prepared defence could be expensive.
Remagen followed a different sequence because the bridge was still standing when the Americans arrived. Hoge ordered it seized immediately, III Corps backed the crossing, Hodges sent engineers and assault equipment forward, and Bradley supported exploitation. At SHAEF, Eisenhower confirmed the decision and told Bradley to put at least five divisions across.
The German demolition system at Remagen required written authority after bridges elsewhere had been destroyed prematurely. When the order was finally carried out, the main charge failed to bring the Ludendorff Bridge down. On the lower Rhine the problem was different: Army Group H and First Parachute Army had a solid forward line but little depth. Kesselring reviewed the defence on 14 March, Blaskowitz increased the alert on 20 March, and Schlemm was seriously wounded in an air attack on 21 March.
Commanding, 21st Army Group
Planned Plunder as a full set piece: weeks of preparation, massed artillery, an airborne corps, smoke and extensive bridging. The judgement behind it was that a Rhine assault against a prepared defence could be expensive. His 21st Army Group plan was designed to put Second and Ninth Armies across on a broad front and open the route onto the north German plain.
Commanding, U.S. Third Army
Crossed at Oppenheim at night without a preliminary barrage because Third Army judged the far bank was thinly held and surprise offered the best chance of a quick bridgehead. The 11th Infantry took 20 casualties in the assault crossing. Third Army then opened further crossings at Boppard, St Goar and Oberwesel.
Commanding, 12th Army Group
Backed First Army's rapid exploitation of the unexpected Remagen crossing and secured Eisenhower's confirmation that the bridgehead should be reinforced. He also directed Patton to seek a Rhine crossing around Oppenheim, placing the central and southern bridgeheads inside 12th Army Group's wider advance east of the river.
Commanding, XVIII Airborne Corps
Commanded XVIII Airborne Corps during Varsity. The plan put the British 6th and U.S. 17th Airborne Divisions down in a single daylight lift after the ground assault had begun, close enough to receive Allied artillery support. Their objectives covered Hamminkeln, the Diersfordter Wald and crossings over the Issel.
Commanding, U.S. Ninth Army
Commanded Ninth Army in the American sector of Operation Plunder. The 30th and 79th Infantry Divisions crossed at 02:00 on 24 March and overran the forward German positions with comparatively light losses. Ninth Army then built depth in the bridgehead before the eastward advance and the later envelopment of the Ruhr.
Commanding, Heeresgruppe B
Held the central Rhine sector around Remagen with Army Group B. The unexpected bridgehead forced him to commit formations to containment while his command was already weakened by the battles west of the river. German artillery, air attacks and local counterattacks failed to eliminate the American foothold before First Army expanded beyond it.
Oberbefehlshaber West from 10 March 1945
Kesselring replaced Rundstedt after the Remagen crossing and inherited a western front short of reserves. He reviewed Army Group H's lower-Rhine defenses on 14 March and approved the dispositions there. After the Remagen court martial he circulated the sentences as a warning, reinforcing the command climate surrounding bridge demolition and withdrawal.
Commanding, Heeresgruppe H
Blaskowitz commanded the army group defending the lower Rhine. His sector had a reasonably solid forward defense but little depth and few mobile reserves. As Allied preparations became unmistakable he ordered a heightened state of alert on 20 March, four days before Second and Ninth Armies established their bridgeheads.
Commanding, First Parachute Army
Schlemm's First Parachute Army held the lower-Rhine sector selected for Operation Plunder. Its formations could defend the immediate river line but had limited strength in depth. An Allied air attack struck Schlemm's headquarters on 21 March and seriously wounded him, disrupting senior command only days before the crossing.
Commanding, Seventh Army
Felber's Seventh Army faced Third Army's central and southern crossings. The Oppenheim sector was known as suitable crossing ground but was thinly defended when the 5th Infantry Division attacked on 22 March. As the bridgehead expanded Felber accepted withdrawal from exposed positions; he was relieved on 26 March.
This is an engineers' operation. The decisive equipment is bridging: pontoon, treadway and Bailey, brought up in thousands of lorry loads and assembled under fire, together with amphibious carriers, assault boats and landing craft brought overland from the Channel by road.
The airborne element incorporated lessons from Arnhem. Varsity dropped after the ground assault had begun, in daylight, within artillery range of Allied guns, and in a single lift. The initial lift carried 14,365 troops. By early afternoon airborne units held Hamminkeln and important crossings over the Issel while the river bridgehead expanded toward them.
Railway bridge · built 1916–1918 · main demolition failed · collapsed 17 March
A railway bridge built to move German troops west in the previous war let American troops move east in this one. The main demolition failed on 7 March. It carried traffic for ten days, killed 28 engineers when it collapsed, and by then floating crossings and ferries were already operating beside it.
