BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 130
A TIME TO REMEMBER
British paratroops in Hamminkeln, Germany, during airborne landings east of the Rhine, March, 1945
BRIDGE TO
B
VICTORY: HOW
MONTGOMERY
CROSSED THE
RHINE
y the spring of 1945,
Germany was under threat
from both sides: in the
east the Soviet Army was
across the River Oder and poised
to attack Berlin, whilst in the west,
Eisenhower’s armies had the Germans
pinned down on a broad front from
the Low Countries to the Alps. Much
of Europe lay in ruins, and everyone,
soldier and civilian alike, wondered
how much longer the war would last,
and at what cost.
By Peter Wall
Ex-soldier and military historian General Sir Peter Wall served
as Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British
Army, until September 2014.
130
BOISDALELIFE.COM
ISSUE 24
For Britain, the answer would come
from one of the best-orchestrated
operations of the war: the crossing
of the Rhine, led by Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery. Success would
allow the Allied armies to break into
the heart of Germany and force the
unconditional surrender of Hitler’s
Third Reich.
The hard winter battles of 1944 had
taken their toll. German forces had