United States · heavy tank · 90 mm gun · combat trial vehicle
Pershing tanks of the 9th Armored Division supported the fight for Remagen. Their 90 mm guns could engage positions across the river while the infantry moved toward the bridge. The type was still new to the European battlefield, and the Remagen photographs document its use during the 7 March seizure.
United States · floating steel treadway · tank-capable tactical bridge
Floating treadway bridges converted fragile bridgeheads into routes for heavy vehicles. Engineer units assembled them from pontons and steel roadway sections, allowing tanks and trucks to cross independently of damaged permanent bridges. The same bridge system supported Third Army after its later Middle Rhine crossings.
British-designed modular truss bridge · rapid road crossing
Bailey sections gave engineers a strong standardized bridge that could be assembled quickly from prefabricated components. On the lower Rhine such bridges increased capacity after the assault crossings and ferries had established the first routes, carrying the continuous vehicle traffic needed for exploitation.
Tracked amphibian · infantry and cargo transport · drives out of the water and up the bank
An amphibious carrier that swims across and then keeps going on land, so assault infantry arrive on the far bank still mounted. British formations used Buffaloes extensively in the Plunder bridgehead, especially where soft banks complicated ordinary boat landings.
U.S. Navy LCVP · personnel and vehicle ferry · carried inland for Rhine crossings
Sea-going landing craft were brought inland to ferry troops and vehicles across the Rhine. At Nierstein and other American bridgeheads they increased the flow while engineers built heavier bridges, turning equipment designed for amphibious landings into a fast river-crossing system.
British medium artillery · 5.5-inch calibre · Plunder fire plan
The 5.5-inch gun was part of the heavy artillery concentration assembled for Plunder. Medium batteries fired beyond the immediate east bank against batteries, strongpoints and movement routes while assault troops crossed. The weapon represents one element of the much larger British and American fire plan.
United States · twin-engine troop transport · parachute carrier and glider tug
C-47s carried U.S. paratroopers and towed gliders during Varsity. The single daylight lift concentrated the airborne force in one morning and delivered it close enough to the Rhine for ground artillery to support the landing zones. The same exposure also brought transports through dense German antiaircraft fire.
United Kingdom · assault glider · troops and equipment
Horsa gliders delivered British airborne troops and heavier equipment directly onto the Varsity landing area. Their capacity allowed infantry to arrive with weapons and supplies that parachute drops handled less efficiently. Daylight landing close to defended ground made the gliders highly vulnerable during approach and touchdown.
United States · assault glider · troops, guns and light vehicles
CG-4A gliders carried U.S. airborne troops, antitank guns and vehicles into the Varsity landing area. They placed heavier equipment close to the objectives but had little protection against small-arms and antiaircraft fire during the final approach. Many were damaged beyond recovery after landing.
The contrast between the crossings is striking, but the surviving figures cover different formations and time spans. MacDonald records 20 casualties in the 11th Infantry during the assault at Oppenheim. Ninth Army lost 41 killed, 450 wounded and seven missing on the first day of its lower-Rhine crossing. The collapse of the Ludendorff Bridge killed 28 U.S. Army engineers.
Varsity concentrated heavy losses in the airborne force and its air transport. The U.S. 17th Airborne Division lost 159 killed, 522 wounded and 840 missing on 24 March, although about 600 of the missing subsequently returned. IX Troop Carrier Command lost another 41 killed, 153 wounded and 163 missing, while more than 50 gliders and 44 transport aircraft were destroyed.
20
MacDonald records twenty casualties in the 11th Infantry during the assault crossing, made at night without a preliminary artillery barrage.
159 killed · 522 wounded · 840 missing
First-day losses on 24 March; about 600 of those initially reported missing subsequently returned to their units.
41 killed · 450 wounded · 7 missing
First-day losses in the two U.S. infantry divisions that crossed the lower Rhine during Operation Plunder.
About 317,000
By 1 April, eight days after the northern crossing. The encirclement followed the rapid exploitation east and north from the Rhine bridgeheads.
Charles MacDonald's The Last Offensive is the American official history of the crossings and the advance beyond. Ellis's Victory in the West volume two covers the British and Canadian side, and the Canadian Army Headquarters report on Plunder is available from the Department of National Defence. Forrest Pogue's The Supreme Command supplies the wider command setting.
The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen has its own documentary record in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bundesarchiv collections. RAF Air Historical Branch tables provide the initial Varsity lift figures, and U.S. Navy records document the landing craft carried inland for the American river crossings.
| Date | Event | Location | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 7 March 1945 · 15:50 | Hoge orders the Ludendorff Bridge seized | The Ludendorff bridge, Remagen | A task force of the 9th Armored Division came over a rise in the afternoon and found the railway bridge at Remagen standing. Brigadier General William Hoge had been ordered to continue south, but the intact span offered an immediate opportunity; he ordered Combat Command B to seize it before the German garrison could complete the demolition. Sources 1, 11 |
| Wednesday 7 March 1945 · About 16:10 | The demolition fails and Company A crosses | The Ludendorff Bridge | Lieutenant Karl Timmermann was told to take his company over a bridge that was expected to blow underneath them. The German demolition lifted the structure but failed to bring it down; Sergeant Alexander Drabik was among the first Americans to reach the far bank, and Timmermann led his company across under fire. Sources 1, 11 |
| Wednesday 7 March 1945 · Evening | First Army commits to the Remagen bridgehead | First Army and 12th Army Group headquarters | The decision to exploit the bridge moved upward quickly. Hoge committed more of Combat Command B, III Corps backed the crossing, and Courtney Hodges ordered engineers and assault boats toward Remagen. Omar Bradley agreed that the opportunity should be exploited. Sources 1, 12 |
| Saturday 17 March 1945 · Day 10 | The Ludendorff Bridge collapses | Remagen | After ten days of artillery, air attack, repeated traffic and continuous repair work, the Ludendorff Bridge collapsed on 17 March, killing 28 American engineers who were working on it. Sources 1, 11 |
| Night of 22–23 March 1945 · From 22:00 | Patton crosses at Oppenheim without a barrage | Oppenheim | The 5th Infantry Division crossed in assault boats at Nierstein and Oppenheim at night, with no preliminary artillery preparation, airborne support or smoke. Thirteen artillery battalions were ready to fire, but Third Army relied on darkness and surprise against a bank that Seventh Army held thinly. Sources 1, 5, 14 |
| 25–26 March 1945 · Two days | The other southern crossings | Boppard, St Goar and Worms | Third Army crossed again at Boppard before daylight on 25 March and at St Goar and Oberwesel on 26 March, where the far bank rises steeply and the current runs hard. Seventh Army crossed at Worms on 26 March. Sources 1, 5, 14 |
| Wednesday 21 March 1945 · Before Plunder | The preparation for Plunder | The west bank, Xanten to Rheinberg | A vast build-up supported Plunder: about 60,000 tons of British ammunition, 30,000 tons of British engineer stores, another 138,000 tons of Ninth Army supplies, and some 37,000 British and 22,000 American engineers. Smoke generators screened a roughly twenty-mile assault front for about ten days while equipment moved forward. Sources 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Friday 23 March 1945 · About 22:00 | Wesel is bombed as the commandos cross | Wesel | Bomber Command attacked Wesel shortly before 1 Commando Brigade crossed toward the town, while German anti-aircraft fire filled the sky above the river. Wesel was a road and rail centre immediately behind the east bank and a key objective on the southern part of Second Army's bridgehead. Sources 1, 2, 4 |
| Night of 23–24 March 1945 · From 21:00 | Second Army begins Operation Plunder | Rees and the lower Rhine | The barrage opened along the lower-Rhine assault front and British Second Army began crossing at 21:00. The 51st (Highland) Division crossed near Rees while other formations established bridgeheads farther south. Sources 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Saturday 24 March 1945 · 02:00 | Ninth Army crosses south of the Lippe | Rheinberg to Wallach | The U.S. Ninth Army crossed south of the Lippe under Simpson, with the 30th and 79th Infantry Divisions leading, and found the forward German positions lightly held enough for the assault battalions to make rapid progress. Sources 1, 12 |
| Saturday 24 March 1945 · 10:00 | Varsity lands east of the Rhine | Hamminkeln and the Diersfordter Wald | Two airborne divisions landed in a single daylight operation east of the Rhine after the ground assault had begun and within range of Allied artillery. RAF Air Historical Branch tables record 14,365 British and American airborne troops in the initial lift. Sources 1, 7, 13 |
| Saturday 24 March 1945 · 10:15 | German flak hits the airborne lift | The landing zones | The price of landing in daylight close to the front was heavy exposure to German anti-aircraft fire. The U.S. 17th Airborne Division lost 159 killed, 522 wounded and 840 missing during the day, although about 600 of the missing subsequently returned. Sources 1, 7 |
| Saturday 24 March 1945 · 13:00 | The Issel crossings are secured | The Issel bridges | Glider troops and paratroopers took Hamminkeln and important crossings over the Issel, the next obstacle behind the Rhine, and held them as ground forces pushed east from the river bridgehead. By about 12:30 the airborne lift was on the ground. Sources 1, 3, 7, 13 |
| Wednesday 28 March 1945 · Day 22 | The bridgeheads become routes for the advance | East of the Rhine | By 28 March bridges and ferries were carrying armour, artillery and supply traffic east from the principal Rhine bridgeheads, and the armoured divisions were moving into the country beyond the river. Sources 1, 2 |
Image rights. U.S. Army, U.S. Army Air Forces and U.S. Navy photographs are United States federal works in the public domain. British wartime official photographs are credited to their originating collections and used where Crown copyright has expired. Bundesarchiv photographs are credited under the licence stated on the exact Wikimedia Commons file page.
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